New to Me

I confess I know very little about geology. My forebears studied botany and medicine, so my exposure to science centered on those areas. It wasn’t until I married into an Icelandic family that I became curious.

Iceland is one of the youngest countries on the planet. It is incredibly diverse with volcanoes, glaciers, natural hot springs, tremendous waterfalls and molten lava pots alongside beaches, mountains and plains. Supposedly, there is so much geothermal activity, you can bake bread in the ground!

I was told the electric company in Iceland only needed a few employees because almost all the homes were heated with radiant heat from the country’s natural hot water. In addition to geothermal power, hydroelectric power is considered one of the country’s greatest assets. Thank you Mother Nature.

When I first visited the country, I was told by a guide that NASA sent the astronauts to Iceland to train for the lunar landing because its ancient lava fields were similar to what they expected to encounter on the moon. Iceland sits on top of both the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. As these plates move apart, Iceland grows (approximately 2cm per year). Many of the volcanic eruptions in Iceland are caused by this movement.

Although I was ignorant in my youth, I have a newfound curiosity about geology and I am inspired to explore this topic in fabric. Sue, thank you for the challenge and I’d be fascinated to meet your husband one day and learn more about his profession.