5881 x 3741 px | 49,8 x 31,7 cm | 19,6 x 12,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
14 aprile 2009
Ubicazione:
Gullfoss Waterfall, Hvita River, South West Iceland
Altre informazioni:
Gullfoss ('Golden Waterfall') is a two step fall in the gradient of the Hvita River, some 70 km north east of Reykjavik. The wide river, rushing southwards from the Hofsjokull Ice Cap in central Iceland, , plunges over an 11m and 21m step into a narrow, 20m wide canyon, at ninety degrees to the flow of water, which gives the impression, from this viewpoint, that the river vanishes into the earth. The falls, a popular tourist attraction, are now protected by the Icelandic Government; but there was speculation in the early 20th century of generating electricity here. The average discharge over the falls is 140 cubic metres in summer and 80 cubic metres in winter. As with many of Iceland's waterfalls, Gullfoss is a result of isostatic uplift of the land, causing rivers flowing south to plunge over the edge of the land, 'springing up' after the release of billions of tonnes of ice weight at the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age, to reach the lower sea level.
