Skutustadagigar pseudo craters

On the southern end of Lake Myvatn just next to a hotel you find a strange looking series of craters. It looks like there has been a series of small volcanoes right erupting right next to each other. In fact this isn’t the case – the craters are not actual volcanic craters but pseudo craters which hasn’t been created by lava. The craters do have a volcanic origin – but they have been created by an explosion of boiling water.

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A couple of thousand years ago there was another lake here at the Myvatn region – and a volcanic eruption made a large flow of lava run over the lake. The water was trapped beneath the lava and the hot lava made the lava boil. The steam created by the hot lava made a huge pressure under the lava flow and finally the steam just blew through the lava and created the small crater like features.

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Now there is a little trail from a hotel parking lot out on a ring with small crates which you can go up on top and have a look at. The small craters are easy to explore on a small hike and it is pretty fun to look at the craters. At least it is fun for the first two or three craters – and then it starts to look pretty much the same. So after walking for a bit I decide just to settle for the small hike of the area instead of taking the long hike which goes around all the small craters.