Matkaopas: Kverkfjöll

Photo from Wikimedia, Creative Commons. Photo by Pietro. No edits made.

Kverkfjöll is a sub-glacial mountain range on the northern side of the Vatnajökull glacier. Its highest point is 1,764 metres (5787 feet).

Explore this area while on a self drive tour in Iceland.

The mountains here are volcanically active; they cover an enormous magma chamber, the heat of which has led to glacial melting and thus the creation of ice caves. Unlike the ice caves on the southern side of Vatnajökull, however, these are not stable enough to enter.

This heating also creates the majority of the water that runs into the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, which travels through north Iceland’s and holds Europe’s most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss.