Research Projects

Research activities in the Geology Division
The scientific staff of the Geology Division of the Science Institute consists of eight faculty members of the Department of Natural Sciences, and nine research scientists at the institute as well as two technical asssistants. Additionally, 18 research assistants and students sponsored by different research funds and private companies were employed for longer and shorter periods of time.

The research projects in the Division of Geology are focused on geological and geographical problems. In geology the emphasis is on sedimentology, mainly sedimentary facies and lithostratigraphy, tephrochronology, Quaternary geology and Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy, geochemistry and experimental petrology, geothermics, the chemistry of surface waters and chemical weathering, palaeontology of Pliocene to Holocene faunas and floras, and natural hazards. In geography the emphasis is upon environmental geography, air photo interpretation and land utilization, and human geography.

The Geology Division runs an electronic and mecanical workshop as well as a thin section laboratory. Additionally, the division runs geochemical and sedimenatary laboratories.

The scientists at the Division of Geology of the Science Institute are generally in cooperation with colleges at other Icelandic institutes as well as colleges in other countries.

The following research projects were active in the year 1996:

Áslaug Geirsdóttir

• Sedimentary studies in Iceland and Greenland
  Lacustrine sediments and climatic changes from the deglaciation through the Holocene in Iceland. Climate change during the last 14.000 years; Quaternary studies on the W and NW Iceland shelves. Comparative studies of lacustrine and shelf sedimentation in Iceland. The interactive impact of climatic deterioration and volcanic activity on facies assemblages in late Pliocene to early Pleistocene strata of the Hreppar Formation, South Central Iceland.

  Late quaternary terrestrial and marine geology of Miki Fjord and nearby areas, East Greenland. Lithofacies studies of sedimentary sections between Falsterselv and Jybllandselv, Jameson Land and Liverpool Land, E-Greenland.

Guðrún Gísladóttir

• Environmental geography
  Environmental changes focusing on human land use in conjunction with natural variability. An interdisciplinary approach has been used, as well as historical documents, legislation and socio-economic records, different remote sensing methods and geographic information system.

Guðrún Larsen

• Tephrochronology
  Tephrochronology of glaciers, eruption history of subglacial volcanoes and dating of glacier ice. Regional tephrochronology. Holocene eruption history of the Katla volcanic system.

Guðrún M. Ólafsdóttir

• Human and historical geography
  Regional and local implications of age- and gender-specific migrations in recent decades. Iceland and Icelanders as presented in nineteenth century geographical literature and travel books.

Gylfi Már Guðbergsson

• Cadastral mapping and land utilization
  Farm, property and municipal boundaries, cadastral mapping and design of a geographical database. Studies of land-use, farming and rural settlement in Iceland.

Hreggviður Norðdahl and Margrét Hallsdóttir

• Quaternary geology
  The deglaciation of Iceland and sea level displacements at the end of the last glaciation and during the Holocene. The vegetational and climatic evolution of the Pleistocene and Holocene in Iceland from palynological evidence.

Jón Eiríksson

• Sedimentology
  Facies analyses and lithostratigraphy of Pliocene to Holocene sequences of marine and terrestrial sediments and volcanics in Iceland and the Icelandic shelf. Comparative studies of modern sedimentary environments in Iceland.

Leifur A. Símonarson

• Palaeontology
  The palaeontology of marine Upper Tertiary and Quaternary faunas from sedimenary sequences in the Reykjavík area, South Iceland, the Tjörnes area, North Iceland, and the Kap København area, North Greenland. Terrestrial floras and faunas from Icelandic Tertiary deposits.

Páll Imsland

• Natural hazards studies
  Emphasis upon identification of the geologic processes that pose a threat to life and property in Iceland and analysing of frequency and distribution of such events. Mapping of past as well as predicting of future individual cases of both rapid geomorphologic hazards and the quiet hazards.

Sigurður R. Gíslason

• Surface waters and chemical weathering
  Geochemistry of surface waters. Experimental determination of chemical properties of rock forming minerals and glasses. Chemical weathering of rocks and its long term effect on climate. The effect of volcanic eruptions on the chemistry of surface waters.

Sigurður Steinþórsson and Sigurður Jakobsson

• Petrology and geochemistry
  Experimental high P and T work in the system silicate-C-O-H with emphasis on the solubility of HO and CO in various rhyolitic and tholeiitic melts. At low pressures investigations are mainly focused on the measurements of oxidation states of natural melt.

Stefán Arnórsson and Auður Andrésdóttir

• Chemistry of geothermal fluids
  Geochemistry of geothermal fluids. Calculation of aqueous speciation, studies of water-rock interaction and mineral-solution equilibria. Sources and ages of groundwaters applying chemical and isotopic techniques. Water and steam geothermometry. Geochemical monitoring of geothermal systems under exploitation.

Þorleifur Einarsson

• Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy
  The evolution of eolian soil and peat deposits studied with tephrochronological methods and radiocarbon datings. Volcanic formations and the history of Icelandic volcanoes.