Teigarhorn Zeolites
Teigarhorn Zeolites
Zeolites are beautiful elongated crystals, looking a bit like snowflakes. There are several types - scolecite, stilbite, and heulandite - but all are minerals formed over time in rock cavities and fissures.
Rainwater seeps deep into the bedrock and when it meets hot layers of rock it begins to rise to the surface, absorbing minerals from the rock along the way. When it cools again, it settles in cavities and the minerals form crystals.
Although most common in the East Fjords, such minerals can be found in old basalt strata at various locations across the country.
Teigarhorn’s zeolites have found their way to rock museums all over the globe. Teigarhorn is a protected area and now only the landowners can collect minerals – samples are displayed at the Museum of Minerals in Djupivogur.
There are marked walking trails around the area. Also of interest is the historic house at Teigarhorn. Dating from 1880, it was home and studio to Iceland's first woman photographer, Nicoline Weywadt (1848-1921), who trained in Copenhagen.
If you're driving past here in a howling gale, you may be amused to know that the highest ever temperature recorded in Iceland was noted here in 1939 - 30.5 degrees Celsius!