Outstanding vertical dykes and inclined sheets in eastern Iceland

SMB_001

Description
This model covers an aerial extent of 135x115m and shows, in the foreground, a towering, N10°-striking, 4-m-thick basaltic vertical dyke, made prominent by the erosion of the surrounding country rocks, in which it had originally been intruded. See country house for scale. In the background, a cliff can be noticed, made of a succession of basaltic lavas dipping at a shallow angle to the west (left). Some inclined sheets (e.g. Tibaldi et al., 2013), dipping at steeper angle, cut the lava succession. A couple of vertical dykes, with slightly different strikes, cross-cut the lava succession as well. The area is located in eastern Iceland, within Tertiary age units; further details on the dykes and geology in eastern Iceland can be found in Walker (1974), Gudmundsson (1983), Jóhannesson and Sæmundsson (1998) and Gudmundsson et al (2014).

Credits: UAV-based survey and 3D DOM provided by Fabio L. Bonali, Federico Pasquaré Mariotto and Elena Russo. Funding is from MIUR project ACPR15T4_00098 (http://argo3d.unimib.it/). Model description by Alessandro Tibaldi and Federico Pasquaré Mariotto.

References

• Gudmundsson, A. (1983). Form and dimensions of dykes in eastern Iceland. Tectonophysics, 95(3-4), 295-307.
• Gudmundsson, A., Pasquarè, F., Tibaldi, A. (2014). Dykes, sills, laccoliths, and inclined sheets in Iceland. In Physical Geology of Shallow Magmatic Systems (pp. 363-376). Springer.
• Jóhannesson, H., & Sæmundsson, K. (1998). Geological map of Iceland, 1: 500,000. Bedrock Geology. Natturufraedistofnun Islands, Reykjavik.
• Walker, G. P. (1974). The structure of eastern Iceland. In Geodynamics of Iceland and the North Atlantic area (pp. 177-188). Springer, Dordrecht.
• Tibaldi A., Bonali F.L., Pasquaré F.A., Rust D., Cavallo A., D’Urso A. (2013). Structure of regional dykes and local cone sheets in the Midhyrna-Lysuskard area, Snaefellsnes Peninsula (NW Iceland). Bulletin of Volcanology, 75, 764-780.