The two main ingredients that form the possibility of the unique landscape that occurs in Iceland are volcanic activity and water. The hot and the cold. Low temperatures that frequently occur in the (sub)arctic climate the country holds. Hot temperatures that can be found just under the surface of the island’s thin Earth’s crust. Fire and Ice. A unique combination that causes inner contradictions by just existing.

During the lectures we attended at the university of agriculture in Iceland, the island was described as a ‘waterland’. This is not necessarily due to the ice melting away at accelerating speed, but due to the presence of all forms of water around the whole island. Boiling. Flowing. Freezing.

The volcanoes that once cast the island with their eruptions are surrounded by water in all possible directions. The weak spot in the Earth’s crust, where two tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart, causes magma to rise up just underneath the surface, heating groundwater until it boils. The geothermal heat that can be obtained from this phenomenon is enough to generously facilitate energy for the local residents. To generate even more energy, dams have been installed to generate hydropower. Hot springs are distributed around the whole island, allowing people to bathe in mineral-enriched water that clears and softens their skin. When glaciers melt during the summer, or rain falls onto the barely vegetated hills, ice cold streams find their way through the impermeable landscape, in search of the endpoint, the Atlantic ocean. The final body of water. The permafrost area is located on the highest tips of the mountains, where 269 glaciers cover about 10% of the whole island’s surface and keeping the country’s name at stake.

In the most peculiar situations, geothermal springs are situated directly underneath thick sheets of compressed glacial ice. A rarity that shows the power of both natural forces.

Water is not only tied to the characteristics of the core landscape, the Icelandic economy continually thrives off water. Annually, around 2.5 million tourists visit some of Iceland's thousands of immaculate waterfalls, bathe themselves in luxury lagoons and watch giant whales come up for air at the surface of the open ocean. These waters are also used for the fishing industry, which is generating about 8% of the national GDP. Simultaneously, tourism is generating around 10% of the national GDP. A vast amount of the local economy, dependent on water.

Who knew that the land of fire and ice would actually be a waterland?