Mýrdalssandur is a black sand desert, carved by the glacial rivers and floods coming from the mighty Katla Volcano Iceland that can be seen in the background. Katla is on the eastern side of Mýrdalsjökull glacier on the south coast of Iceland, close to the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
The volcano Katla is very active; twenty eruptions have been documented between 930 and 1918, at intervals of 13–95 years. It has not erupted violently for 99 years, although there may have been small eruptions that did not break the ice cover. When it last erupted in 1918, it extended Iceland’s south coast by up to five kilometres and the melting glacier unleashed a torrent of water, mud and icebergs — claimed to be similar in volume to the Amazon.
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