Iceland is misnamed; it should be called "Volcanic Land." Since the Tertiary period to the present day, it has been a unique site of volcanic activity. While the volcanoes in the surrounding area of the Nordic Basalts have long been extinct, the island still trembles under the most significant eruptions known to history. A basalt land of one hundred thousand square kilometers, that is the area of southern Germany, yet it is only the small remnant of a much larger volcanic plateau, if we may assume that the basalts of Scotland and Greenland were once connected. High above the sea, expansive basalt plateaus point to the east, north, and west of the island, indicating an ancient, larger mass that has succumbed to destruction. Only the living core of the island has so far withstood this. Time and again, powerful expressions of volcanic activity emerge from the depths.