Fire and Ice
Iceland, the land of fire and ice, is one of Earth's most volcanically active areas. Its volcanoes are the reason for the land’s most beautiful characteristics: the mountains, the black lava fields, the black sand beaches, geothermal pools and geysers, and even its glaciers.
The country is growing by about 2 cm per year, as it splits wider at the points where the two continents meet, and new magma fills up the gaps. There is a bridge between these 2 tectonic plates that allows visitors to walk between Eurasia and North America.
Volcanoes are also the reason Iceland is one of the least polluted countries in the world. Geothermal heat from the abundant hot springs—one of the cheapest and cleanest forms of energy in existence—keeps 85% of the homes warm and meltwater from glaciers is a potential source of hydroelectric power.
Volcanic ash is a rich fertilizer and is what creates Iceland’s beautiful black sand beaches.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:001\_Volcano\_eruption\_of\_Litli-Hr%C3%BAtur\_in\_Iceland\_in\_2023\_Photo\_by\_Giles\_Laurent.jpg
Giles Laurent, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons