Words by

Nanna Árnadóttir

@nannaarnadottir

Photo by

Einar Á. E. Sæmundsen

A strange pattern has formed across the frozen Þingvallavatn Lake in Þingvellir National Park.

“What’s interesting about it is the regularity of the crack,” local man Kolbeinn Sveinbjörnsson told RÚV while pointing to the linear step shape of the crack. “And also interesting is the fact that this is a very unusual place for a rupture in the ice.”

Cracks like this one form when two ice planes of ice meet on the lake, Kolbeinn told RÚV. As the pressure builds, one ice plane is driven on top of the other, then the ice thaws and the plane falls back into the water leaving a crack between the two sheets.