Maelifellssandur Mountainous countryside near Maelifellssandur, Myrdalsjökull Region, Iceland. Once the young lava fields of Iceland cool down, life begins anew little by little. Ice, wind and water flatten and carve out shapes to begin with, then, during the summer, bacteria, lichen and fungi prepare the soil for plants, in particular mosses which adapt to an environment which remains difficult. These plants colonise the most favourable sites and terrain little by little, forming a new ecosystem. This is a wide sand and gravel plain north of the glacier Myrdalsjokull. North of it is the mountainous and colorful rhyolite and high temperature area called Torfajokull. The plain lies about 600 m above sea level. It is rather flat and barren and during the melting season, when large parts of it are under water, the travellers have to be careful not to get bogged down in the quagmires. The plain was named after a low, free-standing mountain, Maelifell, on its eastern pa...