Dettifoss, Waterfall in Jökulsárgljúfur, Iceland
Dettifoss is a waterfall in the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon in northeastern Iceland that pours across roughly 100 meters of width as it falls into the black gorge. The water drops about 44 meters and creates constant mist that blankets the area in moisture from dawn through dusk.
Dettifoss lies on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum, which drains the northern part of the Vatnajökull glacier and leaves it through ice caves at the subglacial volcano Kverkfjöll. The river drops over the 44-metre fall about one kilometre downstream of the 10-metre Selfoss step and continues two kilometres to the 27-metre Hafragilsfoss. The falls sit within Vatnajökull National Park.
The name Dettifoss comes from the Icelandic words detta ("fall" or "collapse") and foss ("waterfall"). The falls appear in the opening scene of the 2012 science-fiction film Prometheus, standing in for a primordial Earth landscape. Composer Jón Leifs wrote his Opus 57, titled "Dettifoss", inspired by the waterfall.
Route 862, a 23.8 km tarmac road off Route 1, ends at a large free car park with WCs on the west bank; the last 1.5 km to the falls is on foot. The older gravel Route 864 on the east bank is best driven with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The west bank has a pit toilet, a maintained path and a viewing platform; the east bank has an information panel and a public toilet.
The waterfall appears in the opening scene of the 2012 science-fiction film Prometheus, standing in for a primordial Earth landscape. Composer Jón Leifs also wrote his orchestral piece Dettifoss (Op. 57) after this fall.
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