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All Iceland Diamond Beach

Diamond Beach

A black sand beach where glacial fragments wash ashore and look like sparkling diamonds.

Iceland

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  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  caitlingeneva (Atlas Obscura User)
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  snaelandtravel / Atlas Obscura User
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  caitlingeneva (Atlas Obscura User)
  caitlingeneva (Atlas Obscura User)
Sharing a parking area with the Jökulsárlón lagoon, Diamond Beach is reliably scattered with chunks of ice that have recently fallen from a glacier and drifted out to sea.   bthrockmorton / Atlas Obscura User
  delna / Atlas Obscura User
  jyackabonis / Atlas Obscura User
Parking lot at Diamond Beach   CaliCoop / Atlas Obscura User
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
  tbobpage / Atlas Obscura User
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About

They say that diamonds are forever, but the sparkling gems that give this volcanic black sand beach its name could melt away in the right conditions. The "diamonds" of Diamond Beach are chunks of ice from Breiðamerkurjökull, a nearby glacier. Diamond Beach is located across the road from Jökulsárlón, Iceland's largest lagoon.

When ice calves from the glacier, the chunks float in the lagoon, flow down a stream that passes under Iceland's Ring Road, and float out to sea. Some of them wash ashore in pieces as large as a car.

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Published

January 25, 2024

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