Iceland structure and volcanism: An alternative vision based on the model of volcanic systems

• We realize a spatial distribution analysis of active central volcanoes of Iceland.
• Application of the hydrostatic model of volcanic system to Iceland.
• The thin-crust model appears the best fit to Icelandic features.
• Hydrostatic principles explain the relation between crustal structure and volcanism.
• Icelandic shifts of volcanic centers are a result of crustal structure evolution.

Iceland’s crustal structure and volcanic history is critical in our understanding of the accretion and emergence of the island. The current tectonic model is based on a thick-crust model, which is challenged by a largely overlooked thin-crust model. These two models are based on different datasets and present several opposite features regarding the location of thinner and thicker crust. In this paper, in order to compare both models, we confront each of them with a new analysis of the spatial repartition of central and shield volcanoes across Iceland, and with an application of the hydrostatic model of volcanic systems from Cañón-Tapia (2009). As a result of this analysis the thin-crust model appears to be the best fitted to the Icelandic features. Using the hydrostatic model of volcanic systems from Cañón-Tapia (2009) we are able to present an alternative model explaining the complex volcanic history in Iceland as well as the crustal accretion mechanism. Instead of a complex plate boundary with several ridge-jumps and microplates, we consider Iceland as a diffuse plate boundary where volcanism occurs in clusters whose location and evolution are directly related to the crustal thickness.