| 摘 要： | Opening of the North Atlantic about 60 million years ago was associated with massive basaltic volcanism, now found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Divergence of the North American and Eurasian plates since then has formed the ocean floor in the North Atlantic, with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge marking the present day plate boundary. Iceland is the only large sub-aerial portion of the ridge. These unique conditions provide a ＂window＂ on divergent plate tectonics and related geologic processes, some of the main features of which are described and explained in this paper： The geological record in Iceland reaches back into late Tertiary and is particularly notable for the interplay of rift-volcanism and glaciation during the last three million years of rapid climate change.
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