Rauðhólar (Reykjavík)
mountain

The Rauðhólar (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈrœyðˌhouːlar̥]) are remnants of a cluster of rootless cones in Elliðaárhraun [ˈɛtlɪːðaˌaur̥ˌr̥œyːn] lava fields on the south-eastern outskirts of Reykjavík, Iceland next to the South Iceland part of Hringvegur, the Suðurlandsvegur.
Name
The name Rauðhólar means “Red Mounds”. It refers to the reddish color of their rocks due to iron oxidations.
Some other volcanic cone groups in Iceland also bear the name of Rauðhólar (see e.g. Rauðhólar (Vesturdalur)).
Geography
The cone group is situated not far from Reykjavík's district of Norðlingaholt [ˈnɔ(r)tliŋkaˌhɔl̥t] and between the Hringvegur and the lake Elliðavatn. Sometimes the rootless cone group is also called Rauðhólar við/near Elliðavatn.
The cones are placed directly over the connected lava flow, in this case the Elliðaárhraun, which has a width of about 2 km (1.2 mi) and a length of about 27 km (17 mi). Scientists to the beginning of the 20th century counted 150 cones.“The largest cone of the group had a width of 212 m and rose 22 m above the surrounding lava surface.”.
Geology
These rootless cones, also called pseudocraters, are part of the Leitahraun lava, lava flows from a shield volcano up on Hellisheiði.
“Rauðhólar (Reykjavík)” enters the record as mountain. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Rauðhólar, Reykjavík and mountain can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Rauðhólar (Reykjavík)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Rauðhólar, Reykjavík and mountain provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1145793. VIAF identifies the subject as 9318152140011211100007. Authority coordinates are 64.095, -21.755. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rauðhólar (Reykjavík)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.