This lava field and its two crater rows were created by fissure eruptions.  One of the crater rows is close to the edge of the glacier and the other further north, were the lava field is sanded and plain.  The southern part is still rugged and difficult to traverse.  Just west of the lava field is a flat alluvial plain, which gets flooded when it gets warmer in spring and on warm and sunny summer days in the afternoon.  Usually the water disappears into the sand further north.  Quite a few unfortunate drivers have bogged down their jeeps or buses fording this wide area because of lack of experience.  On warm and dry days, thick sandstorms arise and visibility is reduced to almost zero.  Then it is better to have a compass at hand or reliable points to navigate through by GPS.  On a fine day the panoramic view is breathtaking in this remote area. To the east of the lava field the edge of the vast glacier snout continues all the way to the Kverkfjoll Area, and the mainstay of the volume of River Jokulsa a Fjollum alights there.  In 1880, the Danish government sent a group of people to rediscover the ancient routes of the interior.  This expedition visited the area and named the lava field Kvislarhraun.  Four years later, the naturalist and explorer Thorvaldur Thoroddsen named it Holuhraun.

Kistufell 7 km, Urdarhals 5 Km <Holuhraun> Askja 43 km.