Mývatnssveit is an area, renowned for its natural beauty and outdoor recreation possibilities - offering magnificent landscape together with rich animal- and bird life. There are various natural features, for example pseudo-craters and explosive craters, extensive lava fields (the youngest created in recent volcanic eruptions), bizarre lava rock formations and one of the biggest high temperature areas in the country with sulphur springs, solfataras and fumaroles. The natural resources of the area have been harnessed for a Diatomite factory and Geothermal station Krafla. One of the largest concentration of breeding ducks in the whole world lies at Mývatn. Every type of breeding ducks in Iceland is found at Mývatn and river Laxá. Among those is the American Barrow’s Goldeneye, which is found nowhere else in Europe - as a breeding bird. The outflow of Mývatn, Laxá river, is very rich in salmon and arctic char. The Mývatn and Laxá area has been protected by special law since 1974.