Gluggafoss has a total height of approximately 52 m and features two main drops: one for 44 m into a narrow recess, then another for a further 8.5 m (in three main channels). The cliff supporting Gluggafoss has an upper palagonite (or tuff rock) portion and a lower basalt portion. Distinctive of Gluggafoss' geology are the holes and tunnels formed by the river through the soft palagonite. Known in Icelandic as gluggar, or 'windows', these holes allow observers at the base of the waterfall to see partly obscured water flow. According to the on-site signpost, the upper half of the waterfall could be seen only through three such vertically arranged holes prior to 1947. Hekla, due roughly 30 km north-northeast, erupted in that year, filling the river Merkjá and the tunnels of Gluggafoss with volcanic ash; this severely diminished the waterfall's exterior visibility for decades. By the present day, however, erosion has undone the blockages.