Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
their associated craters are probably the most common type of eruption in Iceland. The
still-volatile Lakagígar crater row around Mt Laki is the country's most unearthly example.
It produced the largest lava flow in human history in the 18th century, covering an area of
565 sq km to a depth of 12m.
Several of Iceland's liveliest volcanoes are found beneath glaciers, which makes for dra-
matic eruptions as molten lava and ice interact. The main 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
was of this type: it caused a
jökulhlaup
(flooding caused by volcanic eruption beneath an
ice cap) that damaged part of the Ring Road, before throwing up the famous ash plume
that grounded Europe's aeroplanes. Iceland's most active volcano, Grímsvötn, which lies
beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap, behaved in a similar fashion in 2011.
Iceland not only has subglacial eruptions, but also submarine ones. In 1963 the island of
Surtsey exploded from the sea, giving scientists the opportunity to study how smouldering
chunks of newly created land are colonised by plants and animals. Surtsey is off-limits to
visitors, but you can climb many classical-looking cones such as Hekla, once thought to be
the gateway to Hell; Eldfell, which did its best to bury the town of Heimaey in 1974; and
Snæfellsjökull on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
Recent eruptions in Iceland have tended to be fairly harmless - they're often called
'tourist eruptions' because their fountains of magma, electric storms and dramatic ash
clouds make perfect photos but cause relatively little damage. This is partly due to the
sparsely populated land, and partly because devastating features such as fast-flowing lava,
lahars (mudslides) and pyroclastic surges (like the ones that obliterated Pompeii and Her-
culaneum) are usually absent in this part of the world.
The main danger lies in the gases that are released: suffocating carbon dioxide, highly
acidic sulphur-based gases, and the deadly fluorine that poisoned people and livestock dur-
ing the Laki eruptions. The Icelandic Met Office (Veðurstofa Íslands;
www.vedur.is
)
keeps
track of eruptions and the earthquakes that tend to proceed them, plus the emissions that
follow; its work during 2014's Bárðarbunga seismic events and volcanic activity includes
daily factsheets.
