Lava flow iceland series#

The name initially given to the new volcano was Kirkjufell ( Church Mountain), owing to its proximity to Kirkjubær. ĭuring the early days of the eruption, the rate of lava and tephra emission from the fissure was estimated to be 100 cubic metres per second (3,500 cubic feet per second), and within two days, the lava fountains had built a cinder cone over 100 metres (330 ft) high. Spectacular lava fountaining 50 to 150 metres high occurred along the whole fissure, which reached a maximum length of about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) during the first few hours of the eruption, but activity soon became concentrated on one vent, about 0.8-kilometre (0.50 mi) north of the old volcanic cone of Helgafell and just outside the eastern edge of the town. Submarine activity also occurred just offshore at the northern and southern ends of the fissure.

The fissure rapidly extended from 300 metres to a length of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), crossing the island from one shore to the other. At about 01:55 on 23 January, a fissure opened up on the eastern side of the island, barely a kilometre away from the centre of the town of Heimaey, approximately 200 metres (650 ft) east of Kirkjubær ( Church farm), where the island's church had once been located. The onset of the eruption was therefore almost entirely unexpected. Small tremors are very common at plate boundaries, and nothing here indicated that they heralded a major eruption. The largest tremor measured 2.7 on the Richter scale. From 23:00 until 01:34 on 23 January, seven tremors were detected that grew shallower and more intense, while the epicenter moved closer to the town of Vestmannaeyjar. The tremors continued at a reduced rate until 11:00 that day, after which they stopped until 23:00 that evening. They were too weak to be felt by the residents of the island, but a seismic station 60 kilometres (37 mi) away, near the mainland, recorded over 100 large tremors between 01:00 and 03:00 on 22 January that appeared to be emanating from south of Heimaey.

Lava flow iceland series#

The eruption begins Īt about 20:00 on 21 January 1973, a series of small tremors began to occur around Heimaey. Although plagued by poor water supplies and piracy during much of its history, Heimaey became the most important center of the Icelandic fishing industry, having one of the few good harbors on the southern side of the country, and being situated in very rich fishing grounds. These settlers gave the islands their name, Ireland being west of mainland Scandinavia. The Vestmannaeyjar archipelago was settled in about 874 AD, originally by escaped Irish slaves belonging to Norse settlers on the mainland.

The most prominent feature on Heimaey before 1973 was Helgafell, a 200 meters (650 ft) high volcanic cone formed in an eruption about 5,000 years ago. Heimaey, the largest island in the group and the only inhabited one, also contains some material from the Pleistocene era. The Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) archipelago lies off the south coast of Iceland, and consists of several small islands, all formed by eruptions in the Holocene epoch. Map of Heimaey after the eruption of Eldfell in January 1973 It is estimated that a third of all the basaltic lava erupted in the world in recorded history has been produced by Icelandic eruptions. Iceland is a region of frequent volcanic activity, due to its location astride the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian Plates are moving apart, and also over the Iceland hotspot, which greatly enhances the volcanic activity. They also used some of the extensive tephra, fall-out of airborne volcanic material to extend the runway at the island's small airport and as landfill on which 200 new houses were built. An operation was mounted to cool the advancing lava flow by pumping sea water onto it, which was successful in preventing the loss of the harbour.Īfter the eruption, the islanders used heat from the cooling lava flows to provide hot water and to generate electricity. Volcanic ash fell over most of the island, destroying around 400 homes, and a lava flow threatened to close off the harbour, the island's main income source via its fishing fleet.

The eruption caused a major crisis for the island and led to its temporary evacuation. The name means Hill of Fire in Icelandic. It formed in a volcanic eruption which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over 200 metres (660 ft) high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey.