Hekla
No volcano has been
as unpredictable. Eruptions have at from around 100 year intervals to
the recent 10 yearly eruptions. Long periods of quiescence are
followed by explosive rhyolitic eruptions and destructive ash
fall.
Our reason for
visiting Hekla was twofold - partly to see the geology of the volcano
at first hand and climb part of the way up to the top, partly to
visualise the devastation caused in the Þjórsá
valley by the major eruption of 1104.
click for larger image (70Kb
and 82Kb))
But first - what did we see?
No that´s not actually the top of Hekla but the northern lower
slopes of the 5 km long ridge which forms the backbone of the
volcano. As you can see, the blowing snow obscured our view of the
top today.
More information and
images:
The
eruption of 1970 - we
drive to the north of Hekla to
Skjólkvíarhraun
The
Þjórsá valley and settlement - we investigate devastation from the 1104
eruption
Hekla -
from the Nordic Volcanological Research Institute, Reykjavík - a good scientific
summary of the geology, tephra distribution and geochemistry from NVI
geoscientists.
How does a volcanic
eruption look to a four year old?
