Lava fountains tower over Heimaey in the early stages of the Eldfell eruption

Eldfell is a cinder cone volcano just over 200 metres (650 feet) high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption which began without warning just outside the town of Heimaey on January 23, 1973. Its name means Fire Mountain in Icelandic. Image File history File links Early_stages_of_the_1973_eruption_of_Eldfell. ... Image File history File links Early_stages_of_the_1973_eruption_of_Eldfell. ... Cinder Cone is a cinder cone volcano in Lassen Volcanic National Park. ... Volcano 1. ... Categories: | ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Heimaey off of southwest Iceland Heimaey (pronounced HAY-mah-ay or IPA: ) is the largest island (13. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

The eruption caused a major crisis for the island and nearly led to its permanent evacuation. Volcanic ash fell over most of the island, destroying many houses, and a lava flow threatened to close off the harbour, the island's main income source via its fishing fleet. 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. Emergency evacuation is the movement of persons from a dangerous place due to the threat or occurrence of a disastrous event. ... Ash plume from Mt Cleveland, a stratovolcano Diamond Head, a well-known backdrop to Waikiki in Hawaii, is an ash cone that solidified into tuff Volcanic ash consists of very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. ... In computer programming jargon, lava flow is a problem in which computer code, usually written under less than optimal conditions, is put into production and then built on when still in a developmental state. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering animals not classifiable as insects which breathe in water or pass their lives in water. ... Sea water is water from a sea or ocean. ...

Following the end of the eruption, the islanders used the heat from the slowly cooling lava flows to provide hot water and to generate electricity. They also used some of the extensive tephra fall of airborne volcanic material to extend the runway at the island's small airport, and as landfill on which 200 new houses were built. Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... Tephra refers to air-fall material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. ... Runway 13R/31L of El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. ... Albury landfill, Surrey, England A landfill, also known as a dump (US) or a tip (UK), is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment. ...

Background

Heimaey before the eruption

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. It is estimated that a third of all the basaltic lava erupted in the world in recorded history has been produced by Icelandic eruptions. Image File history File links Heimaey_before_1973. ... Image File history File links Heimaey_before_1973. ... Courtesy USGS The ridge was central in the breakup of Pangaea that began some 180 million years ago. ...  The North American plate, shown in brown The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Cherskiy Range in East Siberia. ...  The Eurasian plate, shown in green The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate covering Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the continents Europe and Asia) except that it does not cover the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Verkhoyansk Range in East Siberia. ... Eruption at Krafla, 1984 The Iceland hotspot is a hotspot which is partly responsible for the high volcanic activity which has formed the island of Iceland. ... Basalt Columnar basalt at Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone Basalt (IPA: ) is a common gray to black volcanic rock. ...

The Vestmannaeyjar (Icelandic for Westman islands) archipelago lies off the south coast of Iceland, and consists of several small islands, all formed by eruptions in the Holocene epoch. Heimaey, the largest island in the group and the only inhabited one, also contains some material from the Pleistocene era. The most prominent feature on Heimaey before 1973 was Helgafell, a 200 metre (650 foot) high volcanic cone formed in an eruption about 5,000 years ago. Cliffs on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (The Westman Islands) is a small archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. ... The Mergui Archipelago An archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. ... The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present day back to about 10,000 radiocarbon years, approximately 11,430 ± 130 calendar years BP (between 9560 and 9300 BC). ... The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) is part of the geologic timescale. ... Helgafell is an inactive volcano on the icelandic island Heimaey. ...

The Vestmannaeyjar archipelago was settled in about 874 AD, originally by escaped Irish slaves belonging to Norse settlers on the mainland. These settlers gave the islands their name, Ireland being west of mainland Scandinavia. Although plagued by poor water supplies and piracy during much of its history, Heimaey became the most important centre of the Icelandic fishing industry, having one of the few good harbours on the southern side of the country, and being situated in very rich fishing grounds. The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-borne explorers, traders, and warriors of the Norsemen (literally, men from the north) who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe as far east as the Volga River in Russia from the late... Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region centered on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. ... This article is about nautical piracy. ...

Since the settlement, no eruptions had been known to occur on the islands until 1963, when a new member of the archipelago, Surtsey, was formed by a four year eruption which began offshore about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south-west of Heimaey. However, offshore eruptions may have taken place in 1637 and 1896. Scientists have speculated that volcanic activity in the archipelago may be increasing due to the southward propagation of the rift zone which crosses Iceland. Surtsey, sixteen days after the onset of the eruption Surtsey (Icelandic: Surturs island) is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. ... km redirects here. ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Swedish/Norwegian mil. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Rift valley. ...

The eruption begins

Thick blocky lava flows advance into town

At about 20:00 on 21 January 1973, a series of small tremors began to occur around Heimaey. They were too weak to be felt by the residents of the island, but a seismic station 60 kilometres (35 miles) away recorded over 100 small tremors between 01:00 and 03:00 on 22 January. The tremors continued at a reduced rate until 11:00 that day, after which they stopped until 23:00 that evening. From 23:00 until 01:34 on 23 January, seven tremors were detected, the largest of which measured 2.7 on the Richter scale. Image File history File links Lava_flow_advances_into_Heimaey. ... Image File history File links Lava_flow_advances_into_Heimaey. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. ...

Small tremors are very common at plate boundaries, and nothing here indicated that they heralded a major eruption. The onset of the eruption was therefore almost entirely unexpected. 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 feet) east of Kirkjubær (Church farm), where the island's church had once been located.

The fissure rapidly extended to a length of 2 kilometres (1.2 miles), crossing the island from one shore to the other. Submarine activity also occurred just offshore at the northern and southern ends of the fissure. Spectacular lava fountaining occurred along the whole fissure, which reached a maximum length of about 3 kilometres (2 miles) during the first few hours of the eruption, but activity soon became concentrated on one vent, about 0.8 kilometre (0.5 mile) north of the old volcanic cone of Helgafell and just outside the eastern edge of the town. A lava fountain is a volcanic phenomenon is which lava is forcefully but non-explosively ejected from a crater or fissure. ...

During 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 feet) high. The name initially given to the new volcano was Kirkjufell (Church Mountain), owing to its proximity to Kirkjubær. This name was not adopted by the official Icelandic place-naming committee, who chose Eldfell (Fire Mountain) instead, despite local opposition. Tephra refers to air-fall material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. ... The cubic meter (symbol m³) is the SI derived unit of volume. ... This article is about the unit of time. ... Cinder Cone is a cinder cone volcano in Lassen Volcanic National Park. ...

Evacuation

In the early hours of the eruption, the Icelandic State Civil Defence Organisation evacuated the entire population of Heimaey, having previously developed evacuation plans for an emergency such as this. The evacuation was necessary because lava flows were already moving slowly into the eastern side of town, and the whole of the small island was threatened by the likelihood of heavy ash fall. In computer programming jargon, lava flow is a problem in which computer code, usually written under less than optimal conditions, is put into production and then built on when still in a developmental state. ... Ash plume from Mt Cleveland, a stratovolcano Diamond Head, a well-known backdrop to Waikiki in Hawaii, is an ash cone that solidified into tuff Volcanic ash consists of very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. ...

Because of severe storms in the days before the eruption, almost the entire fishing fleet was in the harbour, a stroke of luck which greatly assisted the organisation of the rapid evacuation. The population was alerted to the situation by fire engines sounding their sirens, and gathered by the harbour with just the small amount of possessions they were able to carry. The first boats left for Þorlákshöfn at about 02:30, just half an hour after the start of the eruption. Þorlákshöfn is a town on the south coast of Iceland. ...

Most of the population left the island by boat. Fortunately, the lava flows and tephra fall did not at first affect the island's airstrip, and a few people who were unable to travel by boat were evacuated by air—primarily the elderly and patients from the hospital. Within six hours of the onset of the eruption, almost all of the 5,300 people of the island were safely on the mainland. A few people remained to carry out essential functions and to salvage belongings from threatened houses. Tephra refers to air-fall material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. ...

Destruction of houses, creation of land

Houses buried by ash

Houses close to the rift were soon destroyed by lava flows and tephra fall. A few days after the eruption began, the prevailing wind direction moved to the west, resulting in extensive tephra falls over the rest of the island, causing extensive property damage. Many houses were destroyed by the weight of the ash fall, but crews of volunteers working to clear the ash from roofs and board up windows saved many more. By the end of January, tephra covered most of the island, reaching 5 metres (16 feet) deep in places. Apart from falling ash, some houses were also burned down by fires caused by lava bombs, or overridden by advancing lava flows. Image File history File links Houses_buried_by_ash_from_Edlfell. ... Image File history File links Houses_buried_by_ash_from_Edlfell. ... A lava bomb is a globule of molten rock (tephra) larger than 2. ...

By early February, the heavy tephra fall had abated, but lava flows began to cause serious damage. Submarine activity just north of the fissure severed an electric power cable and a water pipeline which supplied electrical power and water from the Icelandic mainland, and lava began to flow into the harbour, a situation which caused serious concerns - if the harbour was destroyed, the island's fishing industry would be devastated. As Heimaey was responsible for some 25% of Iceland's total annual catch, the effect on the whole country's economy would be significant. Efforts to prevent the loss of the harbour are described further below. A harbor (or harbour) or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. ...

Lava flows also moved into the sea east of the island, creating new land that would eventually add over 2 square kilometres (0.8 square mile) to the island, and into the eastern parts of town, destroying several hundred houses. The flows were thick and blocky aa lava (Icelandic:apalhraun) flows, and covered the ground to average depths of about 40 metre (130 feet), reaching 100 metre (330 feet) thick in places. Later on in the eruption, a surge of lava destroyed one fish processing plant and damaged two others, and also demolished the town's power generating plant. Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ... Look up lava, Aa, pahoehoe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Despite the eruption's close proximity to the town and the extensive property damage, only one fatality could be attributed to the eruption - a man who had broken into a chemist's store to acquire drugs was suffocated by toxic fumes. Carbon dioxide, with small amounts of poisonous gases, became concentrated in many buildings partially buried by tephra, and several other people were affected when entering these buildings.

Efforts to mitigate the hazards presented by the accumulation of poisonous gas included the building of a large tephra wall to divert gases away from the town, and the digging of a trench to channel away the CO₂ (carbon dioxide). These defences were only partially effective, as they relied on the assumption that the gases were produced at the vent, and flowed into the town from there. It is believed that as least some of the CO₂ originated deep within the volcanic conduit and percolated through older volcanic rocks, rising directly into the town. == // IGOR ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! == Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ...

Lava-cooling operations

Steam rises copiously where seawater is being used to cool the flows

The possibility of lava flows cutting off the harbour was the most significant threat facing the town. One contingency plan devised, should the harbour be closed off, was to cut through a low sand spit on the north side of the island to provide a new channel into the harbour, but it was hoped that if the lava flow could be slowed, this would not be necessary. Lava flows had been sprayed with water in attempts to slow them in Hawaii and on Mount Etna, but these had been rather small-scale operations with limited success. However, Professor Þorbjörn Sigurgeirsson of the University of Iceland calculated that it should be relatively easy to solidify the lava flows by spraying them with more copius amounts of sea water. Image File history File links Steam_rising_from_water-cooled_lava_flows,_Heimaey. ... Image File history File links Steam_rising_from_water-cooled_lava_flows,_Heimaey. ... Official language(s) English, Hawaiian Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  Ranked 43rd  - Total 10,931 sq mi (29,311 km²)  - Width n/a miles (n/a km)  - Length 1,522 miles (2,450 km)  - % water 41. ... Mount Etna (also known as Mongibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian, a combination of Latin mont- and Arabic jebel, both meaning mountain) is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. ... The University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) is a state university, founded in 1911. ...

The first attempt to slow the lava flow by spraying the leading edge with sea water began on 7 February, and although the volume of water being pumped on was rather small at 100 litres per second (26 US (liquid) gallons per second), the flow was noticeably affected. The water cooling of the lava was slow, but achieved a maximum efficiency, with almost all the water being converted to steam. Once the viability of lava cooling had been proven, efforts to halt the flows were increased. February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The litre or liter (U.S. spelling, see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ... In physical chemistry, and in engineering, steam refers to vaporized water. ...

The pumping capacity was increased in early March, when a large chunk of the crater wall broke away from the summit of Eldfell and began to be carried along the top of the lava flow towards the harbour. The chunk, dubbed Flakkarinn (The Wanderer), would have seriously threatened the viability of the harbour if it had reached it, and the dredging boat Sandey was brought in on 1 March to prevent its advance. Professor Sigurgeirsson provided advice to the pumping crews on where to direct their efforts to most efficiently slow the flows. Eventually the Wanderer broke up into two pieces which both stopped approximately 100 metres (330 feet) from the harbour mouth. March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ...

The ensuing lava-cooling operations were the most ambitious that had ever been undertaken. The Sandey was able to spray up to 400 litres per second (105 US gallons per second) onto the advancing flow, and a network of pipes was laid on top of the lava to distribute the seawater over as wide an area as possible. Wooden supports for the pipes caught fire where the lava was hottest, and even aluminium supports melted, but the pipes themselves were prevented from melting by the cold seawater flowing through them. Up to 1.2 hectares (3 acres) of lava flow could be cooled at one time, with internal barriers then being created within the flow, which thickened and piled up upon itself. General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different areas, we list here areas between 1 hectare (10,000 m²) and 10 hectares (0. ... A hectare (symbol ha) is a unit of area, equal to 10 000 square metres, commonly used for measuring land area. ... An acre is an English unit of area, which is also frequently used in the United States and some Commonwealth countries. ...

A lava flow nearly 4 months after it had stopped flowing into a street - photographed 23 July 1973

The work involved in laying pipes over an active lava was highly dangerous, with low visibility due to the extensive emission of steam. Rough tracks were made onto the flow by bulldozing tephra, but these tracks quickly became very uneven and moved several metres a day. The pipelayers used bulldozers and walkie-talkies to advance through the steam to lay more pipes. The workers dubbed themselves 'The Suicide Squad', and managed to lay pipes up to 130 metres (430 feet) inward from the flow front, directly over the advance. Although several men sustained minor burns, no serious injuries were received. Image File history File links Lava_flow_advances_down_a_Heimaey_street. ... Image File history File links Lava_flow_advances_down_a_Heimaey_street. ... A walkie-talkie is a portable, bi-directional radio transceiver, first developed for military use. ...

By the end of March, a fifth of the town had been covered by lava flows, and increased pumping capacity was required. Thirty-two pumps, each with a capacity of up to 1000 litres per second (265 US gallons per second), were brought in from the USA. After these pumps began to cool the flow advancing towards the town, its movement slowed dramatically and soon stopped. Failure of pump shafts became a problem after a few weeks, probably because they were designed for pumping oil rather than water, and new and improved shafts had to be manufactured in Reykjavík and brought in. Location in Iceland Coordinates: Constituency Reykjavík North Reykjavík South Area    - City 274. ...

One notable feature of the lava cooling operation was the deposit of large amounts of salt where seawater was sprayed onto the lava. Large expanses of flow became encrusted with extensive white deposits, and it was estimated that up to 220,000 tonnes (240,000 short tons) of salt was deposited in total. A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) Salt covering the floor of Bad Water in Death Valley, CA, the lowest point in the US. A salt, in chemistry, is any ionic compound composed of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is neutral... A tonne or metric ton (symbol t), sometimes referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. ... The short ton is a unit of mass equal to 907. ...

The eruption had made headlines around the world when it began, and was covered constantly by Icelandic news crews throughout. In Europe, the eruption was one of the biggest news items while it continued, competing for front page space with breakthroughs then being made in the Vietnam War peace talks in Paris. The efforts of the islanders to halt the lava flows received particular attention, with coverage in publications such as National Geographic (e.g. Volcano overwhelms an Icelandic village, 1973). The attention focused on the island as a result of the eruption led to a later upsurge in tourism once the eruption was over [1]. World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... The National Geographic Society was founded in the USA on January 27, 1888, by 33 men interested in organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge. ... Tourists at Oahu island, Hawaii Tourism is the act of travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. ...

The eruption dies down

Sketch showing the changes to Heimaey caused by the eruption of Eldfell

The volume of lava being emitted during the eruption fell steadily after the first few days. From its initial rate of 100 cubic metres per second (3500 cubic feet per second), the emission rate fell to about 60 cubic metres per second (2100 cubic feet per second) by 8 February, and just 10 cubic metres per second (350 cubic feet per second) by the middle of March. The decline was slower after that, but by the middle of April the flow rate had fallen to about 5 cubic metres per second (180 cubic feet per second). Image File history File links Eldfell_eruption_diagram. ... Image File history File links Eldfell_eruption_diagram. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Short-lived submarine activity was discovered by a fishing vessel on 26 May, about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) north-east of Heimaey and 1 kilometre (0.6 mile) off the coast of the mainland. The eruption finally came to an end in early July, when flowing lava was no longer visible, although subsurface flows may have continued for a few days longer. Shortly before the end of the eruption, a tiltmeter 1150 metres (3750 feet) from the crater which had been measuring ground deformation throughout the eruption detected subsidence towards the crater, implying that the shallow magma chamber which had fed the eruption was emptying out. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... A tiltmeter is a device used to measure the slope, or tilt, of the Earths surface. ... A magma chamber is a chamber typically between 1 km and 10 km beneath the surface of the Earth formed as rising magma forms a reservoir if it is unable to rise any further. ...

In total, the volume of lava and tephra emitted during the five-month eruption was estimated to be about 0.25 cubic kilometre (0.06 cubic mile). About 2.5 square kilometres (1 square mile) of new land was added to the island, increasing its pre-eruption area by some 20%. In the end, the harbour entrance was narrowed considerably but not closed off, and the new lava flow acted as a breakwater, actually improving the shelter afforded by the harbour. Flakkarinn rafted several hundred metres towards the harbour along the top of the lava flow, but came to a halt well away from the water's edge.

Heimaey since the eruption

The street shown above, cleared of lava after the eruption

The insides of lava flows can remain at temperatures of several hundred degrees for many years due to the very low thermal conductivity of rock. Following the end of the eruption, scientists began to assess the feasibility of extracting geothermal heat from the gradually cooling flows. Experimental heating systems were soon devised, and by 1974 the first house was connected. The scheme was extended to several more houses and the hospital, and in 1979 construction began of four larger plants to extract heat from the flows. Each plant extracted energy from a square 100 metres (330 feet) on each side, by percolating water down into the hot parts and collecting the resulting steam. Up to 40 megawatts (MW) of power could be generated by the plants, which also then supplied hot water to nearly every house on the island. Image File history File links Heimaey_street_cleared_of_lava. ... Image File history File links Heimaey_street_cleared_of_lava. ... In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the intensive property of a material that indicates its ability to conduct heat. ... Geothermal power is electricity generated by utilizing naturally occurring geological heat sources. ... The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ...

Helgafell (left) and Eldfell (right) today. The line of the 1973 fissure south of Eldfell is clearly seen

The abundant tephra produced by the eruption was used to extend the runways at the island's small airport, and also as landfill on which 200 new homes were built. By mid-1974, about half the pre-eruption population had returned to the island, and by March 1975, about 80% had returned. The recovery and reconstruction of Heimaey was paid for by all Icelanders via a hypothecated sales tax, as well as through international aid totalling US$ 2.1 million primarily from Denmark but with substantial contributions from the United States and several international organisations. With the harbour improved by the new lava breakwater, the fishing industry regained its former vigour and the island today remains the most important fishing centre in the nation. Image File history File links Eldfell,_Helgafell_and_the_fissure. ... Image File history File links Eldfell,_Helgafell_and_the_fissure. ... Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. ... Hypothecation is a pledge of property as security for a debt without transfer of possession. ... A sales tax is a state or locality imposed percentage tax on the selling or renting of certain property or services. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 3. ...

By the end of the eruption, Eldfell stood about 220 metres (720 feet) above sea level. Since then, its height has dropped by 18 to 20 metres (60 to 65 feet), due to slumping and compacting of the unconsolidated gravelly tephra as well as wind erosion. The islanders have planted grass around the lower slopes of the otherwise bare hill, to stabilise it against further erosion, and eventually it is expected that most of the volcano will be covered by grass, as neighbouring Helgafell is. Gravel being unloaded from a barge Gravel is rock that is of a certain grain size range. ... Tephra refers to air-fall material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. For erosion as understood by materials science, see Erosion (materials science) For erosion as an English analogy, see Erosion (figurative) Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water... Natural vegetaton dominated by grasses Grass is a common word that generally describes a monocotyledonous green plant in the family Poaceae, True grasses include most plants grown as cereals, for pasture, and for lawns. ...

See also

• Geography of Iceland
• Lakes of Iceland
• List of volcanoes in Iceland
• Volcanoes of Iceland

Iceland is a large island with extensive volcanic and geothermal activity located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean east of Greenland immediately south of the Arctic Circle. ... Lakes of Iceland partially indicating surface or depth Þórisvatn 83-88 km², 114 m Þingvallavatn 82 km², 114 m Lagarfljót(Lögurinn) 53 km², 112 m Mývatn 37 km², 4,5 m Hvitárvatn 30 km², 84 m Hóp 29 - 44 km², depending on tides Langisjór... This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Iceland. ... Eruption at Eldfell volcano, just outside a town of 5000 people, in 1973 Iceland has a very high number of active volcanoes due to its unique geological conditions. ...

References

1. Center for Short-Lived Phenomena Event Reports 1545, 1547, 1552, 1567, published by the Smithsonian Institution
2. Kristjansson L., Simon I., Cohen M.L., Björnsson S. (1975), Ground tilt measurements during the 1973 Heimaey eruption, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 80, p. 2951-2954
3. Lava-Cooling Operations During the 1973 Eruption of Eldfell Volcano, Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-724
4. Mattsson H., Hoskuldsson A. (2003), Geology of the Heimaey volcanic centre, south Iceland: early evolution of a central volcano in a propagating rift?, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 127, p. 55-71
5. Williams Jr. R.S., Moore J.G., (1983), Man Against Volcano: The Eruption on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, 2nd edition, published by USGS
6. John McPhee The Control of Nature (1989) ISBN 0-374-12890-1 The middle third of this book is devoted to this eruption, its immediate effects, the lava-cooling operations, and the people involved and affected.

The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ... John McPhee is widely recognized for his writing on geology. ...

External links

• VolcanoWorld information
• Information from www.eyjar.is
• A description of the eruption and evacuation
• Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program - Vestmannaeyjar
• Pompei of the north. The plan is to excavate 7-10 houses that were covered by ash. http://www.pompeiofthenorth.com/

Coordinates: 63°26′N 20°16′W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...