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. The island has about 130 volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since the settlement of Iceland. Over the past 500 years, Iceland's volcanoes have erupted a third of the total global Lava output, and the Laki eruption of 1783 gave rise to the largest single lava flow in recorded world history. Image File history File links Heimaeyeruption. ... Lava fountains tower over Heimaey in the early stages of the Eldfell eruption Eldfell is a cinder cone volcano just over 200 m high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Eruption redirects here. ... // Early history Iceland is, in geological terms, a young island. ... Look up lava, Aa, and pahoehoe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The name Laki has more than one meaning:- A town called Laki in Plovdiv district in Bulgaria. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Geologists explain this intense activity as being due to a combination of the island's position on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and a volcanic hotspot underneath the island. The island sits astride the boundary between the Eurasian and North American Plates, and most volcanic activity is concentrated along the plate boundary, which runs across the island from the south-west to the north-east of the island. Courtesy USGS The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mostly underwater mountain range of the Atlantic Ocean that runs from 87°N (about 333 km South of the North Pole) to subantarctic Bouvet Island, where it turns into Atlantic-Indian-Ridge and continues further East through Crozet Plateau to the Southwest... In geology, a hotspot is a location on the Earths surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time. ... The Eurasian plate is shown in green on this map. ... The North American plate is shown in brown on this map The North American Plate is a continental tectonic plate covering most of North America, extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Cherskiy Range in East Siberia. ...

The craters of Grábrók

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 376 KB)Craters of Grábrók, Iceland, GNU-FDL I took the picture my-self in April 2004, no other copyrights involved. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 376 KB)Craters of Grábrók, Iceland, GNU-FDL I took the picture my-self in April 2004, no other copyrights involved. ...

Notable volcanoes

The most important volcanoes of Iceland are: [1]

In the south west of the island: Hekla, Mýrdalsjökull with Katla, Eldgjá and the Laki craters, Hvannadalshnjúkur (or Öræfajökull), Snæfellsjökull. Hekla is a volcano located in the south of Iceland at 63. ... Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull is a glacier in the south of Iceland. ... For the dragon in The Brothers Lionheart see Katla (dragon). ... Eldgjá is a volcanic canyon in Iceland. ... The name Laki has more than one meaning:- A town called Laki in Plovdiv district in Bulgaria. ... The Hvannadalshnjúkur is a volcano in the southeast of Iceland. ... Hvannadalshnjúkur mountain is a volcano in the southeast of Iceland. ... Snæfellsjökull is a strato volcano with a glacier (isl. ...

In the north of the country and in the interior: the glacier Vatnajökull with Bárðarbunga, Grímsvötn and Kverkfjöll, Krafla, Askja and Herðubreið. Aletsch glacier, Switzerland A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ... Vatnajökull, Iceland Vatnajökull (IPA: [ˈvahdÌ¥naËŒjøœːg̊ʏdÌ¥l]) is the largest glacier in Iceland. ... // General information The Grímsvötn (Icelandic vatn, or lake) are lakes in Iceland. ... The mountain range Kverkfjöll (1920 m) is situated on the north-eastern border of the glacier Vatnajökull in Iceland. ... Krafla volcanic area Krafla is a volcanic system with a diameter of about 20 km in the north of Iceland in the Mývatn region. ... Askja volcano is situated in a remote part of the central highlands of Iceland (location: 65. ... Herðubreið (1682 m) is a volcano and table mountain (moberg mountain) in the north-east of Iceland. ...

Also, off the south coast in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago are the recently-active Surtsey, and Eldfell on Heimaey. Cliffs on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (The Westman Islands) is a small archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. ... Surtsey, sixteen days after the onset of the eruption Surtsey (Icelandic: Surturs island) is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. ... Lava fountains tower over Heimaey in the early stages of the Eldfell eruption Eldfell is a cinder cone volcano just over 200 m high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. ... Cliffs on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar Heimaey is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar cluster, approximately 4 nautical miles (7. ...

Haukadalur

There are also many regions of geothermal activity, such as the Hengill central volcano with Hveragerði, Haukadalur with the well known Geysir, and Hveravellir. Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 228 KB)Haukadalur, Iceland, GNU-FDL I took the photo myself in april 2004, no other copyrights involved. ... Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 228 KB)Haukadalur, Iceland, GNU-FDL I took the photo myself in april 2004, no other copyrights involved. ... Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ... The Hengill (isl. ... Hveragerði Hveragerði is a small town in the south of Iceland at about 40 km to the east of Reykjavík on the river Varmá. It has around 1,700 residents. ... Haukadalur is a name shared by three valleys in Iceland. ... Geysir (full name The Great Geysir), in the Haukadalur valley, Iceland, is the oldest geyser in recorded history and one of the worlds most impressive examples of the phenomenon. ...

See also

• Geography 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. ...

External links

• Images of Grimsvotn 2004 eruption
• Search engine and map of Iceland