Due to Iceland’s location in the Middle Atlantic mountain range, a divergent boundary of the tectonic plate and its location over a hot spot, the northern Nordic island country has a high concentration of active volcanoes.
Known as the land of fire and ice, the island currently has 32 active volcanic systems, 13 of which have seen eruptions since the colonization of Iceland in 874 AD. The most active system is Grímsvötn.
Iceland is the largest and most active volcanic region in Europe, home to a third of the lava that has flowed on Earth in the last 5,000 years – since the Middle Ages, according to Visit Iceland.
The vast North Atlantic island borders the Arctic Circle, where it extends through the Middle Atlantic Range, a crevice at the bottom of the ocean that separates the tectonic plates from Eurasia and North America. The displacement of these plates is partly responsible for Iceland’s intense volcanic activity.
Despite being located in the far north, close to the arctic circle, Iceland’s volcanoes can have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the globe. In 2010, an eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent huge clouds of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, causing the greatest disruption of peacetime air traffic until the Covid-19 pandemic.
The interruption lasted more than a week, with the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights worldwide and leaving around 10 million passengers stranded.
In the photo: the northern lights are seen above the ash column of a volcano in Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, April 22, 2010
934
The Eldgja eruption – which means “canyon of fire” in Icelandic – is the largest basalt lava eruption the world has ever seen. Part of the same volcanic system as the powerful Katla volcano, the Eldgja fissure is 75 kilometers long, extending to the western edge of Vatnajokull. The eruption led to two large lava fields covering 301 square miles.
1783
The eruption of the Laki volcanic fissure in the south of the island is considered by some experts to be the most devastating in Icelandic history, causing its greatest environmental and socioeconomic catastrophe: 50 to 80 percent of Iceland’s cattle have been killed, leading to a famine that has left a quarter of Iceland’s population killed.
The volume of lava, almost 15 cubic kilometers (3.6 cubic miles), is the second largest recorded on Earth in the last millennium.
The meteorological impact of the Laki eruptions had repercussions for several years in the Northern Hemisphere, causing a drop in global temperatures and crop failures in Europe, as millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were released.
Some experts have suggested that the consequences of the eruption may have contributed to the triggering of the French Revolution, although the issue is still up for debate.
The 130 craters still smoking from the volcano were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019, along with the entire Vatnajokull national park to which it belongs.
In the photo: Laki Volcanic cones left behind after their eruption in 1783. The volume of lava, almost 15 cubic kilometers (3.6 cubic miles), is the second largest recorded on Earth in the last millennium
1875
Virtually unknown at the time, Askja, Iceland’s second largest volcanic system, erupted in three distinct phases. Two of the three ash clouds rose more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) across the sky.
Toxic precipitation across Iceland, which in some places reached a thickness of 20 centimeters (eight inches), killed livestock, contaminated the soil and triggered a wave of emigration to North America.
Isolated on a plateau and far from civilization, Askja is now a popular tourist attraction and its lava fields were used to train astronauts for the 1965 and 1967 Apollo missions.
1918
Considered one of Iceland’s most dangerous volcanoes, Katla’s latest eruption added five kilometers of land to the country’s south coast.
Located under the Myrdalsjokull glacier, when Katla erupts, it ejects large amounts of tefra, or fragments of solidified magma rock that are spread into the air and carried away by the powerful glacier flood caused by melting ice.
With an average of two eruptions per century, Katla has not erupted violently for more than 100 years and experts say it should have already occurred.
Satellite image of the Katla volcano located in Iceland. Image taken on September 20, 2014. Considered one of Iceland’s most dangerous volcanoes, Katla’s latest eruption added five kilometers of land to the country’s south coast.
1973
In one of the most dramatic eruptions in the country’s recent history, the island of Heimaey in the Westman Islands woke up one January morning to an eruption in a fissure just 150 meters from the city center.
The eruption of the Eldfell volcano occurred not only in a populated area – one of the most important fishing zones in the country at the time – but it also surprised residents at dawn. One third of the homes in the area were destroyed and the 5,300 residents were evacuated. One person died.
2010
In April 2010, huge plumes of ash rose in the sky for several weeks during the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, causing the greatest disruption of peacetime air traffic until the Covid-19 pandemic.
About 100,000 flights were canceled, leaving more than 10 million travelers stranded.
In the photo: Horse grazing as a cloud of volcanic matter rises from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 16, 2010 in Fimmvorduhals, Iceland. A major eruption occurred on April 14, 2010, which resulted in a cloud of volcanic ash being launched into the atmosphere over parts of northern Europe, disrupting air travel. About 100,000 flights were canceled, leaving more than 10 million travelers stranded
2011
The Grimsvotn volcano, also located under the Vatnajokull glacier, is Iceland’s most active volcano. Its last eruption was in May 2011, the ninth since 1902.
For a week, it launched an ash cloud 25 kilometers (15 miles) into the sky, causing the cancellation of more than 900 flights, mainly in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Germany.
2014 – 2015
The awakening of Bardarbunga, a volcano located under the Vatnajokull glacier – the largest ice cap in Europe – in the heart of southern Iceland’s uninhabited highlands, was the most recent eruption before Friday.
The volcano erupted for five months, both under the ice and breaking through the surface in a crack in the Holuhraun lava field, creating Iceland’s largest basaltic lava flow in more than 230 years, but without causing injury or damage.