When Icelandic volcanoes set the world on fire...
One of its most active volcanoes is Bárðarbunga, Iceland's second highest at 2,009 m, which erupted in August 2014 in Holuhraun. It covers more than 65 km2, with a caldera 25 m deep. The main consequence of the eruption was to affect air quality as far away as France! However, the main threats were the disruption of air traffic and the appearance of an immense and devastating flood(jökulhlaup) following a major melting of ice from Vatnajökull, the country's largest ice cap.
In 2010, the Eyjafjöll volcano was also on every TV screen. The aftermath of its eruption, three weeks after the volcano's first appearance in almost 200 years, will not soon be forgotten. The eruption on April 14, 2010 was accompanied by a massive cloud of ash, which spread across the sky, causing disruption and blocking European and global air traffic for several days. Volcanic activity continued sporadically for several months, finally coming to a halt in October 2010.
The snow-cappedHekla , surrounded by black lava, is also one of the country's most active volcanoes. Until now, it has been known to erupt every ten years, but it last erupted on February 26, 2000, and fire can break out at any time. Imagine, it was only climbed in 1750, because a local belief claimed it was a gateway to hell. It's true that climbing Hekla can take on apocalyptic proportions! Its eruptions are particularly unpredictable, and their signs only become apparent very shortly beforehand. In 1991, the first tremors were recorded just 30 minutes before the eruption began. Given that it takes at least two hours to reach its summit, a climb to Mount Hekla is a unique experience that can also make you break out in a cold sweat (or rather, a very hot one).
In December 2023, a major eruption took place on the Reykjanes peninsula, not far south of the capital, between the Svartsengi geothermal power station and the village of Grindavík, not far from the Blue Lagoon tourist site, with particularly impressive lava flows.
How do Icelanders adapt?
Yet Icelanders have learned to live with these dangers. On the small island of Heimaey, for example, a large town stretches right up to the foot of Kirkjufell, the "church mountain" born of the 1973 eruption of its old neighbor Helgafell, the "holy mountain". In the north, the Hverfjall, next to Ludent, resembles a huge soup plate. Next to it are the fissural volcanoes Threngslaborgir and Ludentsborgir, whose lava flows, in contact with the water of the great lake Mývatn, have formed crater-topped mounds known as "pseudo-craters".
Generally speaking, you'll notice that towns are often far from active volcanoes. If you follow Route 1 on the south coast, you'll find that there are very few towns and villages, and that you may have to drive a long way to find populated areas. This is due to some large volcanoes, such as Katla or Eyjafjallajökul. Not only can they erupt, but as they lie beneath glaciers, they can cause glacial flooding. It's not uncommon to come across vast stretches of black sand, as these are fluvio-glacial outwash plains: a glacial flood and everything is washed out to sea. Similarly, numerous seismological stations have been set up throughout the country, to effectively predict eruptions and act accordingly.
When volcanism creates natural wonders
Some craters are filled with deep lakes, making them a photographer's delight: like the blue-green lake of Víti, "Hell", at the foot of Mount Krafla; another crater, also called Víti, filled with a perfectly circular green lake at the edge of Öskjuvatn; or the blue lake of the elliptical crater with red slopes at Ljótipollur. Lava, slag and ash from volcanoes cover much of Iceland's soil. Over the past 500 years, a third of the lava produced by volcanoes worldwide has come from Iceland's volcanoes!
Good to know: the more recent the flows, the blacker and more bare and devoid of vegetation they are. Conversely, some lava fields, such as Eldhraun, are covered with a thick layer of moss, bearing witness to the age of the event (1783). Be careful not to step on it! This very fragile moss is protected in Iceland, and if you trample on it, you destroy an ecosystem that has taken decades to build up.
The difference between the different flows can be seen spectacularly when you fly over the island on domestic or international flights. The different flows are clearly visible. At Leirhnjúkur, for example, in the highly active Krafla zone, the lava flows from the fissural eruption of 1984 are still hot, steaming and criss-crossed by smoky faults. The same immense lava field can be found further north, at Gjástykki. At Dimmuborgir, the "black castles", a chaos of upright lava mounds, are the remains of a frozen lava lake. In Hveravellir, the Strútur volcano also contains a lake of frozen lava. The lava flows pile up in disorderly fashion, with cracks and folds that resemble those of sheets, twisted rags and ropes.
The heat of the volcanic soil gives rise to other strange manifestations: smoke emanations, fumaroles, hot springs, intense blue pools, pools of grey, sometimes brown, bubbling mud, basalt cliffs, lava caves... Finally, geysers, more or less active, gush out in columns foaming up to 30 m high.
As dangerous as it is fascinating, volcanism in Iceland has created some of its most breathtaking landscapes. On the other hand, it has also been responsible for some of the country's greatest disasters, such as the eruption of Laki in 1784, which decimated half the livestock and a third of Icelanders due to the famine it caused.
