Heimaey, is an Icelandic island. At 13.4 square kilometres (5.2 sq mi), it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is 4 nautical miles off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated island of the Vestmannaeyjar islands, with a population of 4,414. The Vestmannaeyjar Airport and the Westman Islands Golf Club taken together cover a good portion of the island.
Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, due to its location both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, and being over a hotspot. Nearly thirty volcanoes are known to have erupted in the Holocene epoch; these include Eldgjá, source of the largest lava eruption in human history. Some of the various eruptions of lava, gas and ash have been both destructive of property and deadly to life over the years, as well as disruptive to local and European air travel.
Southern Peninsula is an administrative unit and part of Reykjanesskagi, or Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in southwest Iceland. It was named after Reykjanes, the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi.
Svartsengi power station is a geothermal power plant, which is located in the Svartsengi geothermal field, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Grindavík, approximately 20 km (12 mi) SE of Keflavík International Airport and 45 km (28 mi) from Reykjavík. The electric power station was built in 1976 by HS Orka. It was the world's first combined geothermal power plant for electric power generation and hot water production for district heating.
Between March and June 2010 a series of volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe.
Brennisteinsfjöll is a minor volcanic system, with crater rows and small shield volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland.
Reykjanes is a small headland on the south-western end of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. Volcanic action is responsible for forming the entire peninsula. The nearest town is Keflavik.
Holuhraun ( ) is a lava field just north of the Vatnajökull ice cap, in the Icelandic Highlands, in Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla, Northeastern Region, Iceland. The lava field was created by fissure eruptions. After a research expedition in 1880, the lava field was initially called Kvislarhraun. Four years later, it received its current name from geologist and geographer Þorvaldur Thoroddsen. Holuhraun was the site of a volcanic eruption which began on 29 August 2014 and produced a lava field of more than 85 km2 (33 sq mi) and 1.4 km3 (0.34 cu mi) – the largest in Iceland since 1783.
The volcanic system of Krýsuvík, is situated in the south–west of Iceland on the Reykjanes peninsula. It is located in the middle of Reykjanes and on the divergent plate boundary of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which traverses Iceland. It was named after the Krýsuvík area which is part of it and consists of a fissure system without a central volcano. However, there are some indications—namely, the discovery by geophysical methods of what scientists interpret as a buried caldera, combined with the well-known, vigorous hydrothermal system above it—that an embryonic central magma chamber may already exist or be actively developing.
Þorbjörn is a 243 m high volcanic mountain next to the town of Grindavík (Gullbringusýsla) on Reykjanes peninsula, Iceland. Blue Lagoon can be easily seen from the summit.
The Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland is the continuation of the mostly submarine Reykjanes Ridge, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on land and reaching from Esja in the north and Hengill in the east to Reykjanestá in the west. Suðurnes is an administrative unit covering part of Reykjanes Peninsula.
Fagradalsfjall is an active tuya volcano formed in the Last Glacial Period on the Reykjanes Peninsula, around 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Reykjavík, Iceland. Fagradalsfjall is also the name for the wider volcanic system covering an area 5 kilometres (3 mi) wide and 16 kilometres (10 mi) long between the Eldvörp–Svartsengi and Krýsuvík systems. The highest summit in this area is Langhóll. No volcanic eruption had occurred for 815 years on the Reykjanes Peninsula until 19 March 2021 when a fissure vent appeared in Geldingadalir to the south of Fagradalsfjall mountain. The 2021 eruption was effusive and continued emitting fresh lava sporadically until 18 September 2021.
Events in the year 2023 in Iceland.
The 2023–2024 Sundhnúkur eruptions are an ongoing series of volcanic eruptions in the Reykjanes Peninsula, near the town of Grindavík, Iceland. As of 23 August 2024, there have been six eruptions between December 2023 and August 2024, following an intense series of earthquakes. Although localised, the seismic and volcanic activity have caused significant disruption across the western part of the peninsula, especially for the town of Grindavík.
Eldvörp–Svartsengi ; "fire cones–black meadow" in Icelandic also Svartsengi volcanic system) is a volcanic system in the southwest of Iceland on the Southern Peninsula, southeast of Keflavík International Airport and north of the town of Grindavík. Made up of fissures, cones and volcanic craters, it had been relatively inactive for several centuries until 2020, when the first in a series of magmatic intrusions occurred. In December of 2023 the fourth such intrusion culminated in an eruption, with further eruptions in 2024.
Events in the year 2024 in Iceland.
Sundhnúkur is a volcanic hill, within its associated Sundhnúksgígar crater row and volcanic fissures in the Svartsengi volcanic system, part of the Reykjanes Peninsula rift zone of Iceland. It is the location of the 2023–2024 Sundhnúkur eruptions.
Sundhnúksgígar or Sundhnúkagígar are volcanic craters east of Eldvörp–Svartsengi in the island nation of Iceland. They are named after Sundhnúkur, which is a hill just south of Sundhnúksgígar. The craters are aligned in a row called Sundhnúksgígaröðin. The first eruption in the crater row took place about 2000 years ago. In December 2023, as part of the Sundhnúkur eruptions, some craters began to erupt. On 14 January 2024, a second eruption began as a result seismic activity that began from the Sundhnúksgígar craters. By July 2024 there had been five eruptions.
The Reykjanes Fires were a series of volcanic eruptions that took place on the Reykjanes Peninsula in south-west Iceland between approximately 1210 and 1240. They caused widespread physical and economic damage, covering large areas of the peninsula in lava and tephra and causing the mass starvation of livestock, as well as a number of deaths of people due to earthquakes. The peninsula's volcanic systems were subsequently dormant for 800 years until a fresh series of eruptions began in 2021, which have been called the New Reykjanes Fires.
