Is Hekla due to erupt?
It erupted four times in the 20th century, the last time in 2000. Hekla is believed to be due and geologists in Iceland keep a close eye on the volcano.
When was the last eruption of Hekla?
February 26, 2000
Hekla/Last eruption
What is the closest city to Hekla volcano?
Hekla stands 4,892 feet (1,491 metres) above sea level 70 miles (110 km) east of Reykjavík, the capital, at the eastern end of the island’s most extensive farming region.
Is Hekla a shield volcano?
Hekla is a stratovolcano, located near the southern end of the eastern rift zone in Iceland.
How did Hekla get its name?
Hekla, Icelandic for short-hooded cloak, is believed to have acquired its name due to the constant cloud layer that hovers above the volcano. Some Icelanders describe the volcano to have a slope that resembles an overturned boat.
What plates are causing Hekla to form?
What plates are causing Hekla to form? Hekla Volcano sits on a rift zone in southern Iceland where two tectonic plates are spreading apart (i.e., the North American plate is separating from the Eurasia plate at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and over a hot spot plume that extends into the mantle.
How old is Hekla volcano?
Over the past 7000 years Hekla has had 5 big fissure eruptions. The biggest eruptions were 4000 and 2800 years ago. Traces of these two eruptions can be found in the soil in the north and the north-east of Iceland. The biggest layer of tephra from one eruption fell during the eruption 2800 years ago.
How was Hekla created?
Hekla was originally formed in a long fissure eruption, common with Icelandic volcanoes. When the power of the eruption decreased, the volcanic activity became more focused on one or two craters in the fissure. This resulted in a round-shaped caldera being formed in the center.
What is the border between two tectonic plates called?
boundary
The border between two tectonic plates is called a boundary. All the tectonic plates are constantly moving — very slowly — around the planet, but in many different directions. Some are moving toward each other, some are moving apart, and some are sliding past each other.
What kind of volcano is the Hekla volcano?
Hekla has a morphological type between that of a crater row and stratovolcano (built from mixed lava and tephra eruptions) sited at a rift- transform junction in the area where the south Iceland seismic zone and eastern volcanic zone meet. The unusual form of Hekla is found on very few volcanoes around the world, notably Callaqui in Chile.
How tall is the Hekla mountain in Iceland?
Hekla (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhɛʰkla] (listen)), or Hecla, is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 m (4,892 ft).
Where is Hekla located on the plate boundary?
When not erupting Hekla is often covered with snow and small glaciers; it is also unusually aseismic with activity only starting 30–80 minutes before an eruption. Hekla is located on the mid-ocean ridge, a diverging plate boundary .
Where did most of the ash fall from the Hekla eruption?
The maximum thickness of the ash sector, 21 km north of the volcano, was 4-5 cm when measured 7 hours after the onset of the eruption. Most of the ash fell in uninhabited areas in the interior of Iceland, but asmall amount of ash fell in inhabited areas in North Iceland.