Not everyone knows where the Hekla volcano is located on the map. On everyone’s lips is his brother with an unpronounceable name, which in 2010 forced flight passengers to recall the unkind word of Iceland and its magmatic activity. But Haeckle is much more dangerous and more insidious than his smoky twin. Not a column of ash, which is capable of clogging jet engines, but the most natural fountain of fire, lava and volcanic bombs usually breaks out of its vent . Hekla is capricious, unpredictable, secretive. Icelanders name their volcanoes only by female names. Probably, they know the strength and power of the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity, when something takes them off balance - they certainly cannot be called a weak sex at these moments. Legends are written about Haeckle, as well as about her sister Katla on the island. Let's get acquainted with this fire-breathing monster.
Gates to hell
If you asked the medieval Cistercian monk where the Hekla volcano is located, he would not hesitate to answer that at the very entrance to the underworld. The souls of sinners, leaving the body, immediately rush through the vent into the eternal flame, where the gnashing of teeth. A certain monk Benedict, singing in verse the life of St. Brendan, called Huckle the prison of Judah. And ordinary Icelanders, until the 19th century, were sure that on the top of this volcano on Easter, witches flock to their coven. Why did Hekla cause such a holy awe, horror and at the same time admiration among the locals? Since the time when people settled on the island, this masterful beauty showed her explosive hole more than twenty times. And the approach of "hysteria" is difficult to predict. The name “Hekla” itself comes from the name of a short cloak with a hood. At the top of the mountain there is always a cloud remotely resembling a clover.
What do scientists say?
The geographic coordinates of Hekla volcano are 63.98 ° north latitude and 19.70 ° east longitude. It is located in the southwestern part of Iceland, approximately one hundred kilometers from the capital Reykjavik. According to the type of Huckle, it belongs to stratovolcanoes. It formed from a linear crack. Due to frequent eruptions, the height of the mountain changes. For example, in 1948 it was 1502 m, but subsequently the edges of the crater collapsed. Now the growth of Hekla is 1488 m. It is part of an extended mountain range composed of andesitic and basaltic lavas. Volcanic fissure reaches a length of five kilometers. But the age of Hekla by geological standards is almost infant - only 6,600 years.
Major eruptions
However, during such a short history, Hekla volcano managed to smoke in Iceland more than once. Dendrochronology (the study of climate change in fossil plants) allows us to determine that four thousand years and also 2800 years ago, large eruptions of this volcano occurred. A column of smoke lowered the air temperature in the northern hemisphere for several years, and traces of volcanic ash were found by scientists in the peatlands of Ireland and Scotland, as well as in continental Europe. The first eruption recorded in written sources occurred in 1104. Once the slopes of the mountain were covered with forests, but now they are completely bare. The Government of Iceland wants to implement a fabulously expensive ridge landscaping project.
Will the Hekla volcano calm down over time?
Scientists have discovered a pattern: the longer the time period between eruptions, the more devastating these fits of violence. But fortunately, now the volcano is "strange" with an enviable constancy once a decade. In the twentieth century, he erupted in 1947-48, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1991 and 2000. The latest destructive events, which entailed human casualties, occurred in 1766 and 1947-1948. But in the twenty-first century, the Hekla volcano has not yet manifested itself. And this is alarming. Since the capricious beauty has a truly unpredictable character. Seismologists note that, unlike other volcanoes, Hekla has a very short period between the beginning of the eruption and the release of lava. Therefore, the rescuers have quite a bit of time to evacuate people.
Waiting for the explosion
Taking into account that the Hekla volcano erupted last time at the end of February 2000, and at the end of the twentieth century seismic activity resumed every ten years, scientists are waiting for a new explosion from day to day. It is hard to imagine what it will be. Sometimes eruptions took place over several days, and in 1947, Haeckel raged for more than a year. To protect people from the consequences of a new earthquake and the release of lava and ash, geophysicists laid sensors to the depth of sixteen kilometers from the top that transmit all information about the state of magma inside the volcanic fissure and crater. So far, no movement has been revealed in the bowels of Hekla. Some areas on the surface of the volcano are hot, but you will not surprise anyone on the island of Iceland. Walking tours are conducted to the crater, and the government assures that they are absolutely safe for tourists.