Hekla is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 metres. Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874. Last eruption: February 28, 2000. Prominence: 796 m. Hekla is one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, having been active for thousands of years. Numerous stories were spun from folk beliefs on th
e terrifying power displayed in Hekla’s eruptions, and old stories tell of how people believed that the souls of the damned passed through the crater of Hekla on their way to Hell. Hekla at its highest point is nearly 1,491 meters above sea level, and the entire Hekla ridge is 40 kilometers long. The main fissure splitting the Hekla ridge is around 5.5 kilometers long. In the last 7,000 years Hekla has undergone five explosive eruptions. The most powerful eruptions occurred 4,000 and 2,800 years ago. These eruptions can be traced in the soil strata throughout the north and northeast of Iceland. The eruption of 2,800 years produced the largest tephra layer ever to fall in Iceland in historical times. It covers 80% of the country, with a volume of around 12 cubic km. Traces of this eruption have been found in different places in Scandinavia. The Hekla eruption of 1947 began at its summit, at 6:40 am on Saturday 29 March. Ten minutes later there was a sharp quake when a four-kilometer long crevice opened along the ridge of the mountain. The cloud of smoke quickly reached a height of 30 km and the booming noise of the eruption was heard throughout the country, for instance in Bolungarvík (in the Westfjörds) and Grímsey (off the north coast). It is estimated that in the first 30 minutes of the eruption around 75,000 square meters of tephra was ejected from the Hekla fissure, a volume answering to 200 times the flow of the Þjórs River. The eruption ceased in April 1948, having lasted 13 months. Hekla is presumed to have erupted 20 times in historical times. The largest eruption was in 1104. In the twentieth century Hekla erupted four times, in 1947, 1970, 1980, and 1991. Hekla erupted last in February 2000. HEKLA is the most renowned and powerful volcano in Iceland, having produced the most volcanic material...
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