Hekla

Hekla (), or Hecla, is an active stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of . Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since the year 1210.

Reputation

thumb|right|Detail of [[Abraham Ortelius' 1585 map of Iceland showing Hekla in eruption. The Latin text translates as "The Hekla, perpetually condemned to storms and snow, vomits stones under terrible noise".]]

thumb|right|Illustration from [[Olaus Magnus's Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus, book 2, 1555]]

After the eruption of 1104, stories, probably spread deliberately through Europe by Cistercian monks, told that Hekla was the gateway to Hell. The Cistercian monk Herbert of Clairvaux wrote in his De Miraculis (without naming Hekla):

The eruption ceased around 5 April 1846. Initially in this VEI-4 eruption tephra was produced at 20,000 m3·s−1. The tephra deposition of a total amount of was mainly to the east-southeast; immediately to the east of Hekla the layer was deep. Fine ash was carried to the Faroes, Shetland and Orkney. Lava flows to the west and north-west covered an area of with a volume of of lava. Large quantities of dark ash were deposited over pasture in the same directions leading to many livestock deaths through fluorosis for the next two years.

;1878

thumb|right|Hekla

A small eruption (VEI-2) occurred between 27 February 1878 and April 1878, around east of Hekla, and produced of lava from two parallel fissures covering .

1913 to 1948

;1913

thumb|right|Hekla

A small eruption (VEI-2) occurred between 25 April 1913 and 18 May 1913, around east of Hekla, and caused large fissures at Mundafell and Lambafit which produced of lava respectively.

The lava flow stopped after 13 months on 21 April, having covered and with a maximum depth of . The lava beds produced were mainly the ʻAʻā lava type with Pāhoehoe and lava a budella (lava tubes) areas. In April and May 1948 CO2 emitted from cracks in the ground pooled in hollows near to Hekla, killing 15 sheep and some wild animals and birds. In total of CO2 was emitted. Ditches were dug by farmers to drain these hollows, and the CO2 emission had stopped by the end of the year.

1970 to 1991

;1970

thumb|left|Lava flow from the 1970 eruption, seen in 1971

The 1970 eruption of Hekla started at 9:23 pm on 5 May 1970 and lasted until 5 July. It had a VEI of 3 and produced of lava covering an area of and 6.6×10 7 m³ of tephra, deposited over an area of , mainly to the northwest of the volcano.

Before the eruption, a greater than normal amount of snow melting had occurred, indicating the volcano was heating up. Earth tremors began at 8:48 pm on the evening of the eruption; the largest had a magnitude of 4. The eruption started weakly at 9:23 pm IMT ± 2 min before increasing in power. The first pumice fell on Búrfell power station, away, at 9:35 pm causing people to evacuate. The eruption seems to have started in two locations at the same time – to the Shoulder crater's south-southwest and below the Lava Crater. At 10:30 pm a crater at was producing a lava column which reached an altitude of around . During the night a high lava fountain was thrown up from the main crater. A long fissure starting below the Lava Crater opened, and lava fountains and other lava flows emanated from it. One hour into the eruption, a new fissure opened to the northeast, producing two main lava fountains, and shortly after another adjoining fissure opened producing lava fountains to a height of . At around midnight, another fissure opened northwest of the Lava Crater, later hurling an over long lava fountain, into the air. By midnight lava had already covered over and this extended to by next morning implying a flow rate of around 1500 m³/s.

For the first two hours, tephra was produced at the rate of 10000 m³/s. The cloud from the eruption, which had reached by 10:10 pm, caused a lightning storm. The tephra was transported northwards by the wind, causing the sky to turn black in places – away at Blönduós tephra fell from midnight until 2 am, and ash fell on a trawler away at 2 am. Icelanders sampled the tephra fall in their locality by putting a plate outside to capture everything that fell onto it. This, and other measurements, showed the area covered was long and narrow with the 1 mm contour (an equivalent of 8 tonnes per hectare) extending to the north coast.

The 1981 eruption, which is regarded as being a continuation of the previous year's eruption, began at 3 am on 9 April 1981, had a VEI of 2 and produced of lava, lasting until 16 April 1981. The eruption threw ash to a height of , and a new crater formed at the summit from which 3 lava flows originated. These extended to a maximum of from the volcano, covering .

2000

thumb|right|A lava field on Hekla in July 2000

The most recent eruption was relatively short; it started at 18:18 on 26 February 2000 and lasted until 8 March. It was a VEI-3 eruption producing a lava volume of , DRE During this eruption, a NASA DC-8 aeroplane accidentally flew through the plume with all instruments switched on, resulting in unprecedented measurement of a young volcanic plume.

! width=70px | Tephra volume (km3)

| align="center"| -

| Eruption ended

| align="center"|1725

| align="center"|

! style="background-color: #FE0;" | 1

| align="center"| -

| align="center"|1693

| align="center"|

! style="background-color: #F90;" | 4

| align="center"| -

| align="center"| 0.3

| Eruption ended about

| align="center"|753 ± 2

| align="center"| ± 2

| align="center"| -

|Greenland ice core After an eruption, almost all of the 'safe sites' on new lava flows are colonised by mosses within 20 years expanding to a homogeneous layer up to thick typically within 50 years.

Past eruptions have been associated with death of birds and live-stock related to either the high fluoride content of the tephra, carbon dioxide suffocation or toxic carbon monoxide gas release,

In first 70 years colonization and cover coalescence of moss Racomitrium lanuginosum and the Stereocaulon mosses
Moss secondary colonization to Racomitrium lanuginosum dominance which can take between 170 and 700 years
After 600 years vascular plant dominance evolving towards the birch wood land climax ecosystem in Iceland if no disturbance
Highland conditions/retrogression after tephra deposition which had occurred up to 860 years after the initial lava flow

Local factors and other disturbances influence these rates but the 1991 laval flow first stage was completed in 24 years. the walk takes 3 to 4 hours. and it is possible to snowcat to the top in winter. The volcano can be reached using the buses to Landmannalaugar further east, and it is possible to stay or camp at farms in the area. A visitor centre, The Hekla Center at Leirubakki Farm, opened in 2007.

In popular culture

Hekla has featured in artistic works since the time of its medieval infamy.

Architecture

The Tour Hekla, a skyscraper in La Défense, Paris, France, built in 2022, is named after the volcano.

Films

In the Spanish apocalyptic science fiction film, Los Últimos Días (2013), some news reporters speculate that three recent eruptions of Hekla could have caused the spreading form of agoraphobia that kills affected people who go outside.

The climax of Robert Eggers's 2022 film The Northman takes place on the slopes of Hekla.

Food

In the Boston, Massachusetts area, Hekla pastries can be found – large, upside-down cinnamon rolls with white sugar icing spooned over the top to look like the snow-topped volcano.

Literature

The British poet William Blake showed Winter being banished to Hekla in To Winter, one of the works from his Poetical Sketches.

In To Lie With Lions, by Dorothy Dunnett, a party of merchants visiting Iceland in the year 1471 witnesses the spectacular (fictional) eruption of both Hekla and Katla.

Mt. Hekla is referenced in the third chapter of Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, in EE Ryan's The Odd Saga of the American and a Curious Icelandic Flock, and in the final chapters of Joan Aiken's novel Is.

The Hekla 3 eruption and the ensuing volcanic winter play a large role in Stephen Baxter's alternate-history novel Bronze Winter.

Music

The piece Hekla, Op 52 (1964) by Icelandic composer Jón Leifs, has been called the "loudest classical music of all time". The requirements for a performance of Hekla include four sets of rocks hit with hammers, steel plates, anvils, sirens, cannons, metal chains, choir, a large orchestra, and organ.

thumb|right|Icelandair's Hekla Aurora in 2014

Transportation

A small Danish cruiser launched in 1890 was named Hekla; it was scrapped in 1955.

A Danish steamer called Hekla also saw combat in the First Schleswig War.

Icelandair named one of their aircraft after Hekla.

There have been several ships of the Royal Navy named HMS Hecla

Performing Arts

Heklina, the stage name for prominent Icelandic-American drag performer Stefan Grygelko, was inspired by Hekla. Grygelko, whose mother was Icelandic, spent part of his childhood in Iceland and helped to open a gay bar in Reykjavik before relocating to San Francisco. Heklina's mysterious and unsolved death in London in April 2023, and the ensuing homophobia demonstrated by London police, caused international headlines.

Organizations

In October 2011 a German left-wing militant group called the Hekla-Empfangskomitee (Hekla Reception Committee) set at least 17 incendiary devices on railways in the Berlin area, with 2 of them going off.

Reputation

1913 to 1948

1970 to 1991

2000

In popular culture

Architecture

Films

Food

Literature

Music

Transportation

Performing Arts

Organizations

See also

References

Bibliography

External links