ICELAND VOLCANO: June 2011

Iceland Volcano: Ljósufjöll volcano

Ljósufjöll volcano Data :
Fissure vents 988 m (3,241 ft)
Western Iceland, 64.87°N / 22.23°W
Current status: dormant (1 of 5)
Typical eruption style: effusive fissure eruptions (lava flows).
Eruptions from Ljósufjöll volcano: 960 AD +-10 years

Ljósufjöll volcano Background:
The Ljósufjöll volcanic system at the eastern end of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula is a group of basaltic cinder cones and lava flows along short fissures on a roughly 90-km-long WNW-ESE line.

The volcanic field is about 20-km wide at the eastern end and narrows to about 10-km width on the west. Young-looking cinder cones and lava flows with morphologically fresh surfaces testify to numerous eruptions during the past 10,000 years. The latest eruption post-dated the settlement of Iceland, and took place about 1000 years ago.

Iceland Volcano: Lysuhóll volcano

Volcano Data :

Pyroclastic cones 540 m (1,772 ft)
Iceland, 64.87°N / -23.25°W
Current status: dormant (1 of 5)
Typical eruption style: Strombolian eruptions, lava fountains and lava flows.
Eruptions from Lysuhóll: None during historic times
Lysuhóll is Iceland's smallest volcanic system.

Lysuhóll Volcano Background:
It consists of a chain of small alkali olivine basaltic cinder cones and vents along a WNW-ESE line cutting across the central Snaefellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland.

The slightly arcuate line of Quaternary vents extends to the northern coast of the peninsula. Lysuhóll is the central of three volcanic systems occupying the peninsula. The latest eruption from Lysuhóll is undated, but the volcanic field has been active during the Holocene.