Iceland Volcano: Eyafjallajökull volcano

Iceland Volcano: Eyafjallajökull volcano

Eyafjallajökull volcano Data:

• Stratovolcano 1666 m (5,466 ft)
• South Iceland, 63.63°N / 19.62°W
• Current status: dormant (1 of 5)
• Typical eruption style: effusive (Hawaiian-style lava fountains and lava flows), mildly explosive due to ice-water-lava interaction.

Eyafjallajökull volcano (its name meaning Island-Mountain under a glacier) under the small homonymous glacier in southern Iceland erupted spectacularly on 20 March 2010, after having been dormant for almost 200 years. During its most violent phase, the subglacial eruption produced large ash plumes that drifted over Europe and forced an unprecedented closure of airspace over most of Europe for several days in mid April 2010.

Eyafjallajökull volcano Background:
Eyjafjöll, located immediately west of Katla volcano, consists of an E-W-trending, elongated ice-covered basaltic-andesite stratovolcano with a 2.5-km-wide summit caldera.
Fissure-fed lava flows occur on both the eastern and western flanks of the volcano, but are more prominent on the western side. Although the 1666-m-high volcano has erupted during historical time, it has been less active than other volcanoes of Iceland's eastern volcanic zone, and relatively few Holocene lava flows are known. The sole historical eruption of Eyjafjöll, during December 1821 to January 1823, produced intermediate-to-silicic tephra from the central caldera.
Iceland Volcano