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Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, due to its location both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, and being over a hotspot.Nearly thirty volcanoes are known to have erupted in the Holocene epoch; these include Eldgjá, source of the largest lava eruption in human history.
Fagradalsfjall is also the name for the wider volcanic system covering an area 5 kilometres (3 mi) wide and 16 kilometres (10 mi) long between the Svartsengi and Krýsuvík systems. [17] No volcanic eruption had occurred for 815 years on the Reykjanes Peninsula until 19 March 2021. Part of the Reykjanes volcanic zone (RVZ).
This list of volcanoes in Iceland only includes major active and dormant volcanic mountains, of which at least 18 vents have erupted since human settlement of Iceland began around 900 AD. Subsequent to the main list a list is presented that classifies the volcanoes into zones, systems and types.
Grímsvötn is a basaltic volcano which has the highest eruption frequency of all the volcanoes in Iceland. It has a southwest-northeast-trending fissure system. The massive climate-impacting Laki fissure eruption of 1783–1784 took place in a part of the same Grímsvötn-Laki volcanic system. [3]
The volcano's frequent large and often initially explosive eruptions have covered much of Iceland with tephra, and these layers can be used to date eruptions of Iceland's other volcanoes. Approximately 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last thousand years has come from Hekla, amounting to 5 km 3 (1.2 cu mi).
Öræfajökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈœːrˌaiːvaˌjœːkʏtl̥] ⓘ; 'Öræfi glacier' or 'wasteland glacier') is an ice-covered volcano in south-east Iceland. The largest active volcano and the highest peak in Iceland at 2,110 metres (6,920 ft), it lies within the Vatnajökull National Park and is covered by part of the glacier.
Four years later, it received its current name from geologist and geographer Þorvaldur Thoroddsen. [1] Holuhraun was the site of a volcanic eruption which began on 29 August 2014 and produced a lava field of more than 85 km 2 (33 sq mi) [2] and 1.4 km 3 (0.34 cu mi) – the largest in Iceland since 1783. [3]
The extensive lava fields which were produced by this eruption, flowed southwards, and formed the basin of Þingvallavatn, Iceland's largest lake, and Þingvellir, the "Parliament Plains" where the Icelandic national assembly, the Alþing was founded in 930.