Hekla is the most active and probably the best-known volcano in Iceland. Hekla is a very young volcano, about 7000 years old, on a very active fissure where the southern fracture zone and the southern gas zone meet in the country area of Rangárvallasýsla in the middle of the south. Under the mountain lie large magma chambers and craters, as Hekla has erupted many times since the land was settled, or a total of 18 times in the last 900 years. But the biggest eruptions, truly cataclysmic eruptions, occurred before settlement, 7000, 4500 and 2900 years ago. Hekla last erupted at the turn of the last century, in the year 2000 in a small eruption. The last major eruption in Hekla was in 1947. Since the settlement, Hekla erupted in the years 1104, 1158, 1206, 1222, 1300, 1341, 1389, 1510, 1597, 1636, 1693, 1766, 1845, 1947, 1970, 1980, and 1910. in 2000. According to measurements, scientists predict that Hekla is due to erupt in the near future. It’s just a matter of when the queen stirs , and whether it will be a big or a small eruption. Scientists cannot answer that as our nature is very unpredictable.
Photographs & text: Páll Stefánsson
