Eldfell, Iceland, 1973
By
Mike Elicker
Period 3
Mrs. Zehr
Earth Science Report
May 11, 2010
On January 23 1973, a volcanic eruption took place on the east side of Helgafell Mountain,
Iceland. Explained in this report will be some of the plate tectonics of the region, damages and
casualties' reports, personal stories from witnesses, and some general information on Iceland's
volcanoes and tectonic plates.
At 2 a.m., Tuesday January 23, 1973, a volcanic eruption started on the island of Iceland. Days
before there were some small earthquakes 1-2 on the Richter scale. Just before 2 a.m. a call was made
to the police with information of an eruption had started a short distance above Kirkjubaer. The whole
length of the fissure was erupting from one end of the island to the other. Within about two hours, most
of the 5,000 people were at the harbor. Luckily, the night before had strong gales and 60-70 boats were
there. Most of the 5,000 left for Porlakshofn, the entire island was evacuated. Elderly and sick people
were evacuated buy Iceland-air during the night thanks to good flying conditions. The erupting
continued for three days, and in a two-day period a cinder cone developed and projected upwards 150
yards.
Iceland is set on top of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. It has four main volcanoes Hekla, Eldgja,
Heroubreio, and Eldfell. A volcanic eruption on Iceland in 1783 killed about half of Iceland population.
The eruption also caused haze to appear over Europe and Central Asia. There are also many geysers on
Iceland, one called "strokkur" that erupts every five to ten minutes.
For the earthquake and eruptions in 1973, not one person was killed. Most of this is because the
flying weather and the sailing weather were perfect. Helped save many lives because of these two
things that everyone lived. They also save the harbor from being destroyed by pumping millions of
gallons of salt water onto the lava moving to the harbor.
Hence, Eldfell was a very strong reminder that the earth is alive and that anything can happen at
any time. Tectonic plates move the earth in ways that create friction on them, and sooner or later they
will give.