Recently, Iceland was often a considered a layover in travels, as its location is prime for connecting flights going in and out of the US and Europe. However, these days, Iceland can be considered a tourist destination, with gorgeous landscapes, picturesque views at every step, and numerous hiking activities. However, in March in 2010, planes coming in and out of Iceland and Europe abruptly halted for several days, due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull and the subsequent plume of volcanic ash that traveled several kilometers into the atmosphere, as seen in the video below:
Eyjafjallajökull standing at 1,651 meters with an ice cap that stretches about 2.5 kilometers, is considered a stratovolcano, or a volcano built up of layers of lava, tephra (material produced from eruptions), pumice (volcanic rock) and ash that are steep with a summit crater. For Eyjafjallajökull, this leads to explosive eruptions, with fissure vents occurring along the side of the volcano, fed by a magma chamber underneath the mountain. This volcano is only one of numerous volcanoes that can be found in Iceland, all part of a volcanic area over the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a mid-ocean ridge derived from a divergent tectonic plate boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates.
Active Volcanic Areas and Systems in Iceland (from Wikipedia Commons)
In addition to having a name that is infinitely hard to pronounce (ay-ya-fyad-htla-yuh-kuhtl?), the large plumes of ash from Eyjafjallajökullthat lasted for weeks in Iceland caused havoc on neighboring farms and towns in 2010, killing cattle, destroying farms, and greatly reducing the air quality around the area. Because of the ice melt of the involved glaciers and its interaction with the magma, the volcanic ash plumes reached a peak of 8-9 kilometers. While Iceland and other countries affected by the numerous clouds of volcanic ash over the following months, the other worry (which continues into the present-day) is an eruption of Eyjafjallajökull's neighboring sister volcano, Katla, who shares the same magma chamber and could produce a much more damaging eruption, and has been historically known to erupt within the decade after Eyjafjallajökull eruptions - however, Katla has not shown any major signs of erupting... yet.
Eyjafjallajökull Erupting Behind a Traditional Icelandic House (from Getty Images)
References: Global Volcanism Program, 2013. Eyjafjallajokull (372020) in Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.7.6. Venzke, E (ed.). Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved from https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=372020.
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