What is Laki known for?
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What is Laki known for?
Laki, volcanic fissure and mountain in southern Iceland, just southwest of Vatna Glacier (Vatnajokull), the island’s largest ice field. Mount Laki was the only conspicuous topographic feature in the path of the developing fissure eruption that is now known as Lakagígar (English: “Laki Craters”).
What is Laki made of?
The Laki volcano is a shield volcano meaning that the volcano is a large gently sloped volcano made entirely out of lava (volcanoes form when lava or pyroclastic material builds up around a vent).
What kind of volcano is Laki?
Fissure vents
The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagígar, while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano Grímsvötn and including the volcano Thordarhyrna….
| Laki | |
|---|---|
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Fissure vents |
| Last eruption | 1784 |
How long did Laki erupt?
eight months
The Laki eruption lasted eight months during which time about 14 cubic km of basaltic lava and some tephra were erupted. Haze from the eruption was reported from Iceland to Syria.
How did Laki get its name?
The name Laki comes from Mount Laki, a mountain of volcanic origin that did not actually erupt in 1783, located roughly in the middle of the fissure (Figure 4). In English, the eruption is mainly known as the Laki Fissure eruption.
What is a Laki?
Laki or Lakagígar is a volcanic fissure in the south of Iceland, not far from the canyon of Eldgjá and the small village Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Lakagígar is the correct name, as Laki mountain itself did not erupt, but fissures opened up on each side of it.
How many deaths did Laki cause?
More than 9.000 people were killed by the direct effects of the eruption, like lava and poisonous gases. The ash was carried away with the wind and poisoned the land and the sea, killing half of the Icelandic cattle population and a quarter of the sheep and horses population.
How did Laki erupt?
These two events are thought to be related in a single “volcanic-tectonic episode” that fed magma into the Laki fissures and Grímvötn. Like most volcanic eruptions, the Skaftár Fires (as they are known in Iceland) started with a series of earthquakes first noticed 3-4 weeks before the eruption started on June 8.
When did Laki last erupt?
February 7, 1784Laki / Last eruption
