science

 The Eldfell Eruption of 1973

The plate tectonics for this volcano is called intraplate. The name of the plate that is involved is the Eurasian plate. Intraplate means in the middle of the plate in the situation, there is a large hot spot or magma source that oozes lava. This effusive volcanism forms a big, broad shield volcano. The volcano in Eldfell erupted at 1:00 AM January 23rd 1973. 5,000 people were evacuated from the island. At 4:00 AM radio announced that the volcano has erupted and is still exploding at 5:40 AM a tremor at 6.2 magnitude hit knocking out power on the island. It was the biggest earthquake to hit Iceland since 1896. It took three days for the eruption to stop exploding. No one was hurt or killed in the eruption. The eruption projected rocks and debris over 110 yards into the air. Over three hundred buildings were destroyed in the eruption.  The first attempt to slow the lava flow by spraying the leading edge with sea water began on 7 February, and although the volume of water being pumped on was rather small at 100 liters per second the flow was noticeably affected. The water cooling of the lava was slow, but achieved a maximum efficiency, with almost all the water being converted to steam. Once the viability of lava cooling had been proven, efforts to halt the flows were increased.  Several weeks after the eruption a chemical called tephra got into the water, tephra is very poisonous. The tephra infected the fish that the fishermen caught and sold to other people that got them infected. After they cleaned up the harbor they used the tephra to build cooling systems in the houses and the hospital to stop further eruptions. With the harbor improved by the new lava breakwater, the fishing industry regained its former vigour and the island today remains the most important fishing centre in the nation, as over a third of Iceland's total fish catch is from this harbor. 