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Oraefajokull Volcano, Iceland
Oraefajokull, Iceland's highest peak, is viewed here from the west, with the Svinafellsjokull glacier (left) descending from the central icecap nearly to the coastal road.
A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit, which rises to 2119 m about 10 km NW of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline.
A major silicic eruption in 1362 was the largest in Iceland during historical time.
It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jokulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.
Oraefajokull, Iceland's highest peak, is a broad glacier-clad central volcano at the SE end of the Vatnajokull icecap.
A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit of the dominantly basaltic and rhyolitic volcano.
The extensive summit icecap is drained through deep glacial valleys dissecting the SW-to-SE flanks of the volcano.
The largest-volume volcano in Iceland, 2119-m-high Oraefajokull was mostly constructed during Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods.
Holocene activity has been dominated by explosive summit eruptions, although flank lava effusions have also occurred.
A major silicic eruption in 1362 AD was Iceland's largest historical explosive eruption.
It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jokulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.
PHOTO SOURCE: Oddur Sigurdsson, 1986, (Orkustofnon, Icelandic National Energy Authority), courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, used with permission.
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