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Öraefajökull's glacier-covered caldera seen from the air (photo: (c)Tom Pfeiffer)
Öraefajökull's glacier-covered caldera seen from the air (photo: (c)Tom Pfeiffer)
Latest news:
Öraefajökull volcano (Iceland): seismic unrest
Öraefajökull volcano in SE Iceland
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011
Iceland's tallest volcano, the large sub-glacial Öraefajökull volcano under Vatnajökull glacier on the SE tip of Iceland has been showing an unusual ... [more]

Öraefajökull volcano

stratovolcano 2119 m (6,952 ft)
Iceland, 64°N / -16.65°W
Current status: dormant (1 out of 5)
Typical eruption style:

Explosive.


Öraefajökull volcano eruptions: 1362 (Plinian eruption), 1727-28 (sub-Plinian)
Öraefajökull, Iceland's highest peak, is probably Iceland's most violent volcano. A major silicic eruption in 1362 was Iceland's largest historical explosive eruption. It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jökulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.

Background:

Öraefajökull is a broad glacier-clad central volcano at the SE end of the Vatnajökull icecap. A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit of the basaltic and rhyolitic volcano. The largest-volume volcano in Iceland, 2119-m-high Öraefajökull was mostly constructed during the Pleistocene. Holocene activity has been dominated by explosive summit eruptions, although flank lava effusions have also occurred.

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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution