Global Volcanism Program | Brennisteinsfjöll

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports for Brennisteinsfjöll.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Brennisteinsfjöll.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Brennisteinsfjöll.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Brennisteinsgigar

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Heidin Há

Shield volcano

626 m

63° 58' 0" N

21° 38' 0" W

Herdisarvikurhraun

Shield volcano

63° 55' 0" N

21° 50' 0" W

Hlidarhraun

Shield volcano

63° 52' 0" N

21° 39' 0" W

Leitin

Shield volcano

430 m

64° 1' 0" N

21° 32' 0" W

Rjupnadyngjur

Shield volcano

64° 2' 0" N

21° 48' 0" W

Strompar

Shield volcano

550 m

63° 59' 0" N

21° 40' 0" W

Craters

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Brunagigir

Crater Row

64° 0' 0" N

21° 42' 0" W

Eldborg a Brennisteinsfjollum

Crater Row

520 m

63° 55' 0" N

21° 50' 0" W

Eldborg Nyrdri at Lambafell

Crater Row

440 m

64° 1' 0" N

21° 30' 0" W

Eldborg Sydri at Lambafell

Crater Row

64° 1' 0" N

21° 31' 0" W

Eldborg-Drottningu

Crater Row

440 m

64° 0' 0" N

21° 38' 0" W

Eyra

Fissure vent

64° 0' 0" N

21° 40' 0" W

Gigir at Storkonugja

Crater Row

63° 58' 0" N

21° 44' 0" W

Grafeldur

Crater Row

63° 57' 0" N

21° 46' 0" W

Helgadalshraun

Crater Row

64° 0' 0" N

21° 40' 0" W

Holmshraun

Crater Row

64° 3' 0" N

21° 41' 0" W

Kalfadalshraun

Crater Row

200 m

63° 53' 0" N

21° 57' 0" W

Kista

Crater Row

63° 56' 0" N

21° 48' 0" W

Kistufell

Fissure vent

600 m

63° 57' 0" N

21° 48' 0" W

Kongsfell

Crater Row

500 m

64° 0' 0" N

21° 40' 0" W

Litla Eldborg undir Geitlahlid

Crater Row

80 m

63° 51' 0" N

21° 59' 0" W

Rauduhnukagigir

Crater Row

340 m

64° 1' 0" N

21° 38' 0" W

Slattudalshraun

Crater Row

63° 52' 0" N

21° 59' 0" W

Stora Eldborg undir Geitlahlid

Crater Row

140 m

63° 51' 0" N

22° 0' 0" W

Stori Bolli

Crater Row

560 m

63° 59' 0" N

21° 45' 0" W

Svartihryggur

Crater Row

63° 58' 0" N

21° 41' 0" W

Thrihnukar

Fissure vent

540 m

64° 0' 0" N

21° 41' 0" W

Tvibollar

Crater Row

63° 59' 0" N

21° 45' 0" W

Vilfilfellshraun

Crater Row

340 m

64° 1' 0" N

21° 37' 0" W

Vordufellsborgir

Fissure vent

63° 54' 0" N

21° 52' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

371040

1341 CE

610 m / 2001 ft

63.933°N
21.783°W

Volcano Types

Crater rows
Shield(s)

Rock Types

Major
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Oceanic crust (< 15 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

33,526
33,526
163,469
203,012

Geological Summary

The Brennisteinsfjöll volcanic system, located east of Kleifarvatn lake, consists of a series of NE-SW-trending crater rows and small shield volcanoes. Postglacial and historical basaltic lavas cover a wide area. An eruption in 1000 CE was dated by its occurrence at the time of a meeting of the Icelandic outdoor parliament at Thingvellier. The most recent eruption took place in the 14th century.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Einarsson T, 1960. The geology of Hellisheidi. Natturufraedingurinn, 30: 151-175 (in Icelandic).

Gudmundsson A T, 1986. Iceland-Fires. Reykjavik: Vaka-Helgafell, 168 p.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior..

Jakobsson S P, Jonsson J, Shido F, 1978. Petrology of the western Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. J Petr, 19: 669-705.

Johannesson H, Saemundsson K, 1998. Geological map of Iceland, 1:500,000. Tectonics. Icelandic Inst Nat Hist, Reykjavik.

Jonsson J, 1972. Eldborgir undir Geitahlid. Natturufraedingurinn, 42: 59-66 (in Icelandic).

Jonsson J, 1974. Obrinnisholar. Natturufraedingurinn, 44: 109-119 (in Icelandic).

Jonsson J, 1977. Tvi-Bollar and Tvibollahraun. Natturufraedingurinn, 47: 103-109 (in Icelandic).

Jonsson J, 1978. Geology of the Reykjanes Peninsula. Orkustofnun Jardhitadeild, OS-JHD-7831, Geol maps and 303 p text (in Icelandic).

Jonsson J, 1983. Volcanic eruptions in historical time on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest Iceland. Natturufraedingurinn, 52: 127-139 (in Icelandic with English summary).

Saemundsson K, Einarsson S, 1980. Geological map of Iceland, sheet 3, south-west Iceland. Icelandic Museum Nat Hist & Iceland Geodetic Surv, 1:250,000 geol map.

Steinthorsson S, et al., 2002. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World - Iceland. Unpublished manuscript.

Thordarson T, Hoskuldsson A, 2008. Postglacial eruptions in Iceland. Jokull, 58: 197-228.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 9 Holocene eruptive periods.

Start Date	Stop Date	Eruption Certainty	VEI	Evidence	Activity Area or Unit
1341 ± 1 years	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Historical Observations	Grafeldur (Selvogshraun)
1200 (?)	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Tephrochronology	Kongsfell
1000 Jun 25 ± 4 days	Unknown	Confirmed	0	Historical Observations	Eldborg at Lambafell
0950 (?)	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Radiocarbon (uncorrected)	Rjupnadyngjur
0910 ± 75 years	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Radiocarbon (uncorrected)	Kista (Breiddalshraun)
0875 ± 50 years	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Radiocarbon (uncorrected)	Tvibollar
1040 BCE ± 75 years	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Radiocarbon (uncorrected)	Eldborg at Brennisteinsfjöllum
2660 BCE ± 75 years	Unknown	Confirmed	0	Radiocarbon (uncorrected)	Leitin
9000 BCE (?)	Unknown	Confirmed	0	Tephrochronology	Heidin Há

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Brennisteinsfjöll.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Brennisteinsfjöll.

Photo Gallery

The Brennisteinsfjöll volcanic system, located east of Kleifarvatn lake, consists of a series of NE-SW-trending crater rows and small shield volcanoes. Brennisteinsfjöll is seen here in an aerial view from the south with youthful light-colored lava flows spilling over an E-W-trending coastal scarp. An eruption in 1000 CE was dated by its occurrence at the time of a meeting of the Icelandic outdoor parliament at Thingvellier. The most recent eruption at Brennisteinsfjöll took place in the 14th century.

Photo by Oddur Sigurdsson, 1983 (Icelandic National Energy Authority).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Brennisteinsfjöll in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

Affiliated Sites

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Large Eruptions of Brennisteinsfjöll

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).