No latest activity reported for Vestmannaeyjar.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Einarsson T, 1974. {The Heimaey Eruption in Words and Pictures}. Reykjavik: Heimskringla, 88 p

Green J, Short N M, 1971. {Volcanic Landforms and Surface Features: a Photographic Atlas and Glossary}. New York: Springer-Verlag, 519 p

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

Jakobsson S P, 1979. Petrology of recent basalts of the eastern volcanic zone, Iceland. {Acta Nat Islandica}, 26: 1-103

Jakobsson S P, Pedersen A K, Ronsbo J G, Melchior Larsen L, 1973. Petrology of mugearite-hawaiite: early extrusives in the 1973 Heimaey eruption, Iceland. {Lithos}, 6: 203-214

Johannesson H, Jakobsson S P, Saemundsson K, 1982. Geological map of Iceland, sheet 6, south Iceland. {Icelandic Museum Nat Hist & Iceland Geodetic Surv}, 1:250,000 geol map, 2nd edition

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

Leys C A, 1983. Volcanic and sedimentary processes during formation of the Saefell tuff-ring, Iceland. {Trans Roy Soc Edinburgh: Earth Sci}, 74: 15-22

Mattsson H B, Hoskuldsson A, 2005. Eruption reconstruction, formation of flow-lobe tumuli and eruption duration in the 5900 BP Helgafell lava field (Heimaey), south Iceland. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 147: 157-172

Mattsson H B, Hoskuldsson A, Hand S, 2005. Crustal xenoliths in the 6220 BP Saefell tuff-cone, south Iceland: evidence for a deep, diatreme-forming, Surtseyan eruption. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 145: 234-248

Mattsson H, Hoskuldsson A, 2003. Geology of the Heimaey volcanic centre, south Iceland: early evolution of a central volcano in a propagating rift?. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 127: 55-71

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 {Unpublished manuscript}

Thorarinsson S, 1967b. {Surtsey - The New Island in the North Atlantic}. New York: Viking Press, p 1-47

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

The mostly submarine Vestmannaeyjar volcanic system is the southernmost and youngest volcanic center of the eastern volcanic zone that cuts across east-central Iceland. It consists of a roughly 30 x 40 km group of basaltic volcanic islands and submarine cones occupying a shallow shelf off the south coast of Iceland. Vestmannaeyjar was the site of two of Iceland's most noted 20th-century eruptions. The new island of Surtsey grew from the ocean floor during 1963-67. The island of Heimaey, 20 km to the NE, was the site of dramatic eruptions in 1973 during which lava flows partially overran the town of Vestmannaeyjar and threatened its harbor. Several other volcanoes have erupted during historical time. Twenty-two postglacial eruption sites are known in the Vestmannaeyjar system, and all ten subaerial vents on Heimaey are of Holocene age.