Today in History: 2021 Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall erupts for the first time in 800 years and after more than 50,000 earthquakes
In 2021, the Land of Ice and Fire lived up to its name when a volcano erupted on Reykjanes peninsula! For nearly a year, within the Geldingadalur valley, gleaming lava spurted and flowed from Fagradalsfjall volcano, and in July 2023, another eruption took place close to the mountain Litli-Hrutur. The fourth eruption then burst from the ground by the Sundhnukagigar crater row in December 2023, after over a month of dramatic seismic activity. It was closely followed by the Hagafell eruption on January 14th, 2024, and more eruptions in Sundhnukagigar throughout 2024.
Starting on March 19th at around 9:30 PM, the much anticipated volcanic eruption at Gelingdalur on the Reykjanes Peninsula began. Initially, it was reported as a fissure up to half a mile long (700 meters), with a lava field covering around a square mile (a square kilometer) before it soon formed into an increasingly tall crater.
Although no one knew quite where or when a volcanic eruption would happen, it was inevitable that one would after 53,000 tremors had shaken Reykjavik and its surroundings in the weeks prior. There were no significant injuries despite one of these tremors reaching 5.7 on the Richter Scale and several others getting close.
Thankfully, Fagradalsfjall went along the same course. Despite its primordial, terrifying presence, appearing more like Mordor than anywhere earthly, it posed little threat to life, infrastructure, or air travel for two notable reasons.
Firstly, it was an effusive eruption rather than an eruptive one. Lava did not burst from the earth in an explosion of ash, rock, and fire, as happened at Eyjafjallajokull in 2010. Instead, it emerged as an open fissure releasing much more gentle lava flows in the form of molten rivers.
Secondly, the eruption occurred in a sheltered valley. Geldingadalur is mainly uninhabited and without significant infrastructure, making it one of the most convenient places it could have gone off in the region.
That is not to say, however, that it was predictable. Fagradalsfjall changed several times since it first opened, with new fissures and craters forming as the lava field developed. Furthermore, the fountains of fire significantly varied in their size, sometimes rising just a few meters in the air and sometimes shooting so high that they were visible from Reykjavik.
Read more here: Complete Guide to the 2021 Volcanic Eruption in Geldingadalur Valley by Fagradalsfjall Volcano | Guide to Iceland
Also on this day:
1077 Norman monk Gundulf consecrated as Bishop of Rochester - goes on to build Rochester Castle and the White Tower, Tower of London, as engineer of William the Conqueror
1279 A Mongolian victory at the naval Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China
1863 Confederate cruiser SS Georgiana destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, and medicines then valued over $1,000,000. Wreck discovered exactly 102 years later by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.
1895 The Lumière brothers record their first footage
1911 1st International Women’s Day sees over 1 million men and women attend rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Issues discussed included women’s right to vote and to hold public office, the right to work, to vocational training and an end to discrimination on the job.
1915 Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)
1937 Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coins the term “supernova” and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays
1945 Adolf Hitler issues “Nero Decree” to destroy all German factories
1949 1st museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
1965 The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000, said to have been most powerful Confederate cruiser, discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.
1969 The 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build- up.
1982 Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the U.K.
2008 GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed
2013 NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity discovers further evidence of water-bearing minerals
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1955 Bruce Willis - American actor (Moonlighting, Die Hard), born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany
1951 Seasick Steve [Steven Gene Wold] - American blues musician (Sonic Soul Surfer), born in Oakland, California
1947 Glenn Close - American actress (The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction), born in Greenwich, Connecticut
1942 (Wilfred) “Wilf” Lunn - British inventor, TV personality (Vision On), and author, born in Rastrick, West Yorkshire, England (d. 2023)
1936 Ursula Andress - Swiss model and actress (Dr. No, Casino Royale, She, Sensuous Nurse), born in Ostermundigen, Switzerland
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2024 M. Emmet Walsh - American character actor (Blade Runner; Wildcats; Blood Simple; Knives Out), dies at 88
2008 Paul Scofield - English actor (A Man for All Seasons and Quiz Show), dies from leukemia at 86
2008 Arthur C Clarke - English sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood’s End), dies of post-polio syndrome at 90
1979 Richard Beckinsale - English actor (Doing Time, Porridge, Lovers), dies at 31
1950 Edgar Rice Burroughs - American author (Tarzan of the Apes), dies at 74
Holidays on this day
Certified Nurses Day
Client’s Day
International Clients Day
International Read to Me Day
Kick Butts Day (Third Wednesday in March)
Let’s Laugh Day
National Automatic Door Day
National Backyard Day
National Chocolate Caramel Day
National Poultry Day
National SBDC Day (Third Wednesday in March) (SBDC = Small Business Development Centres)
National Stretch Mark Day
Operation Iraqi Freedom Day
Saint Joseph’s Day
Swallows Return to San Juan Capistrano Day
The Funnies:
Interesting (not necessarily extinct) animal of the day:
If you stepped outside 20,000 years ago, you’d probably need a winter coat, even in summer. That’s because Earth was experiencing an ice age—a time when sheets of ice covered large parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. It was also a time when humans lived alongside a now-extinct group of elephants called mammoths.
One species, called woolly mammoths, roamed the cold tundra of Europe, Asia, and North America from about 300,000 years ago up until about 10,000 years ago. (But the last known group of woolly mammoths survived until about 1650 B.C.—that’s over a thousand years after the Pyramids at Giza were built!)
These animals grazed on plants, using their 15-foot-long tusks to dig under snow for food like shrubs and grasses. Like today’s elephants, woolly mammoths likely gave birth to one calf at a time, and the females and their young roamed in herds of about 15 individuals. Male mammoths would leave the herd at about age 10.
Woolly mammoths were probably about the size of African elephants, around 13 feet tall. But woolly mammoths had much smaller ears, which kept them from losing body heat. They were also covered in two layers of fur—the shaggy outer layer could be 20 inches long and helped them stay toasty in temperatures as low as minus 58°F. Woolly mammoths also had a lump on their back, which scientists think were fat stores that provided energy when food was scarce, sort of like a camel’s hump.
Scientists aren’t sure exactly why woolly mammoths went extinct: Some think that humans hunted too many of them, and others believe that they couldn’t survive Earth’s naturally warming climate. Or, it could’ve been a combination of both.
Source: Woolly Mammoth
Quote of the Day:
“If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, it would have recollapsed before it reached its present size. On the other hand, if it had been greater by a part in a million, the universe would have expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form.”
-Professor Stephen Hawking
Video of the Day:
Happy birthday to Gary Jules (1969):
And to Terry Hall (1959):
And Seasick Steve (1951)!
Comic of the Day:
Credit: #1530; In which Beats are Sweet – Wondermark
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
Read @Vikingmichael’s immature Spark! from https://community.spiceworks.com/t/spark-pro-series-18-march-2025
Don’t forget to leave some spice right here ↓
