Laki () or Lakagígar (, ''Craters of Laki'') is a
volcanic fissure
A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure, eruption fissure or simply a fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity. The vent is often a few metres wide and may be many kilom ...
in the western part of
Vatnajökull National Park
Vatnajökull National Park ( is, Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður ) is one of three national parks in Iceland. It encompasses all of Vatnajökull glacier and extensive surrounding areas. These include the national parks previously existing at Skaftafe ...
,
Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of
Eldgjá
Eldgjá (, "fire canyon") is a volcano and a canyon in Iceland. Eldgjá is part of the Katla volcano; it is a segment of a long chain of volcanic craters and fissure vents that extends northeast away from Katla volcano almost to the Vatnajöku ...
and the small village of
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Kirkjubæjarklaustur ( Icelandic for "church farm cloister", pronounced ; often referred to locally as just Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is par ...
. The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagígar, while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano
Grímsvötn
Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is a volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The volcano itself is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side of the ...
and including the volcano
Þórðarhyrna
Thordarhyrna ( is, Þórðarhyrna ) is one of seven subglacial volcanoes beneath the Vatnajokull glacier Iceland.
Eruptions
It last erupted in 1910 and prior to that in 1903.
An eruption in 3550 BC ± 500 years poured out 150,000,000 cubic mete ...
.
It lies between the
glaciers of
Mýrdalsjökull
Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller ice cap Eyjafjallajökull. Between ...
and
Vatnajökull
Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ic ...
, in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction.
The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn, pouring out an estimated 42 billion tonnes or of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
lava and clouds of poisonous
hydrofluoric acid
Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in water. Solutions of HF are colourless, acidic and highly corrosive. It is used to make most fluorine-containing compounds; examples include the commonly used pharmaceutical antidepress ...
and
sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops. This led to a
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
which then killed approximately a quarter of the island's human population.
The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the
Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India.
1783 eruption
On 8 June 1783, a
fissure
A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes.
Ground fissure ...
of at least 130
vents opened with
phreatomagmatic
Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...
explosions because of the groundwater interacting with the rising
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
magma. Over a few days the eruptions became less explosive,
Strombolian, and later
Hawaiian in character, with high rates of lava
effusion
In physics and chemistry, effusion is the process in which a gas escapes from a container through a hole of diameter considerably smaller than the mean free path of the molecules. Such a hole is often described as a ''pinhole'' and the escap ...
. This event is rated as 4 on the
Volcanic Explosivity Index,
but the eight-month emission of sulfuric
aerosol
An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of anthropo ...
s resulted in one of the most important climatic and socially significant natural events of the last millennium.
The eruption, also known as the ("
Skaftá
The Skaftá () is a river in South Iceland. It is primarily glacial in origin and has had its course modified by volcanic activity; as a result of both, it often floods because of glacial melting.
Course
The river's primary source is two subglaci ...
fires") or Síðueldur produced an estimated of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
lava, and the total volume of
tephra
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism.
Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...
emitted was .
Lava fountain
Lava is molten or partially molten rock ( magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land ...
s were estimated to have reached heights of . The gases were carried by the convective eruption column to altitudes of about .
The eruption continued until 7 February 1784, but most of the lava was ejected in the first five months. One study states that the event "occurred as ten pulses of activity, each starting with a short-lived explosive phase followed by a long-lived period of fire-fountaining".
Grímsvötn volcano, from which the Laki fissure extends, also erupted at the time, from 1783 until 1785. The outpouring of gases, including an estimated 8 million tonnes of
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reactiv ...
and an estimated 120 million tonnes of
sulfur dioxide, gave rise to what has since become known as the "Laki haze" across Europe.
Consequences in Iceland
The consequences for Iceland, known as the (
mist hardships), were disastrous. An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine after the fissure eruptions ensued. (Some sources specify a death toll of 9,000 people.)
Approximately 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of
dental fluorosis and
skeletal fluorosis
Skeletal fluorosis is a bone disease caused by excessive accumulation of fluoride leading to weakened bones. In advanced cases, skeletal fluorosis causes painful damage to bones and joints.
Symptoms
Symptoms are mainly promoted in the bone structu ...
from the 8 million tons of fluorine that were released.
The livestock deaths were primarily caused by eating the contaminated grass; the subsequent famine claimed many of the human lives that were lost.
The parish minister and provost of
Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla
Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police ( ...
, Jón Steingrímsson (1728–1791), grew famous for the ("fire
mass") that he delivered on 20 July 1783. The church farm of
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Kirkjubæjarklaustur ( Icelandic for "church farm cloister", pronounced ; often referred to locally as just Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is par ...
was endangered by a branch of the lava flow that halted not far from the farm while the Rev. Jón and his parishioners were worshipping in the church. The spot at which the lava diverted away from the church became known thereafter as ("Fire Mass Point").
Consequences in monsoon regions
There is evidence that the Laki eruption weakened
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n and
Indian
monsoon circulations, leading to between less daily precipitation than normal over the
Sahel of Africa, resulting in, among other effects, low flow in the River
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ri ...
.
The resulting
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
that afflicted
Egypt in 1784 cost it roughly one-sixth of its population.
The eruption was also found to have affected
South Arabia
South Arabia () is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jizan, Al-Bahah, and 'A ...
and
India.
Consequences in East Asia
The
Great Tenmei famine
The Great Tenmei famine (天明の大飢饉, ''Tenmei no daikikin'') was a famine which affected Japan during the Edo period. It is considered to have begun in 1782, and lasted until 1788. It was named after the Tenmei era (1781–1789), during t ...
of 1782–1788 in
Japan may have been worsened by the Laki eruption. In the same year,
Mt. Asama erupted in Japan (
Tenmei eruption
The Tenmei eruption () was a large eruption of Mount Asama that occurred in 1783 (''Tenmei 3''). This eruption was one of the causes of the Tenmei famine. It is estimated that about 1,500–1,624 people were killed in the eruption. The event is k ...
).
Consequences in Europe
An estimated 120,000,000 tonnes of
sulfur dioxide was emitted, about three times the total annual European industrial output in 2006 (but delivered to higher altitudes, hence its persistence), and equivalent to six times the total
1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption.
This outpouring of sulfur dioxide during unusual weather conditions caused a thick haze to spread across western Europe, resulting in many thousands of deaths throughout the remainder of 1783 and the winter of 1784.
The summer of 1783 was the hottest on record and a rare high-pressure zone over Iceland caused the winds to blow to the south-east.
The poisonous cloud drifted to
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula ...
in
Denmark–Norway, then spread to
Prague in the
Kingdom of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) by 17 June, Berlin by 18 June, Paris by 20 June,
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...
by 22 June, and Great Britain by 23 June. The fog was so thick that ships stayed in port, unable to navigate, and the sun was described as "blood coloured".
Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissues swell – the gas reacts with the moisture in the lungs and produces
sulfurous acid.
The local death rate in
Chartres
Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as de ...
was up by 5% during August and September, with more than 40 dead. In Great Britain, the east of England was most affected. The records show that the additional deaths were among outdoor workers; the death rate in
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council was ...
,
Lincolnshire, and the east coast was perhaps two or three times the normal rate. It has been estimated that 23,000 British people died from the poisoning.
The weather became very hot, causing severe
thunderstorms
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
with large
hailstones that were reported to have killed
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
, until the haze dissipated in the autumn. The winter of 1783–1784 was very severe; the naturalist
Gilbert White in
Selborne,
Hampshire, reported 28 days of continuous frost. The extreme winter is estimated to have caused 8,000 additional deaths in the UK. During the spring thaw, Germany and
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ar ...
reported severe flood damage.
This is considered part of a
volcanic winter.
The meteorological impact of Laki continued, contributing significantly to several years of
extreme weather in Europe. In France, the sequence of extreme weather events included a failed harvest in 1785 that caused poverty for rural workers, as well as droughts, bad winters and summers. These events contributed significantly to an increase in poverty and famine that may have contributed to the
French Revolution in 1789.
Laki was only one factor in a decade of climatic disruption, as
Grímsvötn
Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is a volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The volcano itself is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side of the ...
was erupting from 1783 to 1785, and there may have been an unusually strong El Niño effect from 1789 to 1793.
Consequences in North America
In North America, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record. It was the longest period of below-zero temperatures in
New England, with the largest accumulation of snow in
New Jersey, and the longest freezing over of
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / E ...
. At the time, the capital of the United States was situated on the Chesapeake at
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
; the weather delayed Congressmen who were traveling there to vote for the
Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. A huge snowstorm hit the
South; the
Mississippi River froze at
New Orleans and there were reports of
ice floe
An ice floe () is a large pack of floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes. They may caus ...
s in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Contemporaneous reports
Gilbert White recorded his perceptions of the event at
Selborne,
Hampshire, England:
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intel ...
recorded his observations in America in a 1784 lecture:
According to contemporary records, Hekla did not erupt in 1783; its previous eruption was in 1766. The Laki fissure eruption was east and the Grímsvötn volcano was erupting about northeast.
Katla, only southeast, was still renowned after its spectacular eruption 28 years earlier in 1755.
Sir John Cullum of
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...
,
Suffolk, England, recorded his observations on 23 June 1783 (the same date on which Gilbert White noted the onset of the unusual atmospheric phenomena), in a letter to
Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the
Royal Society:
Sir John goes on to describe the effect of this "frost" on trees and crops:
See also
*
Geography of Iceland
Iceland ( ) is an island country at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, east of Greenland and immediately south of the Arctic Circle, atop the constructive boundary of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge about from Scotland and ...
*
Glacial lake outburst flood
*
Iceland hotspot
The Iceland hotspot is a hotspot which is partly responsible for the high volcanic activity which has formed the Iceland Plateau and the island of Iceland.
Iceland is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world, with eruptions occur ...
*
List of glaciers of Iceland
*
List of volcanic eruptions by death toll
Volcanic eruptions can be highly explosive. Some volcanoes have undergone catastrophic eruptions, killing large numbers of humans or other life forms. This list documents volcanic eruptions by human death toll.
Volcanic eruptions
See also
...
*
List of volcanoes in Iceland
This list of volcanoes in Iceland includes active and dormant volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since human settlement of Iceland began around 900 AD.
__TOC__
List
Volcanic zones and systems
Iceland has four major volcanic ...
*
List of waterfalls of Iceland
Iceland is unusually suited for waterfalls (Icelandic: s. ''foss,'' pl. ''fossar''). This island country has a north Atlantic climate that produces frequent rain and snow and a near-Arctic location that produces large glaciers, whose summer me ...
*
Plate tectonics
*
Timeline of volcanism on Earth
*
Volcanism of Iceland :''The volcano system in Iceland that started activity on August 17, 2014, and ended on February 27, 2015, is Bárðarbunga.''
:''The volcano in Iceland that erupted in May 2011 is Grímsvötn.''
Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, ...
*
List of volcanic eruptions in Iceland
This is an incomplete list of volcanic eruptions in Iceland.
Prehistoric eruptions
''Dates are approximate.''
* 16,000,000 years ago - the oldest known rock in Iceland was formed in a lava eruption. The age of the basaltic strat ...
References
Further reading
* Brayshay, M and Grattan, J. "Environmental and social responses in Europe to the 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure volcano in Iceland: a consideration of contemporary documentary evidence" in Firth, C. R. and McGuire, W. J. (eds) ''Volcanoes in the Quaternary''. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 161, 173–187, 1999
*
*
* Grattan, D., Schütenhelm, R. and Brayshay, M. "Volcanic gases, environmental crises and social response" in Grattan, J. and Torrence, R. (eds) ''Natural Disasters and Cultural Change'',
Routledge, London 87–106. 2002.
*
* Jón Steingrímsson. ''A Very Present Help in Trouble: The Autobiography of the Fire-priest.'' Translated by Michael Fell. New York: Lang, 2002.
*
* "The Summer of Acid Rain", ''Economist'', December 19, 2007.
*
* Witze, Alexandra and Jeff Kanipe. ''Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki, the Volcano That Turned Eighteenth-Century Europe Dark.'' Profile Books, 2014. .
External links
Photos and informationLakagígarA meditation on Jón Steingrímssonfrom
Anglicans Online
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
Dr John Grattan at International Volcanic Heath Hazard NetworkA Sulphurous Stench: Illness and Death in Europe Following the Eruption of the Laki FissureThe Dry Fog of 1783: Environmental Impact and Human Reaction to the Lakagígar EruptionOfficial Website of Vatnajökull National Park
{{Authority control
1783 in Europe
1783 natural disasters
18th century in Iceland
18th-century volcanic events
Active volcanoes
East Volcanic Zone of Iceland
Events that forced the climate
Fissure vents
Grímsvötn
Mountains of Iceland
Natural disasters in Iceland
VEI-4 volcanoes
Volcanic eruptions in Iceland
Volcanic winters
Volcanoes of Iceland