. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. ICELAND. 31 In recent years there have been frequent eruptions on the north side of the Vatna-Jokull, the most violent of which occurred on March 29th, 1875, when the snow-fields on the east side of the island were covered by a layer of at least 392,000,000 cubic yards of pumice reduced to impalpable dust. Towards the east the heavens became almost pitch dark at noon, and a strong westerly gale wafted the ashes across to the Norwegian snows, and even to the neighbourhood of Stockholm, 1,180 miles from the centre of activity, the greatest distance
. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. ICELAND. 31 In recent years there have been frequent eruptions on the north side of the Vatna-Jokull, the most violent of which occurred on March 29th, 1875, when the snow-fields on the east side of the island were covered by a layer of at least 392,000,000 cubic yards of pumice reduced to impalpable dust. Towards the east the heavens became almost pitch dark at noon, and a strong westerly gale wafted the ashes across to the Norwegian snows, and even to the neighbourhood of Stockholm, 1,180 miles from the centre of activity, the greatest distance on record. Iceland abounds no less in submarine than it does in sub-glacial volcanoes. About a month before the eruption of 1783, one of these, some 60 miles south- west of Reykjanes, discharged such a quantity of pumice that the surface was Fig. 13.—NYbE AND Eeykjanes. Scale 1 : 660, Under 60 Fathoms. 60 to 120 Fathoms. Over 120 Fathoms. ^-^—^^—^.^ 10 MUes. covered fjr a distance of 150 miles, and ships were impeded in their course. A triple-crested mountain, Nyoe, or " New Isle," rose from the waters, but being composed of ashes and loose lavas, it soon became disintegrated, and gradually disappeared, as did afterwards the Sabrina Islands, near the Azores, and Ferdi- nandea, in the Sicilian seas. Breidi-Fjor^r Bay, on the north-west coast, seems also to enclose a volcanic area, especially about Flatey ("Flat Island"), where hot springs bubble up from the deep. One of these covers the surrounding shingle with incrustations, and others are utilised by sailors and fishermen at low water. But the lava streams discharged during the ten centuries of the historic period are of little account when compared with the vast beds, or hraans, which, with the tufas, constitute so large a portion of the Icelandic rocks. Thus for a distance of. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readabil
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgeography, bookyear1883
