In 1104, Hekla, a fissure stratovolcano in the south of Iceland erupted violently with a VEI of 5, covering over 55,000 km2 (roughly half of Iceland) in a layer of rhyodacitic tephra.
The volcano is located in Iceland’s West Volcanic Zone on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a diverging plate boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.
Iceland is also situated on a hotspot known as the Iceland plume, a volcanic locales thought to be fed by the underlying mantle that likely contributed to the formation of the island.
At the time of the eruption, the area of the Þjórsárdalur Valley, located 15 kilometres north of Hekla, was inhabited by Norse settlers living in large communal farmsteads.
The settlers had prospered from the quality soil and abundant natural resources, however, by the end of the eruption the valley lay desolate, earning the volcano the moniker of: “The Gateway to Hell”.