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Subcribe to comment rss feedIn the foot prints of the worst natural catastrophe in history
By Hans Strand |
Hans Strand
Hans Strand is an internationally recognised photographer who has received numerous awards for his work and published three books. He lives near Stockholm in Sweden.
Laki is today a quiet photogenic area in the Icelandic highlands. Together with the 565 square kilometre Eldhraun lava field, it reminds you of a place which was once hell on earth. I have always found this place and its history remarkable. I can just dream of how this once looked when the eruption was in full action. Unfortunately or maybe even fortunately, today we can only observe what is left of it.
Never before had people seen lava coming out with such power. Lava fountains measuring 800-1,400 meters filled the air with poisonous gases spreading out all over the northern hemisphere.
On the 8th of June 1783, the earth opened up a 25km long fissure with 130 craters in the Icelandic highlands. Fourteen cubic kilometres of basaltic lava was spewed out from the inside of mother earth.
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