oil on canvas, 60cm x 60cm, Iain White 2008, £250
Hekla is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes with at least eighteen eruptions recorded since the tenth century AD. It forms a conspicuous oval ridge about 40 kilometres in length trending south west to north east, though only the main summit (often blanketed by cloud, leading to the name Hekla which means ‘hooded’ in Icelandic) is visible here. The latest eruption was in February 2000.
Snow covered Hekla is seen in the distance across the braided channels that form the broad valley of the Markarfljót river fed by the melt waters of the Tindfjallajokull, Torfajokull and particularly the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull icecaps. Sub-glacial melting under the latter two ice caps has triggered debris laden flash floods (known as jokulhlaups in Iceland)
