Tag: Hveravellir

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Changes at Hveravellir, Iceland

Tara Cross recently sent me some photos that she took during her visit to Hveravellir in Iceland on 2011 August 26. There were a number of changes between her visit and our visit last year. She also wasn't aware of the map of the area and not sure about the exact locations of some features in relation to what we saw. But we were able to figure things out.

Most notable was the difference in walkways. Some have been removed while others added. This made identification of changed features a little tricky at first.

Fagrihver, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross
Fagrihver, Hveravellir, 2023 September 06. Photo by H.Koenig

This is a view of Fagrihver. The walkway in the back went over to Meyjarauga, one of the more colorful springs in the area. The walkway is no longer there because Meyjarauga has filled in and disappeared. In the decade since this photo was taken, Fagrihver has roofed over much of the left portion of the vent, as the recent screenshot shows. So it too may disappear in the near future.

Rauðihver, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross
Rauðihver, Hveravellir, 2023 September 07. Photo by H.Koenig

Rauðihver (Red Spring) was also erupting during her visit. It's not as full as what we saw last year, but the activity is from the same vent area. I've seen online videos taken a few years ago where this feature was a hot, blue pool. It must cycle between ugly and active, and pretty but quiet.

Eyvindarhver, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross

This is Eyvindarhver, a spring that was altered centuries ago so it could be used for cooking. (It's the closest spring to Eyvindar's shelter to the west.) Years ago it was known to behave as a geyser. The photo shows some splashing from what appeared to her to be a steamy perpetual spouter. For our visit, it was acting like a fumarole. There are videos from a few years ago of the fumarolic action being more powerful and noisier.

Bóluhver/Heimilishver, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross

This is an overview of Bóluhver/Heimilishver, looking toward the east. There is now a walkway running along the boundary betweenthe runoff and the sinter area allowing a closer view of this feature and Gjósandi, which would be to the left.

H-204q, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross

This is H-204q, a small feature near Bóluhver/Heimilishver. It's not really visible from the current walkways.

H-204m, Hveravellir, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross
H-204m , Hveravellir, in eruption, 2011 August 26. Photo by T.Cross

This is H-204m. It's located near H-204q, and is a small geyser that Cross saw erupt while there:

I finally saw it at 1445 erupting to 1 to 2 feet with a duration [of] about 2 minutes. It erupted again at 1524, refilled at 1533, and had periodic bubbling episodes until it erupted again at 1601, d~2m50s. Only two data points, I know, but it’s quite possible that it is a regular geyser erupting at intervals of roughly 35 to 40 minutes.

[Sput, Dec 2011, v25n6, pg.19]

We didn't see it as it was partly hidden downslope behind Bóluhver/Heimilishver, and since we saw Gjósandi erupting nearby, didn't realize the complex actually had two geyser features in it. The Hveravellir base map has a small annotation next to the feature mark-- "gýs", a notation I don't see anywhere else on the map. I got a translation as that meaning "erupt". With all the little sputtering features located on the map, this was only one worthy of that special note.

Niermann in his Volcanic Springs website says that H-204m and H-204q were "small intermittent springs" and includes photos of both.

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Observations for 2023 September 07

Update: Added some details on H-208h, an erupting feature near Öskarhóll.

Spent the day observing the thermal activity at Hveravellir. This is an area for those who like little sputs and spouters. As mentioned yesterday, there are a lot of little features here which show true eruptive activity. Every hole seems to sputter. Many seem to be perpetual spouters, but there were also a number where the activity would cease and restart, making them true geysers.

There was one geyser that could be timed. This is the small geyser Gjósandi, east of the large pool Heimilishver (Bóluhver). This geyser appears to be pretty regular, with intervals of about 40 seconds and durations of from 8 to 12 seconds. Most bursts were only 1.5 meters high, but there were some well over eye level, putting them around 2.5 meters.

Gjosandi Geyser, Hveravellir

Heimilishver (Bóluhver) also shows eruptive bursts, but most of the time this large pool has a heavy, pulsating overflow over much of its rim. On occasion, there would be bursts up to 1/2 meter from it. It looks like it is trying to have a larger eruption, and never quite succeeding. Between it and the walkway there is a large hole that appears to be a collapse in the terraces surrounding the vent. This vent also splashed, but did not seem to be related to its neighbor.

Heimilishver (Bóluhver), Hveravellir

Down the walkway a bit are a series of small sputtering holes, including several under the walkway. Again, these features seem to die down on occasion.

Sput under boardwalk, Hveravellir

The start of activity at Rauðihver seems to be recent. Surrounding it are large wash zones with dead and dying grass. Some of the layers of the formation have been ripped up and pulverized. Rauðihver is fascinating to watch, as the whole pool pulsates over the vent, while thumps can be heard from the pool just before the larger bursts. These bursts of murky, gray water can be thrown as much as two meters high, and come along every minute or two.

Rauðihver, Hveravellir 2023. September 07. Video by H.Koenig.

There are a couple of well defined cones-- Öskarhóll and Fagrihver. Öskarhóll is the larger cone, which at the top has a weak fumarole. A century ago, it was a strong, noisy fumarole. Based on the little terraces down the northeast side, I would suppose that at some time in its past it gently overflowed for a long time. The second cone, Fagrihver, is completely dead, with no steam despite being a cool, humid day.

Öskarhóll, Hveravellir
Gamli Fagrihver (Öskarhóll in background), Hveravellir

To the west of Öskarhóll is a pool for which I can't find any previous mention. It is a well defined pool about three meters across. It splashes continuously up to two meters high, and doesn't look all that recent.

Update: Further research shows this as feature H-208h. A few years ago it was a smaller collapse feature, which turned into a muddy splashing hole. Its gotten larger and clearer based on various online videos I've found.

H-208h near Öskarhóll, Hveravellir

To the east are the pools Grænihver and Bláhver. The latter is a murky pool, while the former is a larger pool that overflows heavily and occasionally splashes. Beyond it and down the slope are a series of smaller features, all of which were splashing and sputtering. Nearest Grænihver is Bræðrahver, which is a broad, shallow pool with a small vent in the center. This feature frequently has a thin jet of water to about a meter. (It reminded me in appearance and eruption activity of #812 at Orakeikorako.)

Bræðrahver and Grænihver, Hveravellir

All these features have developed a wide sinter platform. In the middle of this is another spouter with a ragged crater surrounded by a yellowish-white sinter. To the side is a brown vent without activity, but with cauliflower formatins and beading as if it was active not long ago.

The lowest spouter, Nýihver, erupts to a height of about one meter, and is used as the hot water intake for the hot pool used for bathing. The water comes into the pool at around 180°F, and has to be mixed with cold water to make it useable, but there's still a thin layer on top (around 115°F) that requires hand mixing.

Nýihver (water intake), Hveravellir
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Observations for 2023 September 06

Got a late start to another busy day. Arrived at Haukadulur and parked in the northeast parking area, away from the tourist traps and bus parking areas. Almost immediately saw an eruption of Strokkur from our car. We got long series of eruptions, much on video.

A few years back I came across a recent paper published in Geophysical Research Letter titled "Eruption Interval Monitoring at Strokkur Geyser, Iceland". One of the most interesting pieces of information in it is that over the course of a year, their monitoring recorded 73466 eruptions, and that 23331 of those eruptions had more than one burst. There was even a single six burst eruption recorded. (Based on the statistical model, a seven burst eruption should also occur ever 12 years or so.) Also, the time between eruptions correlated to the number of bursts, but not to the number of bursts in a subsequent eruption.

We saw mostly one burst eruptions from Strokkur. There were a few with two bursts, with the second coming as soon as the first burst completed, to as much as 20 seconds later. (It's annoying when you stop the video only to miss the second burst becuase it took so long.) We only saw one three burst during the day, which based on the previously mentioned paper, was expected for the amount of time we were there.

Strokkur eruption. 2023-Sep-06:10:34, 2B. Video by H.Koenig.

The sizes of the eruptions varied considerably. Up close, some were just "tall." From a distance, I think we saw several that were over 30 meters high. On the otherhand, some were disappointingly small. In one case, I doubt the height was over 4 meters. Looked like a Grand Boop. When there were two bursts, one of the bursts could be tall, but not both, unless it was one of the cases when it was more like a second jet developing through the first jet.

Intervals ranged from two to seven minutes after a one burst eruption, but most of those were three minutes or less. If there was a second burst, then the interval lenghtened out to seven to ten minutes.

Geysir was quietly overflowing. What was surprising is that it is developing a shelf along the edge of the crater, and the overflow terrace has developed scallops well down the hillside.

Didn't see much else. Alfaauga was active, and we saw a few eruptions. The pool over the vent fluctuates until boiling starts on the side, which leads into an eruption. The durations were from over two minutes (it was in eruption) to a single burst. Didn't try to get any intervals, as it is located on the main path between the buildings and Strokkur, which is a crowded, busy area. (And Strokkur had our attention.)

Littli and Smiður were perpetually spouting to about a meter, and up at the top of the hill, Haìhver, while spouting continuously, did seem to vary from almost quiet to bursting well over a meter high.

We finally left after over five hours and 52 eruptions of Strokkur seen.

Arrived at Hveravellir about an hour and a half before it got dark, and after taking care of necessities like eating and checking in, had maybe half an hour of light to do a quick investigation. Nothing there erupts to much more than a meter, and the intervals are extremely short, but in that time saw close to two dozen eruptive vents and features, including at least three or four geysers. There was one feature erupting about every minute, draining after the eruption. The pool of Rauðihver would pulsate over the vent, then have a couple or so bursts. The tallest feature was a pool south from Öskurhóll, which was splashing almost two meters high at times. Should have plenty of time to investigate these further tomorrow.