Abstract
ON October 28 last, at 20 minutes past 5 in the morning, two earthquakes occurred at Reykjavík, and reports were soon received as to earthquakes in other districts, especially at Cape Reykjanes. The whole peninsula of Reykjanes is covered with lava streams, and there are many craters and fissures. The extreme point of this peninsula seems in former times to have been the scene of many volcanic eruptions. Tradition tells that long ago the promontory stretched eight miles further to southwest than it does now, and that great earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the years 1389–90 produced the subsidence of the ancient promontory. The land reached then to Eldey (the Fire Island), or, as the Danes call it, “Melsækken.” In historic times ten volcanic eruptions are known to have taken place in the neighbourhood of these rocks.
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THORODDSEN, T. The Recent Earthquakes in Iceland. Nature 37, 201 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/037201c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037201c0
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