Volcano

With the volcano erupting in Iceland in the news, I wanted to share photos of a volcano erupting there in the 1970's, while we stationed there in the Navy.  It did not involve a glacier and the lava was able to flow into the sea.  It was on a island just off the coast and, of course, the residents had to evacuate to the mainland.  The U.S. Navy asked military personnel to volunteer to shovel ash from the homes and a friend of ours went.  These are pictures of the pictures he made.  In the "small world" category, my uncle worked for the company that was hired to pump water from the ocean onto the lava to cool it, etc, and he volunteered to come as the supervisor, since he had a niece to visit.  Who would have ever thought my uncle in Indiana would be in Iceland?

We really had no way to get local news, and did not know the volcano had erupted until the next day....but we saw a plume of smoke on the horizon that never moved or went away and were puzzled.  We had that view on the horizon for quite awhile.  After the initial eruption was over and it was safe to ride past the island, we drove over there.  By that time all we really saw was steam rising into the air, because the lava was flowing into the sea underwater.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy these photos.  I also have a chunk of lava rock somewhere is storage, I think.  Our friend picked it up off the ground while it was still hot.