Eldey
Template:Short description Template:Infobox islands
Eldey ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a small, uninhabited island about Template:Convert off the coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland. Located west-southwest of Reykjavík, the island of Eldey covers an area of about Template:Convert, and rises to a height of Template:Convert.<ref name=LI>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its sheer cliffs are home to large numbers of birds, including one of the largest northern gannet colonies in the world, with around 16,000 pairs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This colony can now be watched live via two webcams that are located on top of the island.<ref name="cam">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Volcanic systemEdit
Template:Broader The Eldey and Geirfuglasker volcanic systems together form the Template:Cvt long Eldey volcanic system on the Reykjanes Ridge.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The erupted rocks are from the tholeiitic magma series and picrite basalt.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/> There is not a central volcano, but rather a number of flat-topped, elongated ridges arranged in enechelon fashion.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/> Conical-, fissure- or shield-like volcanoes are superimposed on these ridges.<ref name=Höskuldsson2007>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Eldey, and the smaller skerries of Eldeyjardrangur, Geirfugladrangur and Geirfuglasker are the tops of historic volcanoes in the system.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/>
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge becomes at the Bight transform fault near 56.5°N the Reykjanes Ridge which extends Template:Cvt north to Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula at 63.87°N<ref name=Höskuldsson2007/>Template:Rp As it approaches Iceland the ridge becomes shallower, with a thickening of the oceanic crust beneath as it approaches the mantle plume associated with the Iceland hotspot.<ref name=Höskuldsson2007/>Template:Rp The Reykjanes Ridge has an average spreading rate of about Template:Cvt/year.<ref name=Höskuldsson2007/>Template:Rp
The latest confirmed eruption of the Eldey axial volcanic ridge occurred at its northern extremity in 1926 and it may have been active in 1970.<ref name=Höskuldsson2007/>Template:Rp A tephra eruption northwest of Eldey dusted the western shore of the Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland occurred in June 1879.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/> Geirfuglasker erupted in 1879 and there were 3 eruptions near Eldey between 1211 and 1422.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/> A small geothermal area is located at Template:Cvt depth east of Eldey.<ref name=IcelandicVolcanoes/>
The last of the great auksEdit
The island formerly supported the last remnant population of the flightless great auks, after the birds moved there from Geirfuglasker following a volcanic eruption in 1830. When the colony was discovered in 1835, almost fifty birds were counted. Museums, desiring the skins of the auk for preservation and display, quickly began collecting birds from the colony.<ref name="Crofford43">Template:Cite book</ref> The last pair, found incubating an egg, were killed there in June 1844, when Icelandic sailors Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangled the adults and Ketill Ketilsson accidentally cracked the last egg of the species with his boot during the struggle.<ref name="EllisNTB">Template:Cite book</ref>
In literatureEdit
- Eldey, and the fate of the great auk, are mentioned in The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby by Charles Kingsley.
- Eldey is described in detail in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert.
- The Great Auk, a novel by Allan W. Eckert, c. 1963, Library of Congress Cat.#63-18215