Jökull - 01.12.1967, Síða 15

The Steinsholtshlaup, Central-South Iceland
on January 15th, 1967
GUDMUNDUR KJARTANSSON,
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND
INTRODUCTION
(Tliis article is an extract front a more de-
tailed article in Icelandic (Kjartansson 1967)).
The Icelandic term hlaup1) denotes a rapid
mass movement suddenly set off and accelerat-
ed by gravity. The term comprises all types of
rock-falls, landslides and avalanches, together
1) In Icelandic hl is pronounced as hl in
Czech and au as eulle in French feulle. Cognates
of hlaup in related languages are: Norwegian
laup or lf>p, Danish lj>b, Swedish lopp, German
Lauf, and English leap.
with floods that are not caused directly by
rain or thaw. As the present author is not
familiar with any other short term that covers
all the three successive phases of the event to
be described the Icelandic term hlaup will be
used here. It is known to glaciologists in the
term jökulhlaup.
Steinsholt is the name given to a sector of
the northern flank of Eyjafjallajökull, an ice-
capped stratovolcano rising 1666 m above sea
level on the south coast of Iceland. Steinsholt
is bordered on either side by narrow valleys
occupied by steep glaciers that migrate frorn
Fig. 1. The valley of Markarfljót — Arrows, track of tlie lilaup. Toolhed, doublelines, artificial
walls. Small black quadrangles, farms.
1. mynd. Dalurinn milli Eyjafjalla og Fljótshlíðar. Hlaupfarið frá Innstahaus i Sleinsholti niður
fyrir Markarfljótsbrú er merkt með örvum. Ferhyrndir deplar merkja bœi og „hrifuhausar“ sýna
varnargarða.
JÖKULL 17. ÁR 249