page_title: Hekla
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Hekla / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: Íslenska: Hekluhraun í Rangárvallasýslu. Ríkjandi tegundir eru hraunbreyskja (Stereocaulon vesuvianum) og melagambri (Racomitrium ericoides). English: Lava from Hekla in Rangárvallasýsla, Iceland. Dominant species are Stereocaulon vesuvianum and Racomitrium ericides.
context_page_description: Hekla, or Hecla, is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 m. Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874. During the Middle Ages, Europeans called the volcano the "Gateway to Hell".
  Hekla is part of a volcanic ridge, 40 km long. The most active part of this ridge, a fissure about 5.5 km long named Heklugjá, is considered to be within Hekla proper. Hekla looks rather like an overturned boat, with its keel being a series of craters, two of which are generally the most active.
  The volcano's frequent large eruptions have covered much of Iceland with tephra, and these layers can be used to date eruptions of Iceland's other volcanoes. Approximately 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last thousand years has come from Hekla, amounting to 5 km³. Cumulatively, the volcano has produced one of the largest volumes of lava of any in the world in the last millennium, around 8 km³.
context_section_description: The Hekla area was once forested. Forest and some grasses are much more resilient to ash and pumice fall than low vegetation, but the combined effect of human habitation and the volcanic activity has left an unstable surface very susceptible to erosion. Hekluskógar, a 90,000 ha reforesting project is attempting to restore the birch and willow woodland to the slopes of Hekla, starting with soil fertilisation and grass sowing. This would stabilize the large areas of volcanic ash, help to reduce wind erosion of the frost heaved surface, slow drainage rates and hence water erosion, and ultimately increase biodiversity. It is the largest reforestation of its type in Europe. After an eruption, almost all of the 'safe sites' on new lava flows are colonised by mosses within 20 years expanding to a homogeneous layer up to 20 cm thick within 50 years.
caption: The lichens Stereocaulon vesuvianum and moss Racomitrium ericoides on lava originating from Hekla.
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