Valagjá is a name of a volcanic crater located near the mountain road Landmannaleið in the southern part of the Icelandic highland.  The geological term for the crater is maar, and it is a similar phenomenon as a few other craters like Víti, Grænavatn and the nearby Hnausapollur and Ljótipollur, but without the water.  The meaning of the term maar is actually an explosion crater.

There were changes in Hekla’s activity following a large eruption about 3000 years ago, but until the settlement of Iceland in the ninth century, the activity was characterized by smaller eruptions than before. A total of 30 pyroclastic layers from this period are known, which can be divided into three eruption periods. The oldest eruption period is characterized by acidic to glacial magma and two-colored igneous layers, the next by glacial magma and smaller monochromatic dark igneous layers, but the youngest of basaltic magma and dark layers. The basic law most likely originates from the Hekla fissure zone where activity resumed. In one of the last eruptions before the settlement, Sölvahraun and Taglgígahraun erupted and Valagjá most likely formed in an explosive eruption at a similar time. . . . . All info at: https://www.patreon.com/RafnSig

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