#176: Surtsey - 60 years of succession

What did the crew of the Icelandic trawler Ísleifur II see for the first time?

Sixty years ago today, the sea south of Iceland boiled and a new island was born. The trawler was on the spot when a phreatomagmatic eruption began... 

I have been working on some new resources on the island of Surtsey for the new GCSE Natural History - which may or may not be delayed by recent Cabinet reshuffles. 

There is a focus on topics such as Plant Succession.

Surtsey is just over a month older than me.

It turns out that I didn't really need to do this after all as Discover the World have released a new resource on the island which is really rather good. I'll finish mine anyway as it has a different focus.

On this day 60 years ago, an eruption started in the ocean southwest of the Westman Islands. The eruption lasted almost four years and eventually formed the island of Surtsey. 📷Arctic Images. pic.twitter.com/lDYepkb5rA

— Lava Centre (@LavaCentre) November 14, 2023 

Today marks the 60th anniversary since the famous Surtsey #Eruption. With the current tectonic activity bubbling away in #Iceland, you can use our NEW classroom resource to compare with the current events of the #icelandvolcano and #IcelandEarthquakes https://t.co/HEJwNckVFs

— Discover the World Education (@DTW_Education) November 14, 2023

You can go here to download the resource.

The island is a perfect example of a blank slate on which plant succession can then begin as birds and other processes bring seeds to what is otherwise virgin territory. The island has been off limits to the public for the last sixty years, with monitoring of the species that are arriving. There is quite a bit of information online - and in my resource - on the steady arrival of new species.

The island also has World Heritage Status.

The criteria is Outstanding Universal Value.

Surtsey is a new island formed by volcanic eruptions in 1963-67. It has been legally protected from its birth and provides the world with a pristine natural laboratory. 

Free from human interference, Surtsey has produced long-term information on the colonisation process of new land by plant and animal life.

Criterion

Ongoing biological and ecological processes: Surtsey was born as a new volcanic island in 1963-67 and since that time has played a major role in studies of succession and colonisation. It has been the site of one of the few long term studies worldwide on primary succession, providing a unique scientific record of the process of colonisation of land by plants, animals and marine organisms. 

Not only is it geographically isolated, but it has been legally protected from its birth, providing the world with a pristine natural laboratory, free from human interference. Above all, because of its continuing protection, Surtsey will continue to provide invaluable data on biological colonisation long into the future.

Integrity

The property includes the whole island and an adequate surrounding marine area, and thus all the areas that are essential for the long term conservation of the ecological processes on Surtsey. There is also a relatively small but functional marine buffer zone that is not part of the inscribed property. It is noted that part of the evolution of Surtsey is the process of coastal erosion which has already halved the area of the island and over time is predicted to remove another two thirds leaving only the most resistant core.

Since they began studying the island in 1964, scientists have observed the arrival of seeds carried by ocean currents, the appearance of moulds, bacteria and fungi, followed in 1965 by the first vascular plant, of which there were 10 species by the end of the first decade. By 2004, they numbered 60 together with 75 bryophytes, 71 lichens and 24 fungi. Eighty-nine species of birds have been recorded on Surtsey, 57 of which breed elsewhere in Iceland. The 141 ha island is also home to 335 species of invertebrates.

Here's a video on the eruption: