VOLCANO MADNESS: Re: [Geology2] Re: Volcano Activity

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Re: [Geology2] Re: Volcano Activity - Iceland

Greetings Kimberly and welcome to our Geo Group,

Iceland sits on an ocean spreading zone called the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Here's a link so that you can read more about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge

As you can see, Iceland is near the northern end of the ridge and with the outflow of magma creating new land, Iceland should become larger thanks to this process.

Lin

On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 1:25 PM, iowamom_1967 <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

With all this going on over in Iceland does that mean the country could be no more someday? or possibly growing bigger not sure.. I remember the last volcanic eruption over there when people could not get on any planes for weeks..

Kimberly

--- In geology2@yahoogroups.com, Victor Healey <4.vic.healey@...> wrote:
>
> BOTTOM LINE: More to come - clear increase in activity in Iceland
>
> Volcano Activity - Europe - Iceland
>
> RSOE EDIS - Emergency and Disaster Information 7/15/11 8:11 AM
>
>
> Description:
>
> Geophysicist Helgi Björnsson said a magma intrusion caused the glacial flood from Köldukvíslarjökull, a part of Vatnajökull in southeast Iceland, on Tuesday night. It is possible that a minor eruption occurred underneath the icecap. The Köldukvíslarjökull flood originated in a previously unknown high-temperature geothermal area in the western part of Vatnajökull. Björnsson explained that the magma intrusion occurred near the bottom of the glacier, possibly extending into the ice, and thus furthering glacial melt.
>
> He reasoned that it is possible that a minor sub-glacial volcanic eruption occurred, even though it didn't penetrate the icecap, which is 300 meters thick in this area.
>
> Björnsson added it is fairly likely that further seismic activity will occur in the area in the near future—the glacial flood was preceded by tremors—and therefore it should be monitored closely. Earth scientists say both recent glacial floods, from Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, can be explained by volcanic activity and therefore a close eye must be kept on the volcanoes that lie underneath these glaciers, even though there are no indications of imminent eruptions.
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> Not even two months have passed since the volcanic eruption in Vatnajökull's Grímsvötn and only one year ago the infamous Eyjafjallajökull erupted.
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> Geologist Oddur Sigurdsson at the Icelandic Meteorological Office noted there has clearly been an increase in volcanic eruptions in Iceland since the mid-20th century.
>