One of Iceland ’s most extensivevolcanoesis establish signs of restlessness . As reported by theIceland Monitor , tremors beneath the southerly Katla volcano reached order of magnitude of about 4.6 at the beginning of this week , followed by another serial publication hitting around 3.3M. Thesetremorscould bespeak that magma is move up up through the crust and fracturing it , but accord to geophysicist Gunnar Guðmundsson of the Icelandic Met Office ( IMO ) , there are no concrete signs yet of magmatic ascension .
Small gushy sequence do pass off at Katla on a semi - regular basis , producing iridescent lava flows that are not specially hazardous to anyone nearby , but it ’s long overdue for a major irruption . At nowadays , though , there ’s no straightaway danger of it befall .
“ On average the clock time between eruptions is 50 class but now the volcano hasn‘t [ importantly ] erupted in 98 year , ” KristínJónsdóttir , earthquake hazards coordinator at the IMO , toldRÚV . “ There will be an outbreak , it‘s only a question of when . ”
The mighty Katla has erupted at least 20 times in the last 1,000 years or so , but it has not erupted violently for about a century . Its last event , in 2011 , was not powerful enough to break through the ice pileus , the immense Mýrdalsjökull glacier – but perhaps next metre , it will .
If it does , it is likely a huge , free burning ash tree column – something kin to the one that Eyjafjallajökull produced in 2010 – will be generated . More dangerously for Iceland itself , there is a possibility that the glacier will dead melt and have catastrophic implosion therapy to the valley below .
The 2011 outcome make swamp big enough to sweep away a major bridgework atMúlakvísl , without any human death . A more paroxysmal bang , however , could produce something more devastating .
Katla , like all Icelandic volcanoes , is being tight monitored , and all technical equipment is presently being moderate to secure it is go correctly .
picture in text : Katla explosively combust in 1918.RicHard-59 / Wikimedia Commons ; Public Domain
attempt to predict when a volcano will erupt isnotoriously tricky – second , perhaps , to determining when anearthquakewill hit a particular fracture line . Volcanoes do in a variety of shapes and sizes , from thesupervolcanic cauldrons(“calderas ” ) and themountain - like peaksto the tremendous shield volcano and hellish fissures .
Each has its own eruption dash , with sticky , gassy magma lean to bring on the most explosive eruptions and fluid , superhot magmas often burst out into the sky or over the vent ’s flank without harm a single soul . Iceland ’s vent incline to bring forth outbursts of the latter , but the trash above them add an extra dimension .
When lava is mixed in with methamphetamine hydrochloride in a turbulent fashion , the trapped ice melts and rapidly expand , induce a series of explosions . These explosions could unleash more lava from beneath , which causes additional explosions , and so on .
This type of eruption can sometimes be harmless , but if there ’s enough lava and ice , it can generatevast , ash - filled plumes – just like the one that exclude down European air space six class ago . Katla could engage in this sort of eruption style , but as always , only time will assure if it will .
Another Icelandic volcano , Hekla , was guess by some to be prim itself for an eruption . It is six twelvemonth overdue for an burst , but , as others orient out , its volcanic eruption recurrence rate is so irregular that it is as potential to erupt any twenty-four hours now as it is to combust in a year or two from now .
Glaciers often act as detonator to Iceland ’s volcanoes - and if they break , things become quite violent . Giantrabbit / Shutterstock
