Katla volcano watch anyone?

[MrSlant]

I remember when the last eruption was going on in Iceland I learned an awful lot from knowledgable MN'ers about volcanos and seismic activity, plus you all had links to the best websites.

Apparently it is not 'if' but 'when' Katla is going to erupt so anyone want to join me and educate me and save me finding all the good links again?

It must be what shapes the Icelandic character, a harsh and scary environment, not a place to live if you are weedy and need your hand holding.

It's an awesome place, I love it there. There definitely is a link between the environment and the national character IMO. The seem very philosophical about the dangers of the volcanoes etc.

It is an astonishing place. I've climbed part way up Hekla, which is also thought to be rather unstable at the moment. It was very unnerving. We had to turn back because of bad weather. I was a bit grateful.

Volcano climate change = cooler for a few years.
Man made climate change = warmer for a looooong time.

Did you hear the man talking about the new epoch on the radio OYBBK? How this should now be called the "Anthropocene" instead of our official current title of "Holocene". It terrified me that we have changed out planet so much by our actions. Burned it and irradiated it and filled it with plastic. Volcano watching is so much more soothing.

I'd love to go to Iceland, I'll have to put that on my list. I've only just started adventuring and it seems like my list gets longer every time I tick something off! Not sure I could be brave enough to climb up Hekla, even when stable, I've watched too many terrible films .

Bad kitten, it depends on the sulphur content of the gasses and particulates.
Indeed, Krakatoa 1883 had more of a cooling effect on the northern hemisphere even though it's in Indonesia.

Most of the cooling effects are felt in the northern half even if the volcano is in the southern half (depending on the amount of SO2) I'm not sure if this is a bias because most measuring stations are terresterially based, (and there's more land in the northern half) or were anyway, or if it's an actual effect iykwim. I think I remember learning that it was a real effect because of the wobble, and way things circulate.

I'm not sure the magma is particularly sulphuric at the ridge- mostly iron and manganese rich, not so much silica or water either.
So, not like mt St. Helens, which was melted subducted continental crust, and was extremely explosive- magma was about 4% water and over 50% Silica.
Iceland is more like pahoehoe and aa in Hawaii, which is, of course you know, melted mafic (Manganese Ferric) oceanic.

Here's a link about compositions of magma and types of explosions.

Mrslant, this is officially the anthropocene. 'Twas settled a good few years ago. I certainly remember learning about it in uni 30 years ago.

We have officially crested the tipping point and are picking up speed on the way down.

And just the other day, we passed the date this year, where we officially go into climate and resource debt. It's earlier and earlier every year.

And there are still world leaders willing to deny these facts and jeopardise every living being for the sake of winning elections and making their stock prices go up.

Back to soothing volcanoes....

I think Katla tends more towards basaltic explosive type eruptions?

What we don't want for sure is another Laki style event. Fortunately very unlikely!!

30 years ago! Well honestly, it's like no one bothered to let me know . I could take every single climate change denier and nail their feet down in front of the rising seas! A bit like that brilliant sculpture with the heads all going under water but with real people. I love threads like these, I always learn so much and annoy my children by insisting on passing the information on. The man on the radio made it sound like people still weren't accepting of the new age we were in. Although I was driving around trying not to kill cyclists (I'm kind like that) so my attention wasn't on the programme 100%.

The link about magma and differen't types of explosions is brilliant. I'm going to go out and forage for my tea in Tesco then settle down to an evening of learning new stuff.

NO, no more Laki style events. Although I may start a new Oh Fuck Rucksack just in case.

Rather worried about this, my parents booked a holiday to Iceland last week and the only thing we haven't sorted yet is travel insurance...

Vesuvius was actually erupting a couple of months ago wasn't it? My dd was there shortly after it finished some of the best eruptions it had had for ages. Theyd stopped doing trips up it. I think it does low level,eruptions quite often but these were bigger than usual.

Pops cup of tea down to place mark...

Was it the fluorine fallout into the soil that did a lot of damage in the laki one? A big eruption would have consequences for soil and farming..

The last time I went to Iceland there was an eruption in progress at Bárðarbunga. It erupted for over a year. I'd encourage your parents to sort insurance ASAP but there's a good chance they could still go even if Katla erupts.

amammabear, chances are that it will all settle again. Katla threatened back in 2011 iirc and nothing happened.

Yes, bad kitten basalt is a kind of mafic Rock, rich in iron and Manganese. It's dark coloured because of the colour of iron and manganese oxides.
There are many different types of mafic Rock, basalt and gabbro being some of them.

The other end of the mineral scale is rocks being rich in silica, granite being the one that doesn't erupt, it just sits there in the crust in a pluton (like a cyst), and rhyolite and pumice being low in iron and manganese- they're lighter coloured and usually explode out with great force and heat (depending on how much water is in the magma- more water means more explosive) if the magma is dry i.e. no water the stuff just extrudes out like very very hot toothpaste.
Pillow lavas on the sea bed at rifts are examples of this exuded lava, or ropy pahoehoe lava are an example on land.
Low water, low gas and low viscosity with a mafic magma means runny toothpaste kind of eruption.
High water high gasses high viscosity and a Silicate rich magma means exploding, like pumice, and giant ash tephra, or pyroclastic nuée ardentes.

Iceland volcanism (oceanic ridge) is mafic and relatively low in water, so it doesn't have the same kind of massive explosive eruption power as Pompeii or Krakatoa, or mt St. Helens which are subducted continental crust, silicon rich, wetter magmas, and produced enormous craters, and truly gigantic plumes of debris and ash.

This might interest, if you like volcanic rocks

The volcano grumbles on, people make a few nice graphs, I get to chat with lots of really clever people and then it all dies down again. Then I forget everything I learned and when there is an earthquake near an Icelandic volcano I start another of these so my bird like brain can read all about it again.

In the words of Douglas Adams DON'T PANIC. This thread is just for informative sciency stuff, the world (or holidays) are not going to end!

I think this is the fourth time in the last century she's made a fuss then died down again. What was that last volcano over there called that erupted but slowly through a fissure but with lots of earthquakes that made scientists think a bit bit of ice could drop into a big magma lake and go POOF in an exciting fashion? That went all quiet too. Although there are some great papers coming out about it now.

I loves volcanic rocks. I have bits of Etna in my house hang on, I'll take a photo and you can tell me what sort it is.

So I guess,what makes Icelandic volcanoes sometimes explosive is water intrusion from glaciers? But that would make the explosions at a shallow level?

here you go. About 10 days after eruption.

VenusRising you are everything I love about MN, that post was fascinating and now I have to head into google to make sure I understood it all, thank you for taking the time to type it out, it's the sort of thing I love learning about.

I need to do a geology course. I went though the OU volcano and something else module, but it was too basic.

Wasn't that the worry last tim OYBBK, that the 'lid' on the magma lake was slowly moving down, as indicated by the earthquakes plotted in a circular fashion around so instead of the magma extruding through the fissure as it was at some point the thin crust of rock above would fall in with a very large amount of ice which would cause a BIG explosion.

I can't believe I forgot I wanted to do the OU volcano thing and have signed up for algorithms and more programming instead. Next year I will remember there is life outside learning about computers and numbers!

OP I think you mean Bardarbunga, with the fissure towards Askja at Holuhraun in 2014-15.

That's right MrSlant! instead it remained quietly impressive.

It was still a massive amount of magma extruded wasn't it like an epic amount but, thankfully for a lot of people, no massive BOOM moment. Scientifically that would have been very interesting but on a human level probably for the best.