Iceland: The Land Of Ice And Fire

Katla
Iceland is called the land of ice and fire. It is formed by the divergent plate boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Spanning the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland emerged as a result of the divergent process; the results of which, can be measured and observed on land. About the size of the State of Virginia, with a population of around 300,000. Iceland has 30 volcanoes and 13 of them are active. The most fatal volcanic eruption of Iceland's history was the Skaftáreldar in 1783-84 (fires of Skaftá). Almost a quarter of the population died. The immediate lava flow was not the cause of the deaths. The deaths occurred because the eruption's smoke and ash, caused climate change and the livestock died because
Katla, is a sub-glacial volcano. The caldera of the Katla volcano has a diameter of 10 km (6.2 mi) and is covered with 200–700 meters (660–2,300 ft) of ice. The peak is about 1512 m / 4,961 ft high. Twenty eruptions have occurred between 930 and 1918, at intervals of 13–95 years or by some estimates 40- 80 years.The last eruption was in1918. Katla has not erupted for ninety-nine years. However, since May 2012, the large volcano has become restless. Today, November 29, 2016 a 3.2 magnitude earthquake occurred. Because the volcano sits beneath a glacier, The Government of Iceland is concerned that the next eruption could result in glacial flooding. When Katla erupted in 1755, The flood discharge at the peak of the eruption is estimated at 200,000–400,000 m3/s (7.1-14.1 million cu ft/sec), comparable to the combined average discharge of the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze rivers (about 266,000 m3/s (9.4 million cu ft/sec). With a current population of around 300,000 a flood of that magnitude would be disastrous. Typically the flood burst (jokulhlaup) would flow south toward the sea. But there is also a possibility that the flood burst could flow west. West of the Katla volcano lies an important agricultural area. A flood burst would demolish farms, villages and everything in its
No not really. The science of monitoring volcanoes is still growing. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, and Mt. St. Helen's in Washington State, have been instrumental in allowing scientists to identify eruption signals. The data obtained from Kilauea's constant state of eruption and applied to Mt. St Helens in the aftermath, have given scientist a greater insight into the subtleties of impending eruptions. In a 2009 interview with Volcano World, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program coordinator John Eichelberger.,explained to Marie Lacey how scientist analysis the indicators of an