Panic grips Iceland after volcano hit by biggest earthquake tremors in 40 years

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Metro - UK

Panic grips Iceland after volcano hit by biggest earthquake tremors in 40 years


Toby Meyjes for Metro.co.ukTuesday 30 Aug 2016 2:26 pm




Fears are growing that Katla in Iceland might erupt (File picture of Fimmvorduhals in Icleand. Source: Getty)


Fears are mounting that one of the biggest volcanoes in Iceland could erupt after it was rocked by two earthquakes.

. . .

The volcano erupted in 1955 and 1999 but has not experienced a major eruption since 1918 when it spewed ash for more than five weeks.



Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/30/panic-grips-iceland-after-volcano-hit-by-biggest-earthquake-tremors-in-40-years-6099344/#ixzz4Isi6ShcO

[Coyotl]

1. "Katla, named after an evil troll, is in southern Iceland about 87 miles from Reykjavik."

At least no eruption yet. But Iceland is one of those places, not if but when,

[Warpy]

3. Yes, and an eruption of Katla has been predicted for the last 3 years

"within five years" so the troll's on schedule.

It's good that it's erupted so frequently. The real problems start when volcanoes go completely silent for a few hundred years. They become forested, turn pretty, and people start to live on them. Those are the ones that blow themselves to smithereens.

[cstanleytech]

9. Nah, the ones that go "boom" every few hundred years arent the ones that I would worry to much

about its the ones that go "boom" every 50,000+ like Yellowstone that should be the real worry because if that sucker or others like it goes it makes little difference where you live because it will likely have a major global impact.

[Coyotl]

12. Worry about the ones that release enough toxic gas to depopulate European areas downwind.

"looking at the historical record volcanic eruptions have affected Europe and other parts of the world in significant ways and sometimes even altered the course of history. Let’s consider a small sample of these events beginning with antiquity." read more

[Warpy]

14. Right, most of North America will be wiped out in weeks

and the rest of the planet will be in a deep freeze for years.

Still, barring that 600,000 year catastrophe (which is due NOW), the worst death tolls have been from stratovolcanoes that have gone silent and picturesque long enough for people to forget their stratovolcanoes. Mt. Rainier, I'm looking at you.

[cstanleytech]

15. Well the deep freeze parts debatable but it likely would cause massive famine and starvation

due to crop failures for years if not decades.

[gopiscrap]

16. I live right in the path of that

I was 190 miles east of St. Helen's (at WSU) when it blew in 19980. I was pretty awesome and fearful at the same time.

[lillypaddle]

2. K&R nt

[canetoad]

4. Hasn't erupted since 1918

It is not know how and eruption starts in Katla volcano, since no historical recordings exist when last eruption took place in the year 1918. Making ideas on how an eruption in Katla volcano start mostly guesswork. Current earthquake activity is the strongest since 1977, in 1955 there was some strong earthquake activity but magnitude of those earthquakes is not known.

http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/

I doubt 'panic grips' many Icelanders. Eruptions and earthquakes are par for the course because the Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs right through it. Toby may be fearful his holiday flight to Majorca is delayed.

[Baclava]

5. Iceland is always cracking open - fire and ice, the olde Gods awaken, Thor's hammer!

[canetoad]

17. Nice pix

Love some geology pr0n.

[HereSince1628]

6. SO has planned an early Oct trip to Ireland a month long Katla eruption

would likely be a problem for that.

[Helen Borg]

7. Oh no... Then translatlantic flights will be disrupted.

[Nihil]

8. Hurray! Clear skies!

Yeah, I know it can be pretty damned inconvenient for those trapped out of place
but I really enjoyed the difference when the last one went off ... silver linings and all that.

[snooper2]

10. you live in the Atlantic Ocean?

[Nihil]

13. Nope, Southern England ...

... and Eyjafjallajokull shut down Heathrow & other major airports for
several days (back in 2010) so no planes going across the sky made
for a relaxing interlude.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Panic grips newsreaders as they have to learn how to pronounce the latest Icelandic volcano

News reports have been flying around over the past 24 hours of increased seismic activity near the South Iceland volcano of Katla.

Newsreaders across the globe are heaving a sigh of relief in advance that, when Katla erupts, they won’t have to torture their tongue with the likes of Grímsvötn, Bárðarbunga or – eek! – Eyjafjallajökull.

‘At least we can all pronounce Katla!’ seems to be the optimistic buzz on social media at the moment. But can you really?
...
The word involves a linguistic feature known as pre-aspiration, in this case affecting the consonant group ‘tl’. In simple terms, an ‘h’ sound should be inserted before the ‘tl’ – it’s not (kat-la), but (kaHt-la).

http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2016/08/30/how_to_pronounce_the_name_of_iceland_s_latest_volca/

Their real test will be the glacier at the volcano:

Considerable seismic activity has continued under Mýrdalsjökull glacier today, after strong quakes – the strongest in decades – in the early hours of this morning.

Following tremors of magnitude 4.5 and 4.6 earlier today, the South Iceland glacier – which covers the mighty Katla volcano – saw another significant quake, of magnitude 3.3, just after 3pm this afternoon, local time, according to Iceland national broadcaster RÚV (link in Icelandic).

“It is not a question of whether Katla will erupt, but when,” warns Kristín Jónsdóttir, Earthquake Hazards Coordinator at the Icelandic Met Office.

“We mustn’t forget that Katla is a very active volcano. Looking back, there have been sixteen known eruptions since Iceland was settled,” she said, speaking on Icelandic radio today.

http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2016/08/29/katla_eruption_not_if_but_when/