Volcanos in Iceland, possible alarm?

This post is going to have some facts about the volcano´s in Iceland and more information then you are recieving from the news media. I ask of u to not be alarmed but rather to think of this as a question in wich i will be asking later in the post. I live in Reykjarvík the central capital of Iceland.

When the eruption of eyjafallajökull began i got interested in the structures of volcano´s here in Iceland and decided to study it as best as i can, gathering all the information that i could.

What u hear from the media in Iceland is (consumer) based information, to avoid panic and histeria, in regards to the puplic statement made by our president Ólafur, about the near future eruption of Katla, i´d like to applaud him by telling the world the truth.

He has now been slanderd by icelandic media that he has damaged the country´s travel industry. And making it so that more people do not want to come to iceland becouse of the fear of getting stuck here or simply getting killed by a volcano eruption. We have been trying to ease that transition by throwing out a campain wich is called "inspired by iceland" not sure if u heard of it but that is it.

While researching through the posts here on ats regarding the eruption of eyjafjallajökull and the immenent danger of Katla simply to see if the knowlage i was about to post had allready been put out there. I did not find the subject in wich i was looking for, but rather hours of endless posts about doomsday theory´s. For those of you who live in europe i´d like to mention a huge volcano eruption here in iceland would not affect your lives in the manner it would us. While we face genocide you face airspace canselation and maybe -0,5 tempature dropping, and maybe alot of ash with fluorine.

Seing as this country has 130 volcanic mountains and 18 of them have been active the last 1150 years. The country itself lies on a hotspot in the mid-atlantic-ridge. The chance for events of biblical porportions are wery likely and as the country has proven before and will in time do again.

You will not read anything like im about to write in any kind of news media as this information is somewhat terrifying and still just a (theory) from a single individual. But do not dismiss this, as this post will also include facts that are confirmed by history and top scientists.

Now that the intro is out of the way, i shall begin the post.


The information about Katla going to erupt is true and time will show that, the size of katla´s eruption is estimated to be 10 times larger then the recent eruption of eyjafjallajökull. This is information that has been posted here but i would like to clarify that even though people see 5-10 small earthquakes with the size of 0,5 to 2, that this is not a indication that it is going to erupt as these kind of earthquakes around the caldera´s are perfectly normal and happens every week.

Now that i have calmed u down a bit, i am going to upset u again.
The media has told u Katla is going to erupt but this is a understatement as they are ignoring the facts about the other volcano´s also.

While infact it is time for.

These area all part of the east volcanic zone.

Katla (last eruptions = 1721, 1755-56, 1823, 1860, 1918, 1955(?it farted))

Hekla (last eruptions = 1845-46, 1878, 1913, 1947-48, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1991, 2000)

Grímsvötn (1934, 1938, 1939(?), 1941(?), 1945, 1948(?), 1954, 1972(?), 1983, 1984(?), 1996, 1998, 2004

Bárðarbunga (last eruptions = 1769, 1797, 1807(?), 1862-64, 1872(?), 1902-03) been resting for 100 years

These 2 are part of the north volcanic zone

Askja (last eruptions = 1875, 1919, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924(?), 1926, 1938, 1961)

Krafla (last eruptions = 1729, 1746, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1981, 1984)

With this information in the open i would like to state that im not trying to couse panic but rather to point out that these volcano´s ,, The most active volcano´s in iceland in our time are all due time for a eruption. As things have become serius again im going to relax things down with a fun fact.

(The volcano Esjuföll is a volcano in the central of our largest iceglacier Vatnajökull, this volcano has never erupted in our time but it was thought that it produced a huge glacier meltwater outburst in 1927, the caldera of this volcano is estimated to be 40km2 wide and therefor 4 times the size of Katla´s caldera)

There, i see you have allready calmed down a bit and are feeling mutch better.

For those who do not believe a word im writing as im not posting links at the moment i will soothe u too ,as i do not want to divert your attention from reading this post in full and enjoying it in whole, the links will be at the bottom of my post.

With all this said , i would like to point out that these facts are not the issue that i am afraid of. After all i choose to live in iceland and im well aware of the danger of living here. But i gladly trade in the danger for the fresh air clean water and wonderfull landscape anyday.

While studying all this i found out something that i would like to ignore but my mind keeps telling me that i should atleast talk about this with someone instead of just ignoring this, so im tossing out a theory that im hoping to get debunked.

Almost around the same time the Eyjafjallajokull eruption began the Hengill volcanic system began to shake.
(description of Hengill)
The Hengill volcanic system, cutting through Thingvallavatn lake, consists of a series of NE-SW-trending fissure vents, crater rows, and small shield volcanoes occupying a strongly faulted graben. Hengill is the easternmost of a series of four closely spaced basaltic fissure systems that cut diagonally across the Reykjanes Peninsula and lies at the triple junction of the Reykjanes Peninsula volcanic zone, the Western volcanic zone, and the South Iceland seismic zone. Postglacial lava flows surface much of the volcanic system. The latest eruption was radiocarbon dated about 1900 years before present. An eruption in the Hellisheidi area once thought to have occurred around 1000 AD at the time of a meeting of the Icelandic parliament at Thingvellir is now known to have occurred at a vent about 5 km away in the Brennisteinsfjöll volcanic system. Geothermally heated greenhouses, hot springs, and geysers are found at the Hveragerdi thermal area.

Seing as the goverment has been drilling into the Hengill area to be able to use the steam that comes from it, they have been tapping into the area for quite some time now. As from what i have read steam like that is produced with lava setteling into a chamber below and therefor couses pressure and let´s off the steam. The area reaches over 100km and is only 50km away from the main capital reykjarvík.This type of system is somewhat the same as the Láki system that erupted violently in 1783 wich killed over 25% of our population and 50% of our livestock and is believed to have coused over 2 million deaths in europe. And that system is in the middle of our country, not 50km away.

So in whole my question is.

Is it possible that given the delay on the most active volcano´s in iceland that the magma is forming elsewhere, like in the Hengill system wich is still refered to as active. Could this mean that there´s a eruption about to happen under this area in wich there has been about 80% more activity then in the last 3 years,(couldn´t find earthquake data going farther back then that)

Seing as im no expert in these matters, and there are alot of you on this site i ask you to please debunk this theory so i can sleep peacefully at night , thinking there´s 6 volcano´s about to erupt in the middle of the country. Not 50km away with the magnitude of 5-6 on explosividy.

I would also like to point out that a large earthquake with the size of 6,4 with some smaller earthquakes follwing it originated in the Hengill area in 2007.

And i wanted to point out , there might be flaws in my post i allready noticed some but in the big picture it doesn´t matter, im not a perfectionist looking to win the best written post . If u feel the need to point out them out go ahead.

Links to my sources.

List of volcano´s in iceland =
Wikipedia
Volcanodiscovery

Information on lava.
Fissure vents
Stages of explosive eruptions
Magma chamber
Volcano explosivity index
Link to see the earthquakes in iceland.
Press [Fyrri vika]to go back in time and [Næsta vika] to go forward
Earthquake reports dating back in time.

Not getting any responces yet, maybe should have called the post

"Doomsday Volcano´s and Genocide" , maybe that would have cought some pro´s attention hehe

thanks for the info. not just doom and gloom but full of facts. these are not things to be scared of, but rather aware of. s+f

Nice i hope it remains quiet up there

There's always something to 'look forward to', isn't there?

Thanks for the post. I'm sure Katla and it appears the drilled into live areas will 'go' sooner or later. Wasn't it in Switzerland where 'hot rock energy extraction' caused earthquakes so perhaps your Icelandic government is playing with fire literally!

Any idea when we can expect the big eruption or eruptions to happen.

Nice info. I always wondered while there was a stink about air travel in Europe from the last eruption, there was not much in the news as to how the people in Iceland were dealing with the eruption themselves. That would be the bigger news in my mind.

As for the active vulcanism damaging tourism I can imagine but I can say in my case I'd love to still visit Iceland regardless. The real issue for me in visiting has more to do with the terrible "safety" restrictions the government has place on flying. I refuse to fly commercially until they come to their senses. Which at this rate will be never.

In the interim good luck there and more importantly than the valcano issues do your best to stay out of the clutches of the international bankster criminals hands!

S&F and peace!

Nice read and find S 4 you. Anything is possible, earthquakes, eruptions but even a long quit time. Eyjafjallajökull is still steaming and you never now. I hope for you Icelanders that nothings happening. Iceland is a hotspot for all this kind of stuff, and it will be forever. I noticed that ther a people here on ATS they waiting for the big event. I said always: Look in your own backyard and maybe ???? Go on with the good work OP

[edit on 24-6-2010 by ni91ck]

reply to post by keldas


Yeah from my studies of the lining of the stars and how the intergalactic voice speaks to me. Im gonna go ahead and predict it might happen anywhere from 2 sec from after i finish typing this post. To (say) 20 years in the near future. If im being too vague ,, you just let me know,, ok my friend

But all fooling aside my friend, there is no way any man can predict when a volcano erupts. Best information i can give u is info that has allready been posted here on ats.

Regarding Katla and how she is suposed to erupt within a 6 month period after Eyjafjallajokull erupts, but even with that information. There is no way of knowing, as we are talking about Mother nature , she never tells us anything she just goes for it when she feels like it

reply to post by Spacedman13


I haven't go to the end of the replies yet, but I just wanted to note this:

Esjufjöll interests me, and as you say has been flagged as a potential thread. The last I read was that it may be a year or so.

What I find fascinating about Esjufjöll is that Smithsonian appear to completely ignore it!

Here is a snap from Google Earth with the Smithsonian 'Volcano' layer turned on, and I have marked Esjufjöll. As you can see Smithsonian to not appear to acknowledge it!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5d4926e31a8b.png[/atsimg]

I will reply to you on the rest of this later, but an interesting post for which thanks.

Edit: I have added a link to this in the Volcano Watch 2010 thread.

I will try and find the information I collected a while ago on this one and post it here.

You might find this post in the Volcano Watch thread interesting where I mention the magma plume sat under Iceland.

[edit on 24/6/2010 by PuterMan]

Very interesting post. Can't blame you for still wanting to live there, even with the dangers, it sounds so beautiful. The fresh air and clean water is the reason I like northern Canada, it's cold but worth it for the freshness.

Hopefully someone will read this thread who is very scientifically minded and can inform us a little more, but like you said, Mother Nature will do what she wants, when she wants.

reply to post by Spacedman13
I will thank you for posting this, and in my native tongue!

You English is easily understandable.

Thanks for bringing us news that we would not otherwise see. Some very interesting info, I wonder what else we don't hear about?

Star and flag, my friend!

BTW: Beautiful Avatar.



[edit on 24-6-2010 by butcherguy]

I find this topic fascinating. To think of the power of nature. I pray for the people of Iceland when this does happen! Great post and I hope to see more added on from other readers.

reply to post by Spacedman13


I'm a geologist with a special interest in volcanoes.

Your theory is a well written and interesting one. However, it isn't based on 'science' as such, more circumstantial conjecture - and I don't mean that in a negative way as you've given it a darned good shot.

The problem with Iceland is that it is both a constructive plate boundary, and also a 'hot spot' location. This produces incredibly complex geophysics and petrological circumstances.

Certainly, it is true that we could see long timing-curve magma chambers filling up. It is also true that we could potentially be looking at nasty eruptions. The problem we have is that there is absolutely NO evidence to suggest this.

The 'tilt' meters in Iceland are generally within normal parameters, magmatic earthquake swarms aren't behaving oddly, and we're not seeing any unusual environmental / organism behaviour. The assessment that Katla always erupts after Eyjafjallajokull (EFJ) is purely anecdotal. There is no PROVEN link as of yet. I concede that they could share some magmatic pathways and possibly a source deep down - but this doesn't mean that an eruption is imminent.

I'm all for revealing the truth, I just don't see any truth behind your theory.

Good effort though.

Parallex.

reply to post by Parallex


Starred your post for logic.

But: remember the day before The Great Storm? -





(link added)


[edit on 24/6/10 by pause4thought]

If there's one thing I've learned about Volcanoes ,
its that they're unpredictable and you never know when
or where exactly they might start to erupt.

One thing I do know though is that they can erupt
anywhere in the SW to NA regions of Iceland ,as this map shows ;

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ae492ea68e95.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by pause4thought


HAHA! That's a quality comeback, and very true.

Never say never!

Parallex.

no there is no cause for alarm.............