The remnants of LakiAs a volcano buried beneath Iceland’s ice cap shakes from magma moving into it,
The remnants of LakiAs a volcano buried beneath Iceland’s ice cap shakes from magma moving into it, let’s take a moment and remember one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in recent memory.In 1783, a volcanic eruption known as Laki took place in Iceland’s eastern volcanic zone. This event was mostly a fissure eruption: it took place in a series of fractures or “fissures” that extend outward from the Grímsvötn magmatic system that is likely the largest in Iceland. This chain of craters marks the locations where the lavas poured out, a line 23 kilometers long.After an early series of earthquakes related to the movement of magma, the ground split open and huge amounts of lava poured out. The lava cascaded over Iceland, burning its way from the high ground near its source down towards the coastline. The amount of lava produced in this eruption is staggering. Most of the lava erupted in about the first one and a half months, and the volume erupted during the full eruption is about 3.5 times the amount of lava that has erupted from Kilauea during the Pu’u O’o eruption, which has continued almost without interruption sine 1983. More than 30 years of Kilauea, multiplied by 4, erupted within a couple months.This eruption had impacts throughout the world. The plume of gases released by the eruption headed out over Europe, causing severe climate issues, famines, and maybe even helping drive the French Revolution a few years later.-JBBImage credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laki_Iceland_East.JPGRead more:http://www.wired.com/2013/06/local-and-global-impacts-1793-laki-eruption-iceland/http://alexandrawitze.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/laki-the-forgotten-volcano/http://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Fire-extraordinary-volcano-eighteenth-century/dp/1781250049http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/summary/ -- source link
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