Dec 06
7

Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes

vatnajokull 19961001 large Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoesOne of the most amazing (imho) natural phenomenon on this planet is a sub glacial volcano. That is, a volcano beneath a glacier. I’m surprised that I hardly knew anything about them until recently. Underneath most of the glaciers in Iceland are volcanoes. When they erupt they melt ice from the bottom and if the eruption is large enough it will melt all the way to the top.

vatnajokull 19961003 large Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoesAll that meltwater has to go somewhere. Usually it will follow the terrain under the glacier and deposit in a nearby caldera. When that fills up it will buildphoto14 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes pressure and might melt through to the top. Given enough melt water it will work its way out and cause a Jökulhlaup, a glacial outburst flood.

On September 30, 1996 a volcano erupted beneath the Vatnajökull glacier. || A chronological account of the October eruption under the Vatnajökull ice cap. And some Pictures from the jökulhlaup.

aditional: gravity studies

The jökulhlaup before it totally destroyed the bridge, power lines, and anything else out to the sea.

raun0006 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes

Interesting pattern from the flood discharge.

raun0012 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes

thumbs 100 4905 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 100 4889 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 100 4869 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 000 0184 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 100 4928 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 100 4923 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes thumbs 100 4873 Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes

Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on 7 December, 2006 at 5:15 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in Phenomenon by Vikingsson 1 Comment

1 Response to "Jökulhlaup and sub glacial volcanoes"