3 ms·
The Icelandic volcanoes are a very different kind. They create lava flows instead of explosions (except when they erupt under glaciers, but there is no glacier
by johngossman 3y ago
The Icelandic volcanoes are a very different kind. They create lava flows instead of explosions (except when they erupt under glaciers, but there is no glacier near Grindavik). Another example is Hawaii, where the village of Volcano is only a few miles from the crater, which has been active almost continuously for over thirty years.
- miedpo 3y agoThis is almost completely correct. However, I have heard of one other possibility that might be a problem - a steam explosion (maar). From what I understand, a person died falling in a crack in town earlier this week, and when they went down to investigate, they found ocean water in it. There is a possibility (albight slight) of magma finding it's way into such cracks and causing a steam explosion. Nothing on the scale of something like what happened at Hunga-Haapi earlier last year, but still a not-so-great explosion.
- tracerbulletx 3y agoJust adding to your reply for anyone who is curious. The reason these volcanoes are not explosive is because the magma has low silica content, this makes it less viscous and more runny so it doesn't build up explosive pressure the same way. In the case of Hawaii and Iceland this is because it comes directly from a mantle hot spot up through thin oceanic crust. Silica is mostly found in the crust so magma like in the Cascades that melts through thicker continental plate has a lot more of it and results in Mt. St Helens style eruptions.
- devoutsalsa 3y agoIceland has had some VEI 6 eruptions in the past, meaning 10 km^3 of material (called tephra) was ejected. That's 100 times larger than the VEI 4 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanic_eruptions_in_Iceland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanic_eruptions_in_...