Apparently the British fear another volcanic eruption in Iceland, as tremors near Bárdarbunga in Vatnajökull glacier have inspired headlines such as: “Icelandic volcano ‘set to erupt’” in the country’s main newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mirror.
The eruption in Eyjafjallajökull last spring. Photo by Bjarni Brynjólfsson.
The Daily Mail exclaims: “Not again! Icelandic volcano set to erupt dwarfing last year’s devastation, warn scientists”.
The newspaper quotes Páll Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University if Iceland, who says there is sound reason to be on the alert because of a potential eruption in Bárdarbunga, visir.is reports.
Most of these quotes seem to originate from an article posted on icelandreview.com on Monday, which was based on translations from two Icelandic media sources.
A blog entry by “respected volcano watcher” Jón Frímann is also quoted in The Daily Mail, where he says that geologists in Iceland seem to take earthquake swarms more seriously after last year’s eruption in Eyjafjallajökull.
The article states that the last known eruption in Bárdarbunga was in 1910. Volcanologists assume that the last major eruption was in 1477, “When it produced a huge plume of ash and pumice and the largest known lava flow [to occur] during the past 10,000 years on Earth.”
However, according to eldgos.is, the great Thjórsárhraun lava fields were created 8,500 years ago. The lava flowed from the highland west of Bárdarbunga and to the ocean between the rivers Ölfusá and Thjórsá. It is estimated to be 21-30 cubic kilometers and 950 square kilometers in size.
The Daily Mail also points out that Bárdarbunga is Iceland’s second largest volcano and is located directly above the mantle of molten rock.
Click here to read the full story on dailymail.co.uk and here to read more about the tremors near Bárdarbunga.
See also: February 10 | False Alarm. Icelandic Met Says No Imminent Threat of Eruption
