![]() As for the cause, they said several days of heavy rain had destabilised the dome of lava in the volcano’s summit crater. Local authorities hadn’t expected the scale of the eruption. The Semeru eruption left nearby villages covered in ash – forcing residents to flee. Based on what we know from the past, an increase in Iceland’s melting ice could lead to larger and more frequent volcanic eruptions. The intense ash-producing eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 was the result of an explosive interaction between hot magma and cold glacial melt water. Magma generation beneath Iceland is already increasing due to a warming climate and melting glaciers. ![]() The changes can also affect where and how magma is stored in the crust, and can make it easier for magma to reach the surface. ![]() This can lead to more molten rock, or “magma”, being produced in the mantle – which can feed more eruptions. Eruptions were also smaller when ice cover was thicker.īut why is this the case? Well, as glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is taken off Earth’s surface and there are changes in the forces (stress) acting on rocks within the crust and upper mantle. The average eruption rates were found to be up to 100 times higher after the end of the last glacial period, compared to the earlier colder glacial period. Research on Iceland’s volcanic systems has identified a heightened period of activity related to the large-scale ice melt at the end of the last ice age. ![]() There’s a long-established link between the large-scale melting of ice in active volcanic regions and increased eruptions. Cold volcanic regionsįirst, let’s take a look at volcanic regions covered in ice. The Fagradalsfjall volcano is located some 30km from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. ![]()
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