Bįršarbunga: "It Depends On Whether The Conduit Breaks Into Askja's Caldera" (updated 2x)
Rei
t's time to continue our ongoing series Eldfjallavakt, where we've been covering the serious situation going on under Iceland's largest volcano, Bárðarbunga.
Except that increasingly, "under Bárðarbunga“ is a poor description. Because now the magma intrusion that she's sent forth at an average rate of hundreds of cubic meters per second (similar to the flow rate of the Hudson River at New York City, straight through solid rock) has gone over 30 kilometers from Bárðarbunga's magma chamber, its end is no longer under the glacier Dyngjujökull, and it's now heading straight toward the magma chamber of Askja, another large, dangerous volcano in the highlands.
What does this mean? Join us below the fold.
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Pronunciation guide:
Bárðarbunga: BOWR-dthar-Boon-ka
Dyngjujökull: DING-yih-YUH-kih-tl
Krafla: CROP-lah
Askja: AWSK-yah
Austfirðir: OYST-fear-dthear
Jökulhlaup: YUH-kihl-HLOYP
Sigkatla: SIHH-cought-lah
R is an alveolar trill if slow, an alveolar tap if fast; ð is an voiced th (rendered dth), like in "this", not "thin"; ll (rendered as tl) is a tongue click where you let the pressure build up behind your tongue then spill out to the sides; g (rendered as k) is devoiced like a k but unaspirated like a g; n is generally devoiced; and there's probably other clarification I should make, but that's good enough. :)
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Spring, 1875. Austfirðir (the Eastfjörds). Quakes had been felt late last year, but nothing had happened. There were no active volcanoes in the area, so there was nothing to be concerned about - or so was assumed. Had people walked a hundred miles into the highlands, they would have learned that a small eruption had started at the little known volcano Askja in January, but the area was sparsely populated.
However, on the 28th of March, all hell broke loose as Askja switched to a major Plinian eruption so powerful that her remoteness ceased to be sufficient. A fearsome plume rose above the Eastfjörds, all the way to the sea. Then came the pumice rain, while lightning crackled intensely. Hot chunks the size of tennis balls rained down across a vast area. A suffocating ash descended so thick that people could barely see their own hands. The eruption continued for a year at lower intensity.
CONTINUE READING.......