36
votes
Iceland has declared a state of emergency after a series of earthquakes raised fears of a Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption
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- Title
- Fagradalsfjall: Iceland declares emergency over volcano eruption concerns
- Published
- Nov 11 2023
- Word count
- 38 words
I didn't know that magma can pool underground and then come up in surprising locations. I know of lava tubes but this is different I think.
But how does magma even flow underground? Is this what the room problem talks about, of how igneous intrusions are formed in real time? Or is this a lot more shallow than that?
This isn't quite a lava tube, those form after eruptions from a lava flow after the top has cooled and hardened, but the lava underneath still flows.
You're right that the question of how magma flows underground is part of the room question, this isn't too shallow to be part of that discussion, though the more shallow and active volcanoes are easier to explain. The room here is created primarily by the displacement of country rock by the way of these slips and tremors. There is undoubtedly some degree of melting, but that is comparably insignificant at the timescale we're seeing here.
For the layman, two explanations are sufficient solutions to the room problem, and one may be more relevant than another for a given intrusion. One is melting of the country rock by magma. The other is that the magma applies enough pressure to fault and fracture the country rock and push in to those voids. Once you start going deeper though, the thermodynamics of the melting and the physics of the magma moving complicate these solutions.
This must be really scary for everyone involved, not knowing whether their home town will even be there after it has all passed, nor knowing when it'll happen or even how long it'll last. Knowing nothing about volcanos, is it better it all happens quickly and ends quickly or progresses over months and months?