About the second volcano on Iceland called Katla (With Subtitles)

Scientists say history has proven that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla follows - the only question is how soon.

And Katla, located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap, threatens disastrous flooding and explosive blasts when it blows.

Saturday's eruption at Eyjafjallajokull - dormant for nearly 200 years - forced at least 500 people to evacuate. Most have returned to their homes, but authorities were waiting for scientific assessments to determine whether they were safe to stay. Residents of 14 farms nearest to the eruption site were told to stay away.

Several small tremors were felt early on Monday, followed by spurts of lava and steam rocketing into the air.

Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.

Like earthquakes, predicting the timing of volcanic eruptions is an imprecise science. An eruption at the Katla volcano could be disastrous, however - both for Iceland and other nations.

Iceland's Laki volcano erupted in the mid-1780s, freeing gases that turned into smog. The smog floated across the Jet Stream, lowering temperatures and changing weather patterns. Many died from gas poisoning in the British Isles.

Crop production fell in western Europe. Famine spread. Some even linked the eruption, which helped fuel famine, to the French Revolution.

"These are Hollywood-sort of scenarios but possible," said Colin Macpherson, a geologist with the University of Durham. "As the melt rises, it's a little like taking a cork out of a champagne bottle."

There are three main places where volcanoes normally occur - along strike-slip faults such as California's San Andreas fault line, along areas where plates overlapping one another such as in the Philippines and the Pacific Rim, and in areas like Iceland, where two of the Earth's plates are moving apart from each other in a so-called spreading system.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• About
• the
• second
• volcano
• on
• Iceland
• called
• Katla
• Eyjafjallajokull
• erupts
• volcanic
• ash
• cloud
• from
• iceland
• cancelled
• flights
• european
• airspace
• paralyzed
• world
• plates
• moving
• gigantic
• eruption
• lava
• magma
• spurts
• Atlantic
• hot
• cnn
• steam
• tremors
• rocketing
• mid-oceanic
• seismic
• activity
• underground
• deep
• surface
• earthquakes
• predicting
• disastrous
• Laki
• freeing
• gases
• smog
• icecap
• Jet
• Stream
• temperatures
• changing
• weather
• poisoning
• Hollywood-sort
• of
• scenarios
• geologist
• spreading
• system

[sweboy99]

Subtitle: "what to do"... He says "due", as in overdue ;P

[Kamilk12l]

@sweboy99 I've corrected it ;)

[therealKINDLE]

I doubt KATLA will erupt now or anytime soon. She sleeps, which is a good thing. Because KATLA is a FUCKING GIGANTIC Volcano.

And ignoring it's little cough back in the 50s, It hasn't truely exploded since 1918.

If & when it DOES go off, Expect the unexpected! And a mighty FUCK OFF Explosion!

But I'm certain that it won't go off for another 70 years now.

[tippextykes]

Its usually within a year of each other and Katla has been shaking and rumbling since the late nineties. I quietely expect it to erupt by may next year but thats the thing...We havent really got a clue when it will.

[sweboy99]

@humanproductions 1) Katla erupted in 1918, that's 92 years ago, not 200. 2) It erupted for a month or so.. not 12 years ;P

And if you by any chance meant Eyja, 1) yes, 200 years ago (a little less, 1821), and 2) it erupted for 13 months, not 12 years ;P

[humanproductions]

@TehJezz I wasn't sure weather to say that or - the last time this one errupted 200 years ago it burned for 12 years ;)

[TehJezz]

@humanproductions

Comforting ;)

[MrArtrigor]

wow..... i like the truck....

[Sylwekk401]

Super Video xD

[humanproductions]

the last time the sister volcano errupted it spurred the ice age :)