The Múlakvísl () is a river in the south of
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
on the western side of
Mýrdalssandur
Mýrdalssandur () is an outwash plain on the south coast of Iceland.
Location and description
The outwash plain is located between the rivers of Kúðafljót in the east and Múlakvísl in the west. Both rivers carry water from the Mýrdalsjöku ...
.
Glacier flow
The river has a glacier flow which draws its water from the
Mýrdalsjökull
Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller ice cap Eyjafjallajökull. Between ...
, mainly through the glacier tongue
Kötlujökull. The river's floods are usually of gray-brown color, since it carries much
sediment
Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...
with it.
At
Selfjall, about east of the village
Vík í Mýrdal
The village of Vík (; or Vík í Mýrdal in full) is the southernmost village in Iceland, located on the main ring road around the island, around by road southeast of Reykjavík.
Despite its small size (750 inhabitants in Mýrdalshreppur as ...
, the
Ring Road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
goes across a bridge over the Múlakvísl.
Jökulhlaups
As increasing water levels of this river are an important indicator of
Katla's upcoming volcanic eruptions, it is closely monitored.
1955
A predecessor of the present bridge was demolished in 1955, during a
jökulhlaup with 2,500 m³/s of water. A
fissure
A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes.
Ground fissure
A ...
formed on Katla in 1918 in the
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
of the volcano, and a
kettle had formed upon the glacier. This showed volcanic activities under the glacier, which in turn initiated the jökulhlaup. However, there was no real outbreak in 1955.
July 2011
On 9 July 2011, another jökulhlaup occurred, which was already anticipated hours and days before because of a series of quakes at up to depth in the Katla region. There was a small volcanic eruption under the glacier similar to 1955. A jökulhlaup again destroyed the Ring Road bridge of the Múlakvísl, which was only 20 years old. A water level early warning system prompted the closing of the bridge and surrounding area, and no one was harmed. By 11 July 2011, the tremor under Katla had calmed down again. On 15 July 2011, 1,500 people were transported via the Múlakvísl by means of special vehicles. On 16 July, a temporary bridge was put into operation on the river.
See also
List of rivers of Iceland
References
{{reflist
Rivers of Iceland
Drainage basins of the Atlantic Ocean