Bárðarbunga
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Bárðarbunga (, alternative name Veiðivötn), is an active and productive
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...
located under Vatnajökull in Vatnajökull National Park which is
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
's most extensive
glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
. The second highest mountain in Iceland, above sea level, Bárðarbunga is also part of the Bárðarbunga-Veiðivötn volcanic system that is approximately long and wide. Bárðarbunga erupted in late August 2014, the eruption style effusive, which is common in Iceland, but had not been seen for a few years. Lava covered the surrounding landscape northwest of the Vatnajökull glacier.


Description

Bárðarbunga is a subglacial
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...
and central volcano under the ice cap of Vatnajökull glacier in the Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland. It is one of the six volcanic systems under Vatnajökull. The central volcano has a rim that rises to about above sea level, making it the second highest mountain in
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
, being lower than Hvannadalshnjúkur. The
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...
is about , up to wide and about deep. The surrounding edges rise to , but the base is on average close to . The volcano is covered in ice to a depth of , hiding the
glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
-filled crater. The associated volcanic system and fissure swarm is about long and wide. Bárðarbunga was a little-known volcano in Iceland due to its remote location and infrequent eruptions approximately once every 50 years, but recent studies have shown that many
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a Volcano, volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, ...
layers originally thought to be from other volcanoes were ejected from Bárðarbunga, and that lateral dyke intrusions may trigger eruptions in adjacent volcanoes. Sustained seismic activity had been gradually increasing in Bárðarbunga and its associated northern fissure system for seven years starting in 2007 and leading to an eruption towards the end of 2014. This activity had decreased after the Grímsvötn eruption in 2011, but later returned to a similar level as before the eruption. The previous Bárðarbunga eruption was in 1910. There has been frequent volcanic activity outside the glacier to the south-west in the highlands between Vatnajökull and
Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap on the top of the Katla volcano in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of the town of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of ...
, and also to the north-east toward Dyngjufjöll . The Bárðarbunga volcanic system is associated with a second central volcano Hamarinn which has been classified historically as part of a separate Loki-Fögrufjöll volcanic system. Hamarinn is to the south-west of the Bárðarbunga central volcano.


Context

While the central volcanoes of the Bárðarbunga volcanic system are under the western edge of the Vatnajökull ice cap, the system's northern fissure swarm and lava flows extend around the southern flanks of the Askja volcano and the southern fissure swarm extends past the north-west of Torfajökull and almost reaches Tindfjallajökull. The southern lava flows have reached the sea near Selfoss. It is now known that within the area of the rhyolitic caldera of Torfajökull there are younger extrusives that involve basaltic magma mixing events by lateral propagation, from the fissure swarm of Bárðarbunga's volcanic system. To the west of the central volcanoes is the less active volcanic system of Tungnafellsjökull and to the central volcanoes south west, also under Vatnajökull is the very active Grímsvötn volcanic system. In the 1996 eruption of Gjálp which is usually assigned to the Grímsvötn volcanic system, studies are consistent with the eruption being triggered by a lateral dyke intrusion at about depth from Bárðarbunga, although this is not proven.


Etymology

Bárðarbunga is named after an early Icelandic settler named Gnúpa-Bárður , and literally translates as "Bárður's bulge" or "Bárður's bump" since "Bárðar" is the
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...
of "Bárður".


Eruptions and notable activity

Throughout history, there have been large eruptions every 250–600 years. In 1477, the largest known eruption from Bárðarbunga had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 6; there is evidence of many smaller eruptions during the past 10,000 years.


6600 BC

Þjórsá Lava, the largest
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
lava flow on earth, originated from Bárðarbunga about 8,600 years ago, with a total volume of 21 to 30 cubic kilometres and covering approximately 950 square kilometres.


877

Many large eruptions have occurred south-west of the glacier; the first occurring since human settlement of Iceland was the Vatnaöldur eruption about 877 ± 2 CE which had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 4.


1477

The Veiðivötn eruption in 1477 is the largest known Icelandic eruption, with a VEI of 6.


1701–1864

Studies of tephra layers have shown that a number of eruptions have occurred beneath the glacier, probably in the northeast of the crater or in Bárðarbunga. There have also been smaller eruptions in an ice-free area of Dyngjuháls to the north-east. Eruptions appear to follow a cycle: there were several eruptions in the glacier between 1701 and 1740 and since 1780.


1910 eruption

1910 was the last known significant eruption of the Bárðarbunga volcanic system before the 2014 eruptions. It occurred in the Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano.


1996

The Gjálp
fissure vent A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure, eruption fissure or simply a fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity. The vent is often a few metres wide and may be many kilo ...
eruption in 1996 revealed that an interaction may exist between Bárðarbunga and
Grímsvötn Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is an active volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The central volcano is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side ...
. A strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga, about 5 on the Richter scale, is believed to have started the eruption in Gjálp. On the other hand, because the magma erupted showed strong connections to the Grímsvötn Volcanic System as petrology studies showed, the 1996, as well as a former eruption in the 1930s, are thought to have taken place within Grímsvötn Volcanic system.


2010

On 26 September 2010, an earthquake swarm was recorded with over 30 earthquakes measuring up to 3.7''MW'' on the
moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...
.


2014–2015

In August 2014, a swarm of around 1,600 earthquakes in 48-hours, with magnitudes up to 4.5'' MW'', was followed on 23 August by the
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...
Aviation Color Codes being raised from orange to red, indicating an eruption in progress. The following day, the aviation risk was lowered from red to orange and the statement that there was an eruption in progress was retracted. However, later aerial observations of glacial depressions southeast of the volcano suggested that the now-retracted report of an eruption had been correct and that a short eruption did occur under the ice, but the lack of further melting indicated that this eruption had now ceased. Then, a new fissure eruption breached the surface between Bárðarbunga and Askja, in the Holuhraun lava field, in the early hours of 29 August. This was followed by a second fissure eruption in the Holuhraun area, along the same volcanic fissure, which started shortly after 4 am on 31 August. The eruption emitted large volumes of
sulphur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...
and impacted air quality in Iceland. There was no effect on flights outside of the immediate vicinity as the eruption hadn't produced a significant amount of
volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...
. On 28 February 2015, it was officially reported that the eruption was over. Nevertheless, the gas pollution still existed, and the area north of Bárðarbunga, including volcanoes Askja and Herðubreið, still remained closed for visitors. On 16 March 2015, the area north of Bárðarbunga was opened for visitors, excluding the new lava field and the area within 20 metres around it.


2024

On 21 April 2024 a 5.3 earthquake occurred in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system. This was the largest earthquake under this region of the Vatnajökull icecap since the 2015 eruption and was associated with isolated smaller fore- and
aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...
s but no other markers of potential volcanic activity.


1950 Geysir air crash

On 14 September 1950 a
Douglas C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilia ...
aircraft belonging to the Icelandic airline Loftleiðir crash landed on the Vatnajökull glacier at Bárðarbunga during a cargo flight from
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
to
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
. There were no fatalities, but damaged radio equipment left them unable to communicate their location. After two days the crew managed to reach the emergency transmitter in the plane's rubber liferaft and send out a distress call which was picked up by the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel ''Ægir''. The same day a search and rescue Catalina aircraft, named ''Vestfirðingur'', spotted them. The C-54's cargo included the body of a deceased
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
(USAF) colonel, prompting American assistance. A USAF C-47 equipped with skis landed on the glacier but was unable to take off again, so it had to be abandoned. After six days both crews were rescued by a ski-patrol from
Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...
. Later Loftleiðir bought the stranded C-47 from the USAF for $700. In April 1951 it was dug out of the snow and towed down the mountain by two bulldozers, where it was started and flown to Reykjavík.


See also

* Timeline of volcanism on Earth * Volcanism of Iceland **
List of volcanic eruptions in Iceland This is an incomplete list of volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Please see External links below for databases of Icelandic eruptions which include over 530 events. ''For latest information about the current/ongoing series of eruptions near Grindav ...
** List of volcanoes in Iceland


Notes


References


External links


Bárðarbunga
in the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes
3d map of volcanic activity and webcam at Bárðarbunga updated live from IMO

Bárðarbunga live webcams feed

Michigan Tech Geological Engineering and Sciences – Bárðarbunga/Grimsvötn Volcanoes



Bárðarbunga volcano livestream

(The Bárðarbunga System), pre-publication extract from The Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes

Official Website of Vatnajökull National Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bardarbunga Active volcanoes Calderas of Iceland East Volcanic Zone of Iceland Mountains of Iceland Stratovolcanoes of Iceland Subglacial calderas Subglacial volcanoes of Iceland Two-thousanders of Iceland VEI-6 volcanoes Volcanic systems of Iceland