The Múlakvísl () is a river in the south of
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 ...
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 Mýrdalsjö ...
.
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 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 ...
, mainly through the glacier tongue
Kötlujökull. The river's floods are usually of gray-brown color, since it carries much
sediment
Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
with it.
At
Selfjall, about east of the village
Vík í Mýrdal, the
Ring Road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop 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 in reducin ...
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
A jökulhlaup ( ) (literally "glacial run") is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages.
It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst floo ...
with 2,500 m
3/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 volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...
of the volcano, and a
kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...
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
On an island like Iceland, the rivers are short in length. None of the rivers are important as a means of navigation due to the impracticality of settlements in the Highlands of Iceland where they originate.
South
* Hvítá
* Krossá
* Kúðaflj ...
References
{{reflist
Rivers of Iceland
Drainage basins of the Atlantic Ocean