Report on Bardarbunga (Iceland) — 22 April-28 April 2015
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 April-28 April 2015
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2015. Report on Bardarbunga (Iceland) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 April-28 April 2015. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Bardarbunga
Iceland
64.633°N, 17.516°W; summit elev. 2000 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
On 26 April the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) lowered the Aviation Color Code for Bárdarbunga to Green (the lowest on a four-color scale). No further signs of unrest had been noted since the end of the eruption on 27 February; seismicity within the caldera and the associated dyke intrusion continued to decline.
Geological Summary. The large central volcano of Bárðarbunga lies beneath the NW part of the Vatnajökull icecap, NW of Grímsvötn volcano, and contains a subglacial 700-m-deep caldera. Related fissure systems include the Veidivötn and Trollagigar fissures, which extend about 100 km SW to near Torfajökull volcano and 50 km NE to near Askja volcano, respectively. Voluminous fissure eruptions, including one at Thjorsarhraun, which produced the largest known Holocene lava flow on Earth with a volume of more than 21 km3, have occurred throughout the Holocene into historical time from the Veidivötn fissure system. The last major eruption of Veidivötn, in 1477, also produced a large tephra deposit. The subglacial Loki-Fögrufjöll volcanic system to the SW is also part of the Bárðarbunga volcanic system and contains two subglacial ridges extending from the largely subglacial Hamarinn central volcano; the Loki ridge trends to the NE and the Fögrufjöll ridge to the SW. Jökulhlaups (glacier-outburst floods) from eruptions at Bárðarbunga potentially affect drainages in all directions.