# You think the current Icelandic volcano is bad



## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

How an Icelandic volcano helped spark the French Revolution


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Review the consequences of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa (_Krakatau_) had for the planet.[/b]


----------



## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

*The Deadliest Volcanic Eruptions* 

The following table lists the deadliest volcanic eruptions in the world on record according to name, year, number of deaths, and major cause of deaths. In 1812, Tambora volcano in Indonesia erupted causing 92,000 deaths.


*Volcano* *Year* *Deaths* *Major cause of deaths* Tambora, Indonesia 1815 92,000 Starvation Krakatau, Indonesia 1883 36,417 Tsunami Mount Pelee, Martinique 1902 29,025 Ash flows Ruiz, Colombia 1985 25,000 Mudflows Unzen, Japan 1792 14,300 Volcano collapse, tsunami Laki, Iceland 1783 9,350 Starvation Kelut, Indonesia 1919 5,110 Mudflows Galunggung, Indonesia 1882 4,011 Mudflows Vesuvius, Italy 1631 3,500 Mudflows, lava flows Vesuvius, Italy 79 3,360 Ash flows, falls Papandayan, Indonesia 1772 2,957 Ash flows Lamington, Papua New Guinea 1951 2,942 Ash flows El Chichon, Mexico 1982 2,000 Ash flows Soufriere, St. Vincent 1902 1,680 Ash flows Oshima, Japan 1741 1,475 Tsunami Asama, Japan 1783 1,377 Ash flows, mudflows Taal, Philippines 1911 1,335 Ash flows Mayon, Philippines 1814 1,200 Mudflows Agung, Indonesia 1963 1,184 Ash flows Cotopaxi, Ecuador 1877 1,000 Mudflows Pinatubo, Philippines 1991 800 Disease Komagatake, Japan 1640 700 Tsunami Ruiz, Colombia 1845 700 Mudflows Hibok-Hibok, Philippines 1951 500 Ash flows



For a real eye openner look-up the Yellowstone Caldera 

Looking inside the structure of the Yellowstone Caldera


----------



## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

THIS is real "climate change" and Al Gore will have a way to make billions of dollars form it, and Obama will apologize for the US causing it....hehe


----------



## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Mid-ocean ridge that runs along the centre of the Atlantic Ocean, parallel to its edges, for some 14,000 km/8,800 mi – almost from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Like other ocean ridges, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is essentially a linear, segmented volcano.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the centre of the ocean because the ocean crust has continually grown outwards from the ridge at a steady rate during the past 200 million years. Iceland straddles the ridge and was formed by volcanic outpourings.

Plate Tectonics: Plate Boundaries



















Volcanic erruptions occure along the Fissure Swarms (red lines). These Fissure Swarms make Iceland's volcanic activity particularly dangereous as erruptions can occure for miles along these fissures. 

Isn't geology fascinating?


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Chris Scott on 18 Apr 2010 01:55 PM 


Isn't geology fascinating?



It IS absolutely facinating, Chris. And so far beyond man's control......


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Beyond our control?

Na, all we need is a new tax on fossile fuels. That'll do the trick!


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I dont need to look at Yellowstone, not with the Long Valley Caldera only a couple hundred miles north of here. 

Krakatoa had the most wide spread effects on climate worldwide of any volcano in recent human history, Pinatubo also changed the weather around the globe, be interesting to see how long this one blows for, the last time it erupted historically it went on for 8 months!


----------



## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 19 Apr 2010 04:12 PM 
Beyond our control?

Na, all we need is a new tax on fossil fuels. That'll do the trick!








All Mother Nature does is smile, then shows human beings just how insignificant they really are.


----------



## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Chris

Iceland sits over a mantle hotspot, the same sort of mantle plume that sits below Yellowstone and at the current end of the Hawaiian island chain. Volcanic eruptions will continue at Iceland for millenia to come as the island slowly extends away from the spreading center.

A citation in wikipedia is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotspot_(geology)


----------



## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

*What was “the year without a summer”?*

The year 1816 was one of unbelievable weather for the inhabitants of New England and eastern Canada. It was known as the “poverty year,” or the “year without a summer.” Winter weather just refused to depart and temperatures stayed low throughout the summer. Although the entire world was plagued with cold spells, the northeastern part of North America was hit most severely. An early June storm killed early crops and blanketed the zone in deep snow. Many summer birds and even some farm animals froze to death. The entire summer was marked with frosts and snowfalls, turning what should have been summer into the most unusual kind of winter. Many late crops were destroyed by the unexpected weather. Of those that survived, many did not mature.

What caused this climatic nightmare? Scientists of the day were inclined to blame it on sunspots which, for the first time in recorded history, were visible to the unaided eye. While sunspots may have had something to do with the problem, it is suspected that the unusual weather was connected with an unusually severe volcanic eruption. In the spring of the previous year, a volcano on the opposite side of the earth had erupted with tremendous violence. The rumbling mountains continued to give off unbelievably large quantities of smoke and ash for 5 days. A gigantic cloud formed over the area. This black cloud was dense enough to dim the sun for hundreds of miles around. It is theorized that this dust was carried by winds to all parts of the earth. Perhaps it was particularly dense over the area of North America in question. In any event, it is suspected that this dust reflected an abnormal amount of the sun’s heat back into space. This would account for the lower temperatures prevailing in that section even though the calendar called it summer.

Proponents of this theory believe that most of the dust had settled with the help of rain and snow before the next summer arrived. The temperatures existing at that time, therefore, would be more nearly normal.

It’s interesting to find that some climatologists have a theory that runs counter to our most basic belief about the weather. If asked how the earth’s climate might get warmer, most of us would vote for an increase in the sun’s radiation. Curiously enough, some scientists believe that just the opposite would happen! If the sun were to give off more heat, they believe, the resulting clouds would reflect a greater proportion of the sun’s energy back into space. This indirect effect would cause the earth to get colder; might even result in an ice age!

_Courtesy of "Science in Everyday Things"_

Note, that eruption would be, according to the list above 
Tambora, Indonesia181592,000Starvation


----------



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

The volcano has demonstrated the importance of Europe's rail system


----------



## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Europe has undoubtedly the best developed, interconnected rail system in the world. But even this system has been strained by a lack of extra flexibile capacity to handle the influx of volcano-displaced customers. Report on the news state are some trains are running at standing room only for long haul routes (4-5 hours).


----------



## tmtrainz (Feb 9, 2010)

Iceland does not sit on a hotspot. It is the only place on earth where a mid-ocean ridge is exposed on land.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah Europes train system is coming to the rescue for those who can finally get to _somewhere _ in Europe, can you imagine what a complete fubar it would be here if we had to shut down our airspace once again for something like this? 9-11 showed how over-reliant we were and still are on air travel, shut down the airports and we everything grinds to a halt.


----------



## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

I also visit a few other US-based fora, and on one of them a gentleman from Texas was having a great laff at the predicament that almost a half a million travellers find themselves in as a result of the blanket ban on European air travel. 

I pointed out to him the this also meant that nobody in Europe could get to the US or Canada, a point that seemed to have escaped him completely, and that the reverse was also true. 

I also noted that around 4000 US military personnel were temporarily 'trapped' in Afghanistan as they could not fly through Euro air-space to get back home...AND Canadians, AND Brits, too. 

Add to all that the fact that this is costing around half a billion $$ a DAY in lost business revenue, and that here in UK many schools have no students - stuck on school vacations in all points east - or teachers either. 

Remember that this volcano is one teeny little 'what was that?' pimple in Iceland's repertoire of much larger volcanoes - the one adjacent - Katla, is around ten times the size. 

Just be grateful, those of you living in the PNW, that Mt Mazama blew its top around 7000 years ago, making the wonder we now call Crater Lake. The Mt Mazama eruption was around ten times bigger than the Mt St Helen's blow back in 1980. 

tac 
www.ovgrs.org 

PS - if this continues we are going to have to postpone our month-long vacation in Oregon, coming up in two weeks time.


----------



## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

S - if this continues we are going to have to postpone our month-long vacation in Oregon, coming up in two weeks time. 


Tac, are you coming up for a visit to Victoria? We'd love to see you, and I'll put the kettle on!  

Keith


----------



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

If something like that happened in the US, it would strain our rail network even more than Europe's.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SE18 on 20 Apr 2010 10:13 AM 
If something like that happened in the US, it would strain our rail network even more than Europe's. 

LOL what rail *network* ??? more like a collection of regional commuter carriers with one "national" passenger server with a very minimal smattering of a few long distance routes. We get one major airport on the east coast shut down for snow and Amtrak nearly drowned trying to handle the overflow of people looking to take the train instead. Its instances like this European air debacle that make such a strong case for building HSR here in this country, its about the only thing that kept Europe moving thru all this.


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

The big hit from the volcano will happen this week...when businesses in the US will begin to shut down and layoff workers because they can't get parts. This will be particularly evident in the assembly plants in the US for "foreign cars"...but it will effect most production line efforts if they use parts from outside the country. Without air freight moving "just in time" parts, you're gonna see production lines begin to shut down as they run out of inventory. I sure hope someone starts to realize that airliner movement is NOT the most important thing to fix...or as I've said before..."It's airfreight stupid."


----------



## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

The cut and paste below is starting to impact my Company here in Canada. I have already delayed one project due to the European holdups. 

gg




UK Air Freight Update ( includes DHL and TNT Global shipments ) 

Tuesday 20th April 2010

Due to the continued problems caused by the Icelandic ash cloud, it is reported that all UK airports are currently closed.

It is reported by the freight forwarders that the backlog will take between 7 and 10 days to clear, perishables and Medicines will take priority once the air space is fully open. There are reports of considerable price increases for priority freight.

All airfreight shipments from Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th April are currently being held at UK air freight depots pending the lifting of the no fly zone , shipment include Thailand, Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Japan, India, Argentina, USA, Canada, Mexico, Russia and South Africa

Alternative routes from Europe have been considered, this is dependant on the airports being open for freight, alternatives include:

Road freight in to Spain and then on to the rest of the world, this will add between 4 and 6 days to the transit time.

Sea freight to USA then on to East Asia, this is likely to add 4 weeks to the transit time 

Either of the options is possible but will require careful co-operation to ensure a smooth transit.- If any of you wish to consider these options please let us know 

All shipment are leaving us as normal and being held by freight forwarders , unless the associate is requesting otherwise.

For Europe if request is TNT courier we are sending by "Economy" method as this goes by truck and not airfreight


----------



## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Could someone email this thread to Lewis, This could be a great excuse to delay something ?







I know, I know. bad Nicky bad.................







Back to my cave............


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Nicholas Savatgy on 20 Apr 2010 01:44 PM 
Could someone email this thread to Lewis, This could be a great excuse to delay something ?







I know, I know. bad Nicky bad.................







Back to my cave............

















Nick, wont work, container ships can't fly


----------



## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 20 Apr 2010 04:49 PM 
Posted By Nicholas Savatgy on 20 Apr 2010 01:44 PM 
Could someone email this thread to Lewis, This could be a great excuse to delay something ?







I know, I know. bad Nicky bad.................







Back to my cave............

















Nick, wont work, container ships can't fly








Yea, but the ash falls in the ocean. Can you imagine the abrasive friction on the ship hull?


----------



## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Container ships can't fly is right, but the ash, can laden them down and sink them Hah LOL Regal


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Guys:

If one of our super volcanoes blows as it has in the past we will be in a great deal of hurt. The latest large eruption at Yellowstone was about 600,000 years ago. There are deposits of ash from this eruption from California to Iowa, and from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada. These distal deposits are several inches thick. Can you imagine what would happen if our bread basket was covered with 2 to 12 inches of ash. Our transportation system would collapse. 


The ash from the latest Long Valley mega eruption (about 740,000 years ago) is identifiable as a deposit as far east as Colorado. 


Chuck N

As a retired geologist, one of the most exciting places I have been is standing at the western edge of the MidAtlantic Ridge in southern Iceland. Standing on the western Atlantic plate and looking across the rift valley to the eastern Atlantic plate. There are many fault blocks that step down from edge to the center of the rift valley and then the fault blocks step up to the ridge on the eastern side of the valley. The western plate is pushing west and the eastern plate is pushing east with new crust coming up in the middle.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

If Yellowstone, or Long Valley Caldera or one of the other SuperVs ever goes off in our lifetimes... well.....


----------



## stanman (Jan 4, 2008)

An interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal states:

"The fact that humans are about 99.9% genetically identical could, according to one theory, be traced back to the Toba eruption in Indonesia roughly 70,000 years ago. That eruption might have killed off most of the human race, leaving only a few hundred of us to populate the planet. We might, therefore, owe our evolution and very existence to volcanoes. "


----------



## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Iceland (and the Azores) are two islands that do in fact sit above a mantle plume hotspot. This is the primary reason why these islands exist, otherwise the mid-ocean ridges where new crust is created are a linear chain of mountains on the sea floor, well below sea level.

There are two other places where the midocean ridge is on land so to speak. The first is the Afar Triangle, especially in Djibouti where active rifting will eventually create and arm of the Red Sea. The rift is opening east Africa away from the central core of Africa and if rifting continues the rift will propogate down into the Turkana and Anza basins and will likely extend into the east Africa lake system. This of course will occur over many millions of years.

The other place where the midocean rift extends onto land is up the Gulf of California and into California itself. The San Andreas fault is caused by right-lateral movement along this spreading center causing the area west of the San adreas fault to slip northward. Eventuall Los Angeles will sail past San Francisco and head for Alaska.


----------



## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

I just stumbled over this thread. I had a flight back from Germany to the US Thursday, April 22nd. My flight Paris-San Francisco was confirmed, but Stuttgart-Paris was "up in the air" or better grounded. I managed to get a ticket for a train ride with the TGV (Stuttgart-Paris with just 2 stops - Karlsruhe and Strasbourg - about 380miles in 3 1/2 hours!), arrived in Paris Gare de l'Est at shortly after midnight, walked with roller bags about 1/2 mile to the Gare du Nord, caught a commuter train to CDG airport, arrived at 1:30am, got trapped on the deserted platform (wrong ticket; my French was a bit rusty), got freed by a railroad guy who happened to pass by, did not find a free hotel bed, spend the night on a bench in the airport, had interesting discussions with some clochards (which BTW did not get chased away by police or better gendarmerie), had breakfast/a shave at 6:30am in the Air France lounge, boarded my plane on time, took off 1h late due to delayed connecting flights and finally arrived just 1h late in San Francisco! Not bad, considering the volcano!. Funny thing: I enjoy trips like these! And all my remaining train stuff also made it safely to its new home.
Regards


----------



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Shouldn't Iceland pay for the Clean UP? I mean It's thier volcano. No wait. They will raise the price of a block of ice to ofset the cost of the clean up.....Block Ice will go up to 85 bucks a block. 
78% of America's ice comes from Iceland. The other 22 % comes from Greenland. I don't think we make ice here in the US of A any more. 

Just a tid bit of History....Some of the first Icemachines was made by Costello company who also made the refrigerated drinking fountians you see in hallways and lobbys. 

The costello company was founded by one have of the two people who gave us "WHO'S ON FIRST. ABOTT AND COSTELLO.


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

And do they have carbon offsets for that thing?


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

That eruption might have killed off most of the human race, leaving only a few hundred of us to populate the planet. We might, therefore, owe our evolution and very existence to volcanoes. Hmmmm.... perhaps we'd be better off if we'd gotten some of that lost DNA instead of what we ended up with.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Pete Chimney on 21 Apr 2010 12:14 PM 
Iceland (and the Azores) are two islands that do in fact sit above a mantle plume hotspot. This is the primary reason why these islands exist, otherwise the mid-ocean ridges where new crust is created are a linear chain of mountains on the sea floor, well below sea level.

There are two other places where the midocean ridge is on land so to speak. The first is the Afar Triangle, especially in Djibouti where active rifting will eventually create and arm of the Red Sea. The rift is opening east Africa away from the central core of Africa and if rifting continues the rift will propogate down into the Turkana and Anza basins and will likely extend into the east Africa lake system. This of course will occur over many millions of years.

The other place where the midocean rift extends onto land is up the Gulf of California and into California itself. The San Andreas fault is caused by right-lateral movement along this spreading center causing the area west of the San adreas fault to slip northward. Eventuall Los Angeles will sail past San Francisco and head for Alaska.

We actually have recent cinder cones out in the desert near Barstow and pretty much all over the Mojave that were caused by these spreading centers along the fault line, Amboy crater went off only 500 years ago, a mere wink of eye in geologic time


----------

