Katla volcano, located near the southern end of Iceland’s eastern volcanic zone, is hidden beneath the Myrdalsjökull icecap.
Advertisement
Iceland has a number of volcanoes but one of its largest has experts anxious as it was recently struck by two earthquakes.
Mr Roberts explained that there is a large ice cap covering the volcano, which should contain the lava for up to 90 minutes in the event of an eruption.
Six years ago, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted for the first time in 190 years.
Katla, in southern Iceland, was rocked by quakes of magnitude 4.5 and 4.6 overnight.
The Katla volcano is considered very active since there have been twenty eruptions documented, with the last one being in 1918.
The two earthquakes struck the Katla volcano on Monday.
In 2014, a record-breaking volcanic eruption spewed lava and ash over Iceland’s Highlands for almost six months, leaving behind the largest caldera formation ever observed.
The country’s most active volcano, Grímsvötn, erupted the following year. Gunnar B. Guðmundsson, geophysicist at the Icelandic Met Office, says that there has been significant rumblings in the area recently and that this was an “intense” series of tremors.
Bardarbunga is a large central volcano lying underneath Iceland’s Vatnajokull glacier, in the centre of the country. Katla’s last major eruption took place in 1918, and another has been expected since the 1960s.
Advertisement
The Veidivötn fissure extends for over 62 miles (100km) to the south west, nearly reaching Torfajökull volcano, while the Trollagigar fissure extends 31 (50km) to the north east, towards the Askja volcano.
