Iceland Prepares for "The Big One"

Katla Volcano - 14 earthquakes in 48 hours!

9 Jul 10 - Fourteen earthquakes have occurred below Iceland's Mýrdalsjökull glacier during the past 48 hours - one within the last 4 hours. Katla Volcano lies beneath the Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

Katla Volcano usually erupts every century, says Iceland's President Olafur Grimsson. and the last eruption was in 1918. "The time for Katla to erupt is coming close."

"I don't say if, but I say when Katla will erupt," Grimsson says. "We have been waiting for that eruption for several years."

"It can create, for a long period, extraordinary damage to modern advanced society."

Katla is one of the largest volcanoes in Iceland, a land built by volcanoes.  It has erupted 16 times since 900 AD, a rate of more than one per century, and with the last eruption in 1918, it would seem likely that it is due or overdue for one.  Katla is also a volcano of great explosive power, 4-6 on a scale of 8 for the logarithmic  Volcanic Explosivity Index.

Katla is geologically tied at the hip to its near neighbor Eyjafjallajökull  (it is also much easier to spell and pronounce).  In the past 1000 years, all three major eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by eruptions of Katla.  As you may recall, Eyjafjallajökull erupted in April of 2010, causing local flooding, spreading ash, and disrupting European and trans-Atlantic air travel for several weeks.

A very recent report has ice melting under Katla's glacier, and causing flooding and road damage...

A glacial flood affected South Iceland last night, likely caused by draining of geothermal melt water from underneath the east side of the Myrdalsjokull glacier.

Scientists have been speculating that the glacial outburst may have been caused by a very small volcanic eruption; but no visual or seismic evidence to confirm that theory has yet come to light.

The flood peaked last night and engineers are already working on repairing damage to local roads. The sudden outburst knocked out a bridge on the Route 1 highway, leaving the road closed. Icelandic interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson told reporters that fixing the road is his top priority and the Icelandic Roads Administration is already working to build a temporary replacement bridge. It is hoped the road will open again in the coming weeks.

...but that the earthquake activity was subsiding and that the activity was not sufficient to suggest a large eruption was occurring (yet...).