MEDC Volcano Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

MEDC Volcano Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

1. Causes

   • 20th March 2010
   • Stratovolcano
     • Also sits on a hotspot-more destructive
     • Sits on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge-constructive plate boundary
       • Eurasian plate and North American plate moving apart

2. Impacts

   • Social
     • Ash from eruption got caught in the Jetstream where most planes use as a fast way of travelling
       • Most major airports in Europe shut for 4 days
       • Losing £10 million per day due to lack of tourism
       • Fresh fruit and veg, organ donations etc couldn't be transported
       • Ash in jet engines causes glass type substance to form inside the engines.
     • Evacuation of around 500 people living nearby
     • Eruption has made it into a tourist attraction
   • Environmental
     • Melted glacier caused flooding
     • Mudflow from meltwater flowing down the side of the volcano
     • Ash clouds spread for mile affecting many countries
     • Agricultural land damaged by ash
       • Contaminated water supplies-health risk on farm animals

3. Hazards

   • Volcanic ash erupted into atmosphere 5 miles up
   • Eruption happened on bare flank of the volcano
   • Crater buried under 700 feet of ice-created plug in crater
   • Magma became more viscous
   • Eruption of crater melted glacier

4. Managemant

   • Prediction
     • Geologists were able to predict the eruption
     • Slopes becoming steeper indicates eruption
   • Protection
     • People evacuated from local areas
     • Warning systems such as the text message system whereby a text is sent to warn people 30 mins away from the volcano when it is about to erupt
   • Prevention

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