Video - Bardarbunga volcano eruption might last for a long time.

Bardarbunga volcano eruption might last for a long time.(RUV).

Scientists at Iceland Geosurvey (ISOR), a state-owned geoscientific research institution, are expecting a protracted eruption rather than a short one north of Vatnajokull glacier. They have been monitoring and evaluating the situation in Bardarbunga volcano.

Impossible to predict how long an erutpion will last

A lava eruption started early Sunday morning on a fissure at the lava field Holuhraun, north of the subglacial volcano Bardarbunga, Iceland‘s largest. This is the third eruption since an intense episode of seismic activity started at and around Bardarbunga around the middle of August. The first eruption was located at Bardarbunga, but faded out before it managed to break through the thick glacier. A tiny second eruption started at Holuhraun in the early hours of Friday, but lasted only 3-4 hours. The third eruption is still ongoing.

The scientist at ISOR say it is impossible to predict how long the eruption at Holuhraun will last. That depends mainly on how clean a path the magma will have, from the source at Bardarbunga, to the eruption site. The Krafla Fires (an eruption in the Krafla volcanic system in the north of Iceland in the 1970s and 80s) came in short bursts, with the magma gathering steadily in a shallow magma chamber, and flowing from there intermittently into the fissure system.

The scientists at ISOR believe it is more likely that the magma in the current eruption does not stop in a shallow magma chamber like in the Krafla Fires, Rather it will flow directly in a channel under the magma chamber and out to the volcanic craters. In their estimation the upflow of magma is much larger under Bardarbunga than it was in the Krafla Fires. Therefore they expect one protracted eruption or multiple eruptions, each lasting for a short while.

The scientists point out that inside the ring in question, very few earthquakes are detected. According to their article, this would indicate that the matter underneath is very hot, above or near melting point. This is is considered evidence of a very large magma chamber existing underneath Badarbunga caldera, at a very shallow depth.acted eruption or multiple eruptions, each lasting for a short while.

The scientists say that an eruption straight up from such a magma chamber, where acidic magma has been gathering for a long time, could be a large one and could produce large amounts of ash and pumice, similar to the eruption in Askja, a nearby Icelandic volcano, in 1875.

There is currently no indication of an eruption of that size being imminent at Bardarbunga, even though there is considerable earthquake activity in the rim of the caldera. Still, the scientists say, that scenario cannot be ruled out.Read the full story and see video here.More here at Volcano Discovery.