The volcano erupts are probably the usual phenomenon we see and occur throughout the world but there is one phenomenon of mountain eruption that is considered different and a concern is the unique eruption of Mount Bárðarbunga in Iceland.
Holuhraun
Eruption at Holuhraun, September 4, 2014 (Bárðarbunga).wikipedia
Iceland itself is already a miracle. Geologically this is the island that stands just above the central ridge of the Atlantic Ocean, a longitudinal fracture path that becomes the place of burrowing magma from the bowels of the earth. Not just forming longitudinal mountains that are almost entirely at the bottom of the ocean, this magma also pushes tectonic plates that flank them in two opposite directions.
Each of the North American plates to the west and the Eurasian plate to the east. While geographically, Iceland is located in the north polar rim so it has a polar climate. Even Iceland became one of the two large lands in the Arctic circle that is always covered with ice, in addition to the island of Greenland. So Iceland is where the red (read: magma) and white (read: ice) meet, the place where the heat (magma) and cold (ice) met.
Magma that supplies Icelandic volcanoes is very different than in other countries. In Iceland magma comes from a much deeper location. Namely from the Earth's (mantle) coat, a very thick plastic layer and heat that lies just below the earth's crust starting at a depth of 40 kilometers. Magma Iceland is basaltic magma so it is more watery, contains more metal minerals, poorer volcanic gas, and higher temperatures. Due to dilute, shoots of Icelandic volcanoes tend to be low altitude with relatively sloping slopes. As it erupts, basaltic magma tends to emerge from the eruption hole as a liquid, dilute lava melting everywhere like a liquid wax in an effusive type eruption. Very rare eruptions that eject millions of cubic meters of volcanic ash into the sky. The exception is Mount Eyjafjallajokull in its 2010 eruption. At that time the eruption spouted about 100 million cubic meters of dense volcanic ash up to as high as 8 kilometers. A gust of wind pushed volcanic ash over the northern European airspace. The result is severe. 107,000 flights were forced to be canceled in 8 consecutive days, a figure equivalent to 48% of total global flights. The total loss incurred exceeds the figure of about trillions of dollars.
Although not seem as beautiful as volcanoes in other countries, but Iceland's volcanic activity is much more intensive. Throughout the last 500 years, the volume of accumulative lava produced equal one-third of the total volume of lava on Earth. The greatest episode of eruption occurred in 1783-1784 at Mount Laki. No bursts of thick volcanic dust that soared up to miles into the sky created a horror atmosphere. However, Laki spewed 14,000 million cubic meters of basaltic lava through 130 hole eruptions for eight consecutive months. Along with it are volcanic gases, including 8 million tons of fluoride acid gas and 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide. Icelandic air is heavily polluted so that 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses die slowly after their teeth fall off due to excessive exposure to excess fluoride gas gases. The death of these animals makes the whole of Iceland devastated by unequal hunger. At its peak, as much as 20 to 25% of the population is dying in the ground.
Iceland re-gained in 2014 through Mount Bardarbunga. Originally a seismic crisis for a whole month marked the occurrence of an earthquake after a small earthquake that came in succession. Along with it the crust part of the earth in the northeast sector of the mountain also began to bubble. Both are signs that a significant amount of fresh magma is climbing up from the belly of Mount Bardarbunga to find a way out. The seismic crisis also shows that fresh magma has gathered in such a way that it produces magmatic intrusion rods about 40 kilometers in the segment of the earth's crust that extends between Mount Bardarbunga and the Holuhraun plains. In this Holuhraun, precisely around the tip of the bund of magmatic intrusion, the land broke along the 2 kilometers on August 29, 2014 dawn. From it, the basaltic magma spills out, some as a lava showerhead that bursts up to over 100 meters tall. Simultaneously the body of Mount Bardarbunga collapsed, there was a decline on the floor of the Caldera Bardarbunga up to 15 meters from the original.
The watery basaltic lava floods to the northeast, like a river of fire, in a very large volume. Until October 1, 2014 lava has covered an area of 48 square kilometers with an average thickness of 14 meters, as high as the three-story building. Thus the volume of lava at that time reached about 650 million cubic meters, five times the volume of Kelud eruption 2014. So far the Holuhraun eruption is the eruption with the largest volcanic material on Earth throughout 2014. So every second of the Holuhraun eruption release 290 cubic meters of lava. In other words, every second of Holuharun's cracks spewed lava in an equivalent amount of 12 truckloads of 24,000 liters fuel oil tankers. Total energy is very large. If magma temperature is considered 900 degrees Celsius, then the thermal energy produced by Holuhraun eruption until October 1, 2014, reached 117 megatons TNT. This is equivalent to the energy released by 5,850 Hiroshima nuclear bombs.
So far there has been no casualties or injuries due to the eruption of Holuhraun. Material losses are also relatively non-existent, as there is no disruption to local civilian or regional (European) civil aviation traffic and the absence of infrastructure in the lava. But this eruption sends a very clear message to all human beings, that volcanism on Earth not only produces high volcanoes conical with a central eruption in the main crater as commonly found in other countries. Yet it is also capable of producing 'odd' volcanoes of long cracks that are capable of flushing basalt lava in crack eruptions. Eruption cracks such as the Holuhraun eruption are rarely found on Earth. Only in places where hot-spot volcanism occurs is a similar eruption occurs. And Iceland is one such place.
Outside Iceland, there are still a number of places that are a hot-volcanism stage. One of them is well known to the Muslim Ummah of the world because of its position so close to one of the two holy cities, namely Medina. And 7.5 centuries ago, a volcano with a long crack that we do not know very well erupts with a scale of awesomeness resembling the Holuhraun eruption. The hot lava flood was so tense that it almost buried the Medina cottage in a sea of coals.
Reference :
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=84311
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-just-discovered-something-extraordinary-abou-1783674109
http://www.newsweek.com/iceland-experiencing-its-biggest-continuous-volcanic-eruption-centuries-277733
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425717304893
http://icelandmag.is/article/seven-years-ago-today-eruption-eyjafjallajokull-volcano-un-pronouncable-name
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43252&src=nha
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