Ash generation and distribution from the April-May 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Gudmundsson MT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3418519 | biostudies-other | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:To estimate physical and mental health effects of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption on nearby residents.Cross-sectional study.The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted on 14 April 2010. The eruption lasted for about 6 weeks and was explosive, ejecting some 8 million tons of fine particles into the atmosphere. Due to prevailing winds, the ash spread mostly to the south and south-east, first over the rural region to the south, later over the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, closing European air space for several days.Residents (n=207) of the most ash-exposed rural area south and east of the volcano.The study period was from 31 May to 11 June 2010. Participants were examined by a physician. To ascertain respiratory health, standardised spirometry was performed before and after the use of a bronchodilator. All adult participants answered questionnaires about mental and physical health, their children's health and the use of protective equipment.Every other adult participant reported irritation in eyes and upper airway when exposed to volcanic ash. Adults (n=26) and children (n=5) with pre-existing asthma frequently reported worsening of their symptoms. No serious health problems requiring hospitalisation could be attributed to the eruption. The majority of the participants reported no abnormal physical or mental symptoms to the examining physician. Compared to an age- and gender-matched reference group, the ash-exposed participants reported lower smoking rates and were less likely to have ventilation impairment. Less than 10% of the participants reported symptoms of stress, anxiety or depression.Short-term ash exposure was associated with upper airway irritation symptoms and exacerbation of pre-existing asthma but did not contribute to serious health problems. The exposure did not impair respiratory function compared to controls. Outdoor use of protective glasses and face masks was considered protective against irritation in eyes and upper airway.
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Project description:The 2014-2015 Holuhraun eruption, on the Bárðarbunga volcanic system in central Iceland, was one of the best-monitored basaltic fissure eruptions that has ever occurred, and presents a unique opportunity to link petrological and geochemical data with geophysical observations during a major rifting episode. We present major and trace element analyses of melt inclusions and matrix glasses from a suite of ten samples collected over the course of the Holuhraun eruption. The diversity of trace element ratios such as La/Yb in Holuhraun melt inclusions reveals that the magma evolved via concurrent mixing and crystallization of diverse primary melts in the mid-crust. Using olivine-plagioclase-augite-melt (OPAM) barometry, we calculate that the Holuhraun carrier melt equilibrated at 2.1 ± 0.7 kbar (7.5 ± 2.5 km), which is in agreement with the depths of earthquakes (6 ± 1 km) between Bárðarbunga central volcano and the eruption site in the days preceding eruption onset. Using the same approach, melt inclusions equilibrated at pressures between 0.5 and 8.0 kbar, with the most probable pressure being 3.2 kbar. Diffusion chronometry reveals minimum residence timescales of 1-12 days for melt inclusion-bearing macrocrysts in the Holuhraun carrier melt. By combining timescales of diffusive dehydration of melt inclusions with the calculated pressure of H2O saturation for the Holuhraun magma, we calculate indicative magma ascent rates of 0.12-0.29 m s-1. Our petrological and geochemical data are consistent with lateral magma transport from Bárðarbunga volcano to the eruption site in a shallow- to mid-crustal dyke, as has been suggested on the basis of seismic and geodetic datasets. This result is a significant step forward in reconciling petrological and geophysical interpretations of magma transport during volcano-tectonic episodes, and provides a critical framework for the interpretation of premonitory seismic and geodetic data in volcanically active regions.
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Project description:The basalts of the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption were the first erupted on the Reykjanes Peninsula in 781 years and offer a unique opportunity to determine the composition of the mantle underlying Iceland, in particular its oxygen isotope composition (δ18O values). The basalts show compositional variations in Zr/Y, Nb/Zr and Nb/Y values that span roughly half of the previously described range for Icelandic basaltic magmas and signal involvement of Icelandic plume (OIB) and Enriched Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt (EMORB) in magma genesis. Here we show that Fagradalsfjall δ18O values are invariable (mean δ18O = 5.4 ± 0.3‰ 2 SD, N = 47) and indistinguishable from "normal" upper mantle, in contrast to significantly lower δ18O values reported for erupted materials elsewhere in Iceland (e.g., the 2014-2015 eruption at Holuhraun, Central Iceland). Thus, despite differing trace element characteristics, the melts that supplied the Fagradalsfjall eruption show no evidence for 18O-depleted mantle or interaction with low-δ18O crust and may therefore represent a useful mantle reference value in this part of the Icelandic plume system.
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Project description:Interactions with volcanic gases in eruption plumes produce soluble salt deposits on the surface of volcanic ash. While it has been postulated that saturation-driven precipitation of salts following the dissolution of ash surfaces by condensed acidic liquids is a primary mechanism of salt formation during an eruption, it is only recently that this mechanism has been subjected to detailed study. Here we spray water and HCl droplets into a suspension of salt-doped synthetic glass or volcanic ash particles, and produce aggregates. Deposition of acidic liquid droplets on ash particles promotes dissolution of existing salts and leaches cations from the underlying material surface. The flow of liquid, due to capillary forces, will be directed to particle-particle contact points where subsequent precipitation of salts will cement the aggregate. Our data suggest that volcanically-relevant loads of surface salts can be produced by acid condensation in eruptive settings. Several minor and trace elements mobilised by surface dissolution are biologically relevant; geographic areas with aggregation-mediated ash fallout could be "hotspots" for the post-deposition release of these elements. The role of liquids in re-distributing surface salts and cementing ash aggregates also offers further insight into the mechanisms which preserve well-structured aggregates in some ash deposits.
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Project description:The Eldgjá lava flood is considered Iceland's largest volcanic eruption of the Common Era. While it is well established that it occurred after the Settlement of Iceland (circa 874 CE), the date of this great event has remained uncertain. This has hampered investigation of the eruption's impacts, if any, on climate and society. Here, we use high-temporal resolution glaciochemical records from Greenland to show that the eruption began in spring 939 CE and continued, at least episodically, until at least autumn 940 CE. Contemporary chronicles identify the spread of a remarkable haze in 939 CE, and tree ring-based reconstructions reveal pronounced northern hemisphere summer cooling in 940 CE, consistent with the eruption's high yield of sulphur to the atmosphere. Consecutive severe winters and privations may also be associated with climatic effects of the volcanic aerosol veil. Iceland's formal conversion to Christianity dates to 999/1000 CE, within two generations or so of the Eldgjá eruption. The end of the pagan pantheon is foretold in Iceland's renowned medieval poem, Vǫluspá ('the prophecy of the seeress'). Several lines of the poem describe dramatic eruptive activity and attendant meteorological effects in an allusion to the fiery terminus of the pagan gods. We suggest that they draw on first-hand experiences of the Eldgjá eruption and that this retrospection of harrowing volcanic events in the poem was intentional, with the purpose of stimulating Iceland's Christianisation over the latter half of the tenth century.
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Project description:Ash emitted during explosive volcanic eruptions may disperse over vast areas of the globe posing a threat to human health and infrastructures and causing significant disruption to air traffic. In Antarctica, at least five volcanoes have reported historic activity. However, no attention has been paid to the potential socio-economic and environmental consequences of an ash-forming eruption occurring at high southern latitudes. This work shows how ash from Antarctic volcanoes may pose a higher threat than previously believed. As a case study, we evaluate the potential impacts of ash for a given eruption scenario from Deception Island, one of the most active volcanoes in Antarctica. Numerical simulations using the novel MMB-MONARCH-ASH model demonstrate that volcanic ash emitted from Antarctic volcanoes could potentially encircle the globe, leading to significant consequences for global aviation safety. Results obtained recall the need for performing proper hazard assessment on Antarctic volcanoes, and are crucial for understanding the patterns of ash distribution at high southern latitudes with strong implications for tephrostratigraphy, which is pivotal to synchronize palaeoclimatic records.
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Project description:We examine the morphology and chemistry of the Vikrahraun basaltic eruption emplaced at Askja Volcano, Iceland, from Oct. 26-Dec. 17, 1961. The eruption had three eruptive events, initiating with a'a and followed by alternating a'a and pahoehoe lava flow emplacement. We determine that while the eruption is chemically homogenous (Fe/Mg = 1.9-2.2, 47-52 wt.% SiO2), it demonstrates transitions from high to low viscosity lava flow morphologies. A'a flows have a total crystallinity (phenocryst and microlite abundance by area) ranging from 85-100%, which increases by 1% per km from the vents, while pahoehoe flows range from 55-86% and increase at a higher rate of 5% per km. Vesicularity systematically decreases with distance from the vent by 3% per km. Pahoehoe and vent samples have calculated temperatures 50 °C higher than a'a samples, which we interpret to be due to the difference between tube fed pahoehoe and open channel a'a lavas. The homogenous nature of the Vikrahraun lava makes it an excellent testbed to study the effects of observational scale and satellite resolution on the interpretation of surficial textures. Festoons, which are downslope pointed convex ridges from 1 to 5 m high and ~ 10 m long, are observed in event 2 a'a lavas in satellite imagery and topographic profiles. Features of this scale have previously only been documented in terrestrial rhyolitic lavas, leading planetary researchers to infer that festooned lava flows on Venus and Mars may be silicic. The diverse morphologies and homogenous composition make Vikrahraun an important planetary analog, where morphological complexity is over-attributed to chemical variation and suggests the need to re-evaluation planetary lava flow interpretations.Graphical abstractSupplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40623-022-01711-5.
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Project description:Tungurahua volcano (Ecuador) intermittently emitted ash between 1999 and 2016, enduringly affecting the surrounding rural area and its population, but its health impact remains poorly documented. We aim to assess the respiratory health hazard posed by the 16-17 August 2006 most intense eruptive phase of Tungurahua. We mapped the spatial distribution of the health-relevant ash size fractions produced by the eruption in the area impacted by ash fallout. We quantified the mineralogy, composition, surface texture, and morphology of a respirable ash sample isolated by aerodynamic separation. We then assessed the cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory potential of this respirable ash toward lung tissues in-vitro using A549 alveolar epithelial cells, by electron microscopy and biochemical assays. The eruption produced a high amount of inhalable and respirable ash (12.0-0.04 kg/m2 of sub-10 μm and 5.3-0.02 kg/m2 of sub-4 μm ash deposited). Their abundance and proportion vary greatly across the deposit within the first 20 km from the volcano. The respirable ash is characteristic of an andesitic magma and no crystalline silica is detected. Morphological features and surface textures are complex and highly variable, with few fibers observed. In-vitro experiments show that respirable volcanic ash is internalized by A549 cells and processed in the endosomal pathway, causing little cell damage, but resulting in changes in cell morphology and membrane texture. The ash triggers a weak pro-inflammatory response. These data provide the first understanding of the respirable ash hazard near Tungurahua and the extent to which it varies spatially in a fallout deposit.
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Project description:The aim of our study was to reveal biogeographical patterns in the native vascular flora of Iceland and to define ecological factors responsible for these patterns. We analysed dataset of more than 500,000 records containing information on the occurrence of vascular plants. Analysis of ecological factors included climatic (derived from WORLDCLIM data), topographic (calculated from digital elevation model) and geological (bedrock characteristics) variables. Spherical k-means clustering and principal component analysis were used to detect biogeographical patterns and to study the factors responsible for them. We defined 10 biotic elements exhibiting different biogeographical patterns. We showed that climatic (temperature-related) and topographic variables were the most important factors contributing to the spatial patterns within the Icelandic vascular flora and that these patterns are almost completely independent of edaphic factors (bedrock type). Our study is the first one to analyse the biogeographical differentiation of the native vascular flora of Iceland.
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Project description:The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) volcanic eruption was the most explosive in Europe in the last 200,000 years. The event coincided with the onset of an extremely cold climatic phase known as Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) approximately 40,000 years ago. Their combined effect may have exacerbated the severity of the climate through positive feedbacks across Europe and possibly globally. The CI event is of particular interest not only to investigate the role of volcanism on climate forcing and palaeoenvironments, but also because its timing coincides with the arrival into Europe of anatomically modern humans, the demise of Neanderthals, and an associated major shift in lithic technology. At this stage, however, the degree of interaction between these factors is poorly known, based on fragmentary and widely dispersed data points. In this study we provide important new data from Eastern Europe which indicate that the magnitude of the CI eruption and impact of associated distal ash (tephra) deposits may have been substantially greater than existing models suggest. The scale of the eruption is modelled by tephra distribution and thickness, supported by local data points. CI ashfall extends as far as the Russian Plain, Eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa. However, modelling input is limited by very few data points in Eastern Europe. Here we investigate an unexpectedly thick CI tephra deposit in the southeast Romanian loess steppe, positively identified using geochemical and geochronological analyses. We establish the tephra as a widespread primary deposit, which blanketed the topography both thickly and rapidly, with potentially catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems. Our discovery not only highlights the need to reassess models for the magnitude of the eruption and its role in climatic transition, but also suggests that it may have substantially influenced hominin population and subsistence dynamics in a region strategic for human migration into Europe.
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