Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the)

mire A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...

dale Dale or dales may refer to: Locations * Dale (landform), an open valley * Dale (place name element) Geography ;Australia * The Dales (Christmas Island), in the Indian Ocean ;Canada * Dale, Ontario ;Ethiopia * Dale (woreda), district ;Norway * ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical feat ...

in the south of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. It is to the north of

Vík í Mýrdal The village of Vík (; or Vík í Mýrdal in full) is the southernmost village in Iceland, located on the main ring road around the island, around by road southeast of Reykjavík. Despite its small size (750 inhabitants in Mýrdalshreppur as ...

and to the east of the smaller ice cap

Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; ), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcan ...

. Between these two glaciers is Fimmvörðuháls pass. Its peak reaches in height and in the year 1980 it covered an area of approximately . The icecap of the glacier covers an active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

called Katla. The

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

of the volcano has a diameter of and the volcano erupts usually every 40–80 years. The last eruption took place in 1918. Scientists are actively monitoring the volcano, particularly after the eruption of nearby Eyjafjallajökull began in April 2010. Since the year 930, 16 eruptions have been documented. The

Eldgjá Eldgjá (, "fire canyon") is a volcano and a canyon in Iceland. Eldgjá is part of the Katla volcano; it is a segment of a long chain of volcanic craters and fissure vents that extends northeast away from Katla volcano almost to the Vatnajöku ...

, a volcanic eruption fissure about long, which erupted in the year 936, is part of the same volcanic system. Before the

Hringvegur Route 1 or the Ring Road ( or ) is a national road in Iceland that circles the entire country. As a major trunk route, it is considered to be the most important piece of transport infrastructure in Iceland as it connects the majority of towns ...

(the main ring road round the island) was built, people feared traversing the plains in front of the volcano because of the frequent

jökulhlaup A jökulhlaup ( ) (literally "glacial run") is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages. It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst flood ...

s (glacial floods) and the deep rivers to be crossed, although the road is still vulnerable to major events. Especially dangerous was the glacial flood after the eruption of 1918 when the coastline was extended by by

lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extr ...

ic flood deposits. Mýrdalsjökull is an exceedingly wet location, with models suggesting it receives more than 10 metres of precipitation annually. Image:Myrdalsjökull13.JPG, Mýrdalsjökull

concealing Katla volcano Image:Mýrdalsjökull.jpg, Mýrdalsjökull Image:"ice castle" formation on Mýrdalsjökull.jpg, An "ice castle" formation on Mýrdalsjökull File:Glacier Iceland.JPG, Mýrdalsjökull glacier covered volcanic ash Image:Mýrdalsjökull glacier, Iceland.jpg, Outlet glacier Sólheimajökull

References

External links

*http://www.nimbus.it/glaciorisk/Glacier_view.asp?IdGlacier=3965&Vista=paese&Paese=Iceland&IdTipoRischio= (Details of all known Glacier Runs from Mýrdalsjökull) *http://isafold.de/strutstigur02/img_jokull.htm (Photo of Mýrdalsjökull) *https://web.archive.org/web/20040504154433/http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/europe_west_asia/eldgja.html (Volcanism)
Katla: eruption preparedness for tourists
Bodies of ice of Iceland Ice caps Katla (volcano) Southern Region (Iceland) {{Iceland-glacier-stub

See also

References

External links