By Sebastion
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Iceland’s Bardabunga volcano has been erupting since August 29, blasting lava out of the ground as high as 200 feet. Seeing an active volcano is something you don’t see everyday, nor do you really want to in person, but thanks to Stefano di Nicolo for braving the elements and bringing us some beautiful images.
The molten rock, or magma, is measured at around 1,500° F and will literally set anything it touches on fire immediately. Similar to that feeling you get when you bite into that piece of pizza that is still too hot, yeah just imagine that all over your body if you get too close. Although Hollywood may make you worry about the deadly power of lava flows, they usually move slowly enough to give people plenty of time to get out of the way.
The unusual thing about this specific active volcano is that it has erupted out of a collapsed crater, known as a caldera, in a nearly 30 mile dyke. This makes some pov’s very intimidating, when all you see are walls of lava. The collapsed crater has sunk more than 60 feet, which is the largest amount of subsidence observed in any volcano in Iceland since such observations began in 1950.
Due to the magma movement and the location of this volcano, earthquakes have been rattling the immediate area with magnitudes as high as 5.5. Being from California, I’m used to a strong tremble here and there, but I know having some lava explosions thrown in the mix, I would rather just enjoy these beasts from afar. Good thing the eruptions are relatively benign, and we get to enjoy the beauty that the volcano has to offer.
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The sky over the lava eruption.
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