TUESDAY OCTOBER 2, 1996




Sub-glacial eruption sparks flood fears


There is growing concern that the massive volcanic eruption under Vatnajökull glacier, the biggest in Europe, could trigger large scale flooding in southern Iceland. What alarms scientists is that Grímsvötn, a huge basin under the glacier, is filling with water caused by the volcano. Should the eruption continue the basin will overflow, lift the glacier and release millions of square kilometers of glacial water into Skeidará river and the surrounding countryside of south Iceland. Iceland's largest bridge and the country's vital crucial ringroad run through the area threatened by floods.

By yesterday evening the eruption had formed two giant saucer-like depressions on the surface of the northeastern face of the glacier. According to geophysicist Magnús Tumi Gudmundsson, each depression was 2km in diameter and about 100m deep. Ash and smoke from the eruption was seen penetrating the 600m plus thick layer of ice above the volcano's crater at 4.47 this morning. The emission of volcanic material continues unabated and there are reports of ash falling as far away as Akureyri, north Iceland.