TUESDAY OCTOBER 15 1996
Earthquake rocks south and west Iceland
An earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale rocked south and west Iceland
at approximately 9 o'clock yesterday evening.
Ragnar Stefánsson, a seismologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said
the quake was connected with a series of tremors recorded in the Hveragerdi
area of southwest Iceland in the past twelve months.
Stefánsson added that he believed the quake to be linked with the recent
powerful volcanic eruption under Vatnajökull glacier in the south of the country.
Glacier's water level reaches flood danger point
Highly sensitive measuring equipment installed near the site of the volcanic
eruption under Vatnajökull glacier indicated a subglacial water level of just under
1,500 metres, the height needed to trigger large scale flooding of south Iceland.
The glacier, Europe's largest, covers a massive basin-like depression or
caldera, which when filled spills over into the surrounding countryside.
According to scientists at the Nordic Volcanological Institute, transmissions
from the equipment only lasted one hour over the weekend. Severe heat changes
were cited as a possible cause of the transmission breakdown.