Articles Tagged "Anton Yevseev"

It appears that the "smoke and ash party" of Icelandic volcanoes may continue across the Atlantic. Scientists say that Katla, another volcano in Iceland, may erupt in the near future. In addition, volcanologists are concerned about the ongoing eruption of the underwater volcano near the Canary Islands.

Katla's eruption can be much stronger. The volcano may lead to much greater catastrophic consequences for the country than the debuts of Eyjafjallajokull and Grimsvotn.

Katla is situated in the south of Iceland. It is a large volcano, with an approximate height of 1,512 meters and the diameter of the caldera (the crater) of 10 kilometers. There is a glacier on the slope of the volcano - Myrdalsjokull. If Katla erupts, the glacier will melt and trigger a catastrophic flood on the entire south-eastern coast of the island.

The volcano started to show the signs of life in the middle of the year. Scientists registered its activity on July 9. It was a relatively insignificant quake, although it caused floods and destroyed several bridges. As a result, several regions of the country found themselves in isolation for days.

Mass awakening of volcanoes in the recent years has made scientists wreck their brains over the possible causes of such increased activity. Many geophysicists believe that such activity may increase because of the interaction of the Earth with other celestial bodies, such as the Sun or the giant planets Saturn and Jupiter.

Even the skeptics do not doubt that our planet is going through a peak of volcanic activity. Indeed, for the second consecutive year, these fire-breathing monsters are being felt in different regions of the planet. Even seemingly forever dormant volcanoes are coming to life. In addition, scientists expect the emergence of new volcanoes in places where they did not exist before.

The peak of volcanic activity also coincided with the activation of other processes in Earth's crust that resulted in the succession of powerful earthquakes. Although they happened in places with the increased seismic activity, this is not very comforting. Since volcanoes and earthquakes are usually associated with one another, it becomes clear that something is happening to the planet.

First we need to figure out what hidden mechanism causes a volcanic eruption. Scientists have known for a long time that mantle convection causes volcano eruptions. However, this knowledge does not answer the question why at one time volcanoes are active, and in other times dormant.

The ancient Greeks answered this question without any hesitation - the volcano wakes up when the god Hephaestus, the blacksmith, gets rush defense orders from Zeus (or some other deity). Then he descends into his underground forge under a mountain, kindles the hearth, and gets to work. As a result, people have to "admire" the smoke rising from the underground oven, splashing hot metal and sparks flying from under the hammer of Cyclops. Hellenes were convinced that the volcano wakes up just when Zeus needs something from Hephaestus.