MEDC Volcano Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

Causes
1. 20th March 2010
2. Stratovolcano
  1. Also sits on a hotspot-more destructive
  2. Sits on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge-constructive plate boundary
    1. Eurasian plate and North American plate moving apart
Impacts
1. Social
  1. Ash from eruption got caught in the Jetstream where most planes use as a fast way of travelling
    1. Most major airports in Europe shut for 4 days
    2. Losing £10 million per day due to lack of tourism
    3. Fresh fruit and veg, organ donations etc couldn't be transported
    4. Ash in jet engines causes glass type substance to form inside the engines.
  2. Evacuation of around 500 people living nearby
  3. Eruption has made it into a tourist attraction
2. Environmental
  1. Melted glacier caused flooding
  2. Mudflow from meltwater flowing down the side of the volcano
  3. Ash clouds spread for mile affecting many countries
  4. Agricultural land damaged by ash
    1. Contaminated water supplies-health risk on farm animals
Hazards
1. Volcanic ash erupted into atmosphere 5 miles up
2. Eruption happened on bare flank of the volcano
3. Crater buried under 700 feet of ice-created plug in crater
4. Magma became more viscous
5. Eruption of crater melted glacier
Managemant
1. Prediction
  1. Geologists were able to predict the eruption
  2. Slopes becoming steeper indicates eruption
2. Protection
  1. People evacuated from local areas
  2. Warning systems such as the text message system whereby a text is sent to warn people 30 mins away from the volcano when it is about to erupt
3. Prevention

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MEDC Volcano Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

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	Created by Andrew_Ellinas almost 10 years ago