VIDEO: Holuhraun Best Place For An Eruption

Holuhraun is the best possible location for an eruption, geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson has told RÚV.

Although the magma flow from Holuhraun is considerable and steady, Magnús Tumi does not feel it qualifies as a large eruption.

New data indicates that approximately 250 cubic metres of magma is spewing out of the fissure each second.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrTCLZ7ISuE&w=560&h=315]
According to Magnús Tumi, the current Holuhraun eruption is completely different to the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010.

Given that the Holuhraun eruption is entirely above ground and a mainly basalt eruption it is producing no disruptive ash.

The Eyjafjalljökull eruption on the other hand was subglacial and a mainly rhyolite eruption, with a mix of rhyolite and basalt. The mix of rhyolite and basalt produced the flour-like ash that travelled further and hung longer in the air.

Magnús Tumi believes that now that Holuhraun is erupting in earnest the likelihood of an eruption elsewhere, for example in Askja caldera, is small.

As far as natural disasters are concerned, Magnús Tumi believes Holuhraun is the absolute best place the eruption could have begun.