Eyjafjallajokull

Location

Iceland is located on the North American and Eurasian plate and is immediatly south of the Artic Circle. The Eyjafjallajokull volcano is located in the South of the island situated between the Skogar ice cap to the north and the Myrdalsjokull ice cap to the west. Eyjafjallajokull is 1,666 meters high with an ice cap covering the caldera of the volcano.

Eruption

The volcanic events started in March 2010 it was thought that this was the start of the eruption but just split into phases. The first eruption phase ejected basaltic lava several hunderd meters into the air. The ash  ejection from this phase of the eruption was small raising no more than 4km. On the 14th April the eruption entered the explosive phase ejected fine ash 8km into the atmosphere. This phase was thought to be a VEI 4 eruption which is larga and powerful.

Iceland has a population of approximatly 329,100 and 92.61% of the population consists of native Icelandic people. Iceland has very low taxes compared to many other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic welfare system providing universal health care, education for all citizens. Its also ranked as the 13th most developed country in the world. Running on renewable energy.

Causes

Iceland is located on the North American plate which is moving west and the Eurasian plate wich is moving east this is creating a divergant plate boundary which moves appart at a rate of 1-5 cm…