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Unusual volcanic activity in Iceland raises questions
Release time：2023-03-23 17:56:00 source：korpimaankyynel.com author：Forest
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Unusual volcanic activity in Iceland raises questions
The unusual chemical composition of the lava that flooded the Reykjanes Peninsula has raised many questions about activity deep within the volcano. TEXT: MAYA WEI-HAAS PHOTO: CHRIS BURKARD Last week, Eniko Bali was having lunch like a geologist by one of Iceland's many ancient craters when she received a message that the volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula had erupted again. The University of Iceland geologist and her team plan to extract rock samples from the island's numerous historic eruptions. But the magma kept erupting, so Bali and his colleagues went to see the geological wonder first. They arrived at the site hours after the eruption, hot lava spewing from a long line of craters like lava geysers, fiery lava flows meandering through the Meradareal Valley. Tourists flock to witness the latest volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula. While viewing from a safe distance is possible, experts caution against getting too close and recommend the use of a gas mask to prevent exposure to toxic volcanic smoke. The volcanoes of the Reykjanes Peninsula have been dormant for almost 800 years. But in 2021, these geological behemoths are ready to start a 6-month eruption. Now, the commotion has begun again. Each eruption has provided researchers with an opportunity to gain insight into the Earth's inner structure and provided clues to the formation of the stunning Icelandic landscape we see today. Last year's eruption began with a puzzling chemical reaction: Subterranean lava, which seemed to have changed little since its formation, rushed straight from the mantle (between the crust and the core) to the surface, after which the lava's chemical composition took a huge leap. Variety. "To be honest, we didn't expect this to happen," Bali said. "Some very interesting things are going on." The first analysis of the newly erupted lava showed a similar but not exact match to the lava flowing before the eruption ended in 2021. Scientists are actively collecting more samples to see if there are other strange changes. The bizarre lava on the Reykjanes Peninsula is just the latest chapter in Iceland's long and bizarre geological history. The formation of the island has long been an unsolved mystery. It sits at the intersection of two strong geological phenomena, an ocean ridge where two tectonic plates are pulled apart, and a place where hot magma flows meet the surface. When two forces converged 25 million years ago, triggering a supercharged eruption that set the stage for Iceland's formation. However, the story is far from over. Reykjanes has erupted twice in less than a year, suggesting the long-dormant volcanic peninsula may be waking up. Volcanic eruptions in the region seem to resume every thousand years or so, and the latest rumble could be a precursor to volcanic activity and scientific opportunities for decades to come. The source of magma Iceland is one of the few places in the world where an oceanic ridge juts out of the sea. This 64,000-kilometer-long belt of volcanic peaks stretches along cracks between Earth's slowly expanding tectonic plates. In Iceland, the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly pulling away from each other, which allows lava to pour out of the ground and erupt on the surface. But instead of separating along a straight line, these tectonic plates form a series of offset bands that are strung together by regions of adjacent sliding. Reykjanes sits on complex junctions where the land is pulled at an angle, causing cracks to periodically open and allow magma to seep out, a feature known as a "seepage transform fault". In most volcanic systems, lava forms in small regions deep in the mantle, flows slowly upwards, condenses, and mixes with other lava that collects in different reservoirs. But in seeping transform faults, such as Reykjanes, not all of the erupted lava flows through these similar volcanic conduits, meaning their composition has changed less since they formed underground. "We can make the most of this rare region of Earth," said geochemist Edward Marshall of the University of Iceland. Scientists observed that the chemical composition of lava in Reykjanes occurred within the first weeks of the 2021 eruption. Huge change, the fastest ever. The phenomenon is likely caused by the mixing of magma with magma from another source, whose composition is unknown, Marshall said. "Whatever that is, it's strange." Further complicating the situation, analysis by another team of researchers suggests that magma from a third source may have been involved. Collision of Geological Forces By studying the chemical composition of volcanic eruptions in Iceland's history, scientists have discovered that their fiery roots lie deep beneath ocean ridges. A curious feature is the abundance of He-3, a light isotope of helium, in Icelandic volcanic eruptions. The vast majority of isotopes in Earth's rocks were captured when the Earth formed. Reservoirs of He-3 may still exist deep in the mantle. This could explain the chemistry of Iceland's lava, which is pulled to the surface by rising plumes of hot rock that could also reach the Earth's core. Rocks off the coast of Greenland suggest that when this plume formed about 60 million years ago, it scorched Greenland's weak spots. As Earth's tectonic plates moved, so did the ridges, until about 25 million years ago, when the ridges meandered up above the plume. Iceland was born shortly after two powerful geological forces met. However, scientists are still working to fill in the specifics of how this area formed, and the strangeness of Iceland's lava. Scientific debate over another chemical signature has been going on for nearly half a century, the oxygen isotope O-18. Lava from Iceland's eruption has mysteriously depleted its O-18 content, but scientists still don't know why. Some researchers believe that when Icelandic lava squeezed upwards and erupted, they were contaminated with the crust, which is usually low in O-18. Others have suggested that the chemical came from a narrow strip of Greenland in southeastern Iceland. Still others believe that the region's mantle may be characterized by low O-18 content. "You don't see this on other islands. Only Iceland," Marshall said. "Why is Iceland special?" To find out, geochemist Maja Bar Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen and her team turned to tiny green crystals of the mineral olivine. These crystals formed early in the cooling of the magma, potentially capturing a snapshot of data on the chemical properties of the lava without contamination from the surface crust. The team's measurements of oxygen isotopes in olivine crystals from historic eruptions across Iceland, combined with previous helium isotope measurements of the same crystals, revealed that the erupted lava not only originated deep underground, but already carried a crust-like oxygen signature trace. The study authors suggest that perhaps the plume is entering a graveyard of ancient crustal fragments that subducted long ago and settled near the bottom of the mantle. While past studies have suggested a similar situation, some details in the new study led the researchers to discover an interesting correlation. About 25 million years ago, when scientists thought the ridge shifted over this plume, chemical traces of crustal recycling increased. Is this chemical change related to the increased volcanic activity that shaped the island? Or is it just a coincidence in timing? "We can't say which one caused what," says Rasmussen, who has been thinking about the coincidence. Debate over unusually low O-18 levels in Icelandic lava may continue. Scientists currently don't have a good way to measure precisely how deep olivine crystals formed, making the origin of their chemical fingerprints uncertain, says geochemist Valentin Troll of Uppsala University in Sweden. "The big question is, when did this material get incorporated into the plume?" he said. The researchers also don't know what happens to the ancient rock blocks on the Earth's surface once they're recycled back into the mantle, or the dynamics of the rocks near the boundary of the core study. "There's probably some intense mixing that complicates everything." But one thing's for sure, there's something interesting going on underground in Iceland. A recent eruption has attracted scientists everywhere, who began collecting rock samples hours or days after the lava gushed. There are no signs yet that the eruption will stop anytime soon, as the lava continues to spew, forming small cones. Even with a moment of respite after the most recent eruption, a revived Reykjanes may have more eruptions brewing deep underground—each erupting red-hot lava flows, heralding a future underground. More scientific anecdotes are born. (Translator: Flowers on Moshang)
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