The volcanic and seismic activity of Iceland, a hotspot on a plate boundary.

Þriðjudaginn 9. maí kl. 16:30 kemur Páll Einarsson, professor emeritus til okkar í Hæðargarðinn. Að þessu sinni flytur hann fyrirlestur sinn á ensku, ástæðan er að gestir á fundinum eru skiptinemar frá UPUA í háskólanum í Alicante. Þeir eru hér í heimsókn í viku og U3A Reykjavík tekur á móti þeim og skipuleggur fræðsluprógramm fyrir þá. Við viljum einnig kynna fyrir þeim starfsemi okkar, þar á meðal þriðjudagsfyrirlestur. Fyrirlestur Páls er að sjálfsögðu einnig ætlaður félögum U3A Reykjavík. Páll nefnir fyrirlestur sinn:

The volcanic and seismic activity of Iceland, a hotspot on a plate boundary.

The high  volcanic activity of Iceland is due to the interaction of a deep mantle plume with the boundary between two of the major crustal plates, the Eurasia Plate and the North-America Plate. The plume brings hot material from great depth towar

ds the surface where it feeds the ~30 active volcanic systems of Iceland. Eruptions occur every 2-3 years on the average. At the present time about five of the volcanoes show evidence of magma accumulation and potential eruption in the near future. Furthermore, the position of Iceland astride the plate boundary leads to significant earthquake hazard. The continuous plate movements accumulate stress in the crust that is released in earthquakes, as large as magnitude 7.

Páll Einarsson is professor emeritus at the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland. Páll does research in volcanology, tectonism, and earthquake seismology. Current projects include seismicity and tectonism of the Reykjanes Peninsula Oblique Rift, volcano monitoring, short-term seismic precursors to eruptions, earthquake history of Iceland, and scanning of analog seismograms.