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Volcanic eruption through a geothermal borehole at Námafjall, Iceland

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Abstract

During the present rifting episode in the Krafla fault swarm in North Iceland, large scale horizontal movement of basaltic magma is taking place underground. On 8 September 1977 magma reached the depth range of boreholes in the Námafjail geothermal field. In 20 min 3 ton of magma erupted through an 1,138 m borehole forming a small scoria sheet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nordic Volcanological Institute, University of Iceland,

    Gudrún Larsen & Karl Grönvold

  2. Science Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sigurdur Thorarinsson

Authors
  1. Gudrún Larsen
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  2. Karl Grönvold
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  3. Sigurdur Thorarinsson
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Larsen, G., Grönvold, K. & Thorarinsson, S. Volcanic eruption through a geothermal borehole at Námafjall, Iceland. Nature 278, 707–710 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/278707a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/278707a0

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