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Volcanic eruption through a geothermal borehole at Námafjall, Iceland

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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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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