Photo: Megan White
Aside perhaps from the recent eruptions in Hawaii, few American college students think very deeply about volcanoes, how they work and their impact on the areas around them.
Monday, Sept. 10, however, any students interested were invited to Gibble Auditorium to learn more about the volcanoes in Iceland from Dr. Gretar Ivarsson.
Ivarsson went to the University of Hawaii, where he received his doctorate in volcanology. He currently works for the world’s largest geothermal company.
When asked why students should be interested on this topic, Ivarsson said, “I don’t know, really.”
However, he offered stories of his own personal intrigue in rocks and volcanoes as a child and explained the effects that volcanoes can have on the environment and on civilization.
As a whole, volcanoes can be devastating. Ivarsson noted that Yellowstone will someday hugely impact North America and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
He compared it to Iceland’s Laki, the eruption of which caused famine in America and Europe. Some believe that this volcano-caused famine contributed to the start of the French Revolution.
Ivarsson stressed that not all volcano eruptions are devastating. In fact, many of Iceland’s eruptions are far more beneficial to the land and to the people than they are harmful.
First and foremost, volcanic eruptions are fantastic for Iceland’s tourist industry. Many people from around the world visit Iceland every time one of their volcanoes erupts, boosting the country’s economy.
The volcanic material is also fertile and turns into arable soil. Ivarsson explained that this is why farmers in many developing countries choose to farm on mountainsides.
“Sure one or two [farmers] might die in an eruption,” he said. “But fatalities are rare and are outweighed by the benefits.”
Volcanoes are also able to provide tremendous amounts of heat and electricity to surrounding areas.
First-year Kelsey Jernegan said that she was most surprised to hear that 98 percent of Iceland’s heat and power come from volcanoes.
Senior Josh Fishman was also surprised by this statistic, saying, “Most places around the world use gas and sometimes electricity to heat their homes…Even more surprising, [Ivarsson] mentioned that it was extremely inexpensive.”
Ivarsson said that the expenses for this form of heating costs the average family household two dollars per day.
Ivarsson also discussed technology that helps to predict volcanic eruptions and uses volcanoes to the advantage of humanity.
“[Volcanic eruptions] killed hundreds of people at a time, but then technological advancements allowed evacuation efforts to be more successful,” Fishman said.
Modern technology can play a significant role in how volcanoes affect humanity. However, Ivarsson warned of our dependency on technology.
He said that as things are, technology is helpful, but when Iceland’s volcanoes and the world’s more catastrophic volcanoes such as Yellowstone erupt, we are going to be ill-equipped to handle it, since it is likely that a terrible eruption will wreak such havoc that modern technology will be rendered useless.
He said that our understanding of volcanoes is far more developed than that of more primitive people. Primitive people, however, were less reliant and arguably more adaptable to their environments.
At the end of the lecture, there was a contest in which five students tried to pronounce the name of the Eyjafallajökull (AY-uh-fyut-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh).
This intrigued Jernegan because, as a part of the contest, Ivarsson’s wife properly pronounced the volcano’s name.
“It was nice to hear someone native pronounce the names [of the volcanoes],” Jernegan said.
The winner of the contest won a mug purchased in a gift shop in Iceland, known there as “puffin shops” for their many puffin-related items.
To anyone who is looking for any additional information on Iceland or volcanoes, Ivarsson suggested searching the Internet for vast amounts of information on both tourist and scientific information.
