Project description
Taking a closer look at ice-capped volcanoes
Katla is a giant subglacial volcano in southern Iceland. Hidden beneath the ice cap of Mýrdalsjökull glacier, it is highly active and hazardous. All eruptions have occurred beneath the ice cap and resulted in outburst floods. The EU-funded SURGE project will study the ice-confined deposits at Katla in order to gain a better understanding of glaciovolcanic interactions. This is important because meltwater production can influence eruption style and lead to sudden outburst floods or explosive lava-water interactions. Glaciovolcanic deposits can also be useful terrestrial indicators of past environments. The project will take a multidisciplinary approach to investigate what processes occur beneath an ice cap. The findings will be useful for future hazard planning.
Objective
Volcanoes at high latitudes or at high elevations at temperate latitudes are commonly capped by glaciers. Understanding the dynamics of volcano-ice interaction is important because meltwater production can influence eruption style and lead to sudden outburst floods or explosive lava-water interactions. In addition, glaciovolcanic deposits can be useful terrestrial indicators of past environments. Glaciated volcanic systems are complex because meltwater availability and eruption style are dependent on a combination of magmatic, glacial and edifice characteristics. The relative influence of these characteristics are open fields of research. SURGE aims to improve our understanding of glaciovolcanic interactions by studying ice-confined deposits at Katla volcano, Iceland. Katla is a highly active and hazardous subglacial volcano from which all historic eruptions have occurred beneath an ice cap and have resulted in outburst floods. While the Holocene eruptive record at Katla is well-known, the older parts of the edifice have received little attention. A second aim of SURGE, therefore, is to improve our understanding of the pre-Holocene eruption history and edifice building at Katla. New geological mapping will be carried out to determine the eruption and emplacement processes of pre-Holocene formations. We will then use thermal modelling to determine the volume of ice that was melted during these eruptions in order to reconstruct the ancient glacier surface and extent. Finally, radiometric dating of the formations will be used to build an age-constrained record of glacier dimensions and eruptive activity at Katla. Our multidisciplinary approach will contribute to understanding of processes that occur beneath an ice cap or are too hazardous to observe. In addition, our estimates of ice volumes melted during these past eruptions will inform future hazard planning. The global prevalence of ice-capped volcanoes means that this study will have widespread relevance.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geology volcanology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
101 Reykjavik
Iceland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.