Why Did the Laki Euprtion Happen?

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Scientific report on Laki eruption Laki volcano September marks the anniversary of the famed eruption in Iceland — one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. It did have a profound impact on people living around the entire Northern Hemisphere for years afterwards by killing almost half of the world's population and almost all of Iceland's livestock. Map of Iceland Iceland sometimes referred to in full as the Republic of Iceland is a Nordic island country marking the juncture between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of 321,857 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), which makes it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population. Reykjavík is the most northern capital in the world. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists mainly of a plateau characterized by sand and lava, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream. The Laki eruption wasn’t really a single event, but rather 8 months’ worth of lava flows and explosions that ejected an astounding 14.7 km cubed of ballistic lava that came out of 140 vents. The eruption was caused by small earthquakes that were hardly detected by the seismometers the eruption caused a gigantic amount of smog and poisonous gasses to envelope Iceland in a matter of days which caused at least 10,000-15,000 deaths in Iceland alone. Consequences in Iceland Affects of a volcanic eruption An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ceased. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of

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