Eruption at Sundhnúksgígar, August 2024 – preliminary petrographic and geochemical data
Samples of quenched lava were collected on the second and third day of the eruption that started near Sundhnúksgígar on August 22nd, and on the fourth day, a sample of freshly fallen tephra was also collected. In all cases, the samples come from the area north of Stóra-Skógfell. The volcanic glass in the samples was analysed with the electron microprobe of the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland. Petrographically, the samples strongly resemble those collected in the earlier eruptions since December 2023 near Sundhnúksgígar (see earlier reports), and contain vesicular glass with plagioclase, olivine and clinopyroxene crystals (Fig. 1). The quenched lava samples have abundant microlites, in contrast with the tephra glass which is relatively microlite-poor.
