Gobal Warming Causes Volcanic Eruptions

You knew it had to come up eventually.

Increased volcanic activity is linked to ice melted by the effects of global warming, a study has found.

So much ice in Iceland has melted in the past century that the pressure on the land beneath has lessened, which allows more of the rock deep in the ground to turn to magma. Until the ice melted, the pressure was so intense that the rock remained solid.

Carolina Pagli, of the University of Leeds, led research which calculated that over the past century the production of magma had increased by 10 per cent.

The research team, reporting their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, said an extra 1.4 cu km of magma has been created under the Vatnajökull ice-cap in the past 100 years.

Since 1890 the ice-cap has lost 10 per cent of its mass, which has allowed the land to rise by up to 25m (82ft) a year.

Son of a B! The area where this ice cap was has risen 25 meters per year for the last 118 years? Where there was a flat plain before, now there's a mountain nearly 10,000 feet tall? That in itself ought to pretty well accommodate a measly 1.4 cu km (0.34 cu mile) of magma. But what a great tourist attraction!