Erosion, Iceland, and Time Travel

The geologists of Lab 204 went back in time this week to help some of our colleagues in Iceland with a mystery they are facing. Or, more correctly, an issue they faced back in November. Well, November 1963...

In the early morning hours of November 14, 1963, the crew of a fishing boat in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago saw smoke on the horizon. They moved closer, thinking another vessel was on fire. What they found instead was a volcano, forming a new island in the chain. Learn a little more about this new island, Surtsey, here.

We were invited to travel to this place and time by our colleague Dr. Sigurdur Thorarinsson. He wanted us to help them figure out if this new island would last very long. We tested three kinds of coastlines to make our assessment: rock, sand, and ash.

Based on our testing, we concluded that an ash coast will erode very quickly, a sandy coast at a moderate rate, and a rocky coast very slowly.

Testing Coastlines from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.