A tremendous gush of lava in Iceland that began six weeks ago shows no signs of slowing. The eruption, on a plain of old lava called Holuhraun in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system, has spewed out enough molten rock so far to fill 740 Empire State buildings and has buried, on average, an area the size of an NFL football field every 5.5 minutes.

At this rate, the lava flow will soon be larger than any seen for more than two centuries in the volcanically active island nation. And there's no telling when it will stop—months, maybe, or years.

"It's amazing that it has gone on at this rate for so long," says volcanologist John Stevenson of the University of Edinburgh. (See "