Lava fountains gush as volcanic eruption rocks Iceland
A VOLCANIC eruption has begun in the southwest of Iceland, sending fountains of molten lava hundreds of feet up into the sky.
At risk are an evacuated fishing town to the south of the site, a power plant and the country’s main tourist attraction, Blue Lagoon spa, to the west. An eruption has been expected since late October, though the area experienced several weeks of relative calm before lava began flowing at 10.17 pm local time on Monday (Dec 18).
Flights are currently operating at the main international airport, Keflavik. An airline advisory states that “a volcanic eruption is underway with no or minor ash emission”.
The crack on the earth’s crust is about 4 kilometres long with eruptions happening along the entire length, the Met Office wrote on its website after surveying the area. The site is on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 40 km southwest of the capital.
The volcanic peninsula had been dormant for almost 800 years until early 2020, when intense seismic activity started. Lava rose to the surface in 2021, then emerged again in August 2022 and in July of this year. The eruption that began on Monday is the most forceful of these recent ones.
The volcano is near Grindavik, a fishing town of about 3,700 inhabitants that was evacuated in early November following earthquakes that ripped open streets and destroyed infrastructure. Lava is not currently flowing towards the town, according to local broadcaster RUV.
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“The lava is still flowing in a remote area away from infrastructure,” Freysteinn Sigmundsson, geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said. “The eruption is evolving and its vigour is declining. There is less magma flow coming to the surface and the eruptive activity is localising more on a set of craters.” He added: “In these eruptions, it’s quite typical that they have the most power initially and then decline rapidly and this seems to be following that pattern.”
Initially lava fountains were estimated to reach higher than 100 metres. Determining where lava will flow, and eventually pool, will require further assessment over the coming days, Sigmundsson noted.
The lava flows seen prior to Monday’s rupture were fissure eruptions that did not produce ash and which were located further away from inhabited areas and infrastructure. Eruptions that extend into the sea are more likely to become explosive and to generate ash that could halt air traffic.
In 2010, volcano Eyjafjallajokull in the southern part of the country released a vast plume of ash that grounded air traffic across Europe for weeks. Air regulations have since changed, making any interruption less likely to be as widespread as in 2010.
Iceland, which has 30 volcanic systems and more than 600 hot springs, is one of the most geologically active places on Earth, due to its position on the mid-Atlantic ridge between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Though eruptions aren’t rare, there has not been a volcanic event that threatens inhabited areas at this scale since an eruption in 1973 buried part of a 5,000-person town in the Westman Islands under lava.
The volcano currently erupting is close to the Blue Lagoon spa, and the Svartsengi power plant, which provides heat to about 30,000 inhabitants of the peninsula and other businesses centred around geothermal heat. Authorities have sought to protect those sites by building ramparts, which had been nearing completion when the eruption began.
The power plant is generating power normally, a spokesperson said, adding that it’s operated remotely with no staff on site. The Blue Lagoon is closed, having just reopened some services on Sunday. BLOOMBERG
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