Fearing a significant eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, authorities last month evacuated nearly 4,000 residents of the fishing town of Grindavik and closed the nearby Blue Lagoon resort.
According to the country’s Meteorological Agency, the eruption began a few kilometers from the city and cracks in the ground extended towards the village, about 40 kilometers southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
Keflavik International Airport, near Reykjavik, remained open, although there were numerous delays to both arriving and departing flights.
“Seismic activity combined with GPS equipment measurements indicate that magma is moving south-west and eruptions may continue towards Grindavik,” the Met Office said.
Local police said they had raised the alert level due to the eruption and the country’s civil defense warned people not to approach the area while rescuers assessed the situation.
“Based on the intensity and size, it is likely to last more than three weeks,” Kristin Jonsdottir, a seismologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told Icelandic national broadcaster RUV.
Iceland is a volcanic island that formed at the boundary between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate. Iceland’s volcanic activity is mainly due to the fact that the island is located between tectonic plates and also in a hot zone.
But volcanic eruptions are still difficult to predict accurately. In mid-November, residents of Grindavik fled their homes in the middle of the night as the ground shook, roads cracked and buildings suffered structural damage.
At the time, seismologists believed an eruption was imminent, but the activity later calmed.
In recent years the Reykjanes Peninsula has seen several eruptions in uninhabited areas.
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2023-12-19 03:55:11
in-iceland-a-volcano-delphi-began-to-erupt