A volcano that spewed bright red lava near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, after waking up for the first time in 900 years, appeared to be subsiding on Saturday without posing a danger to people, experts said.
Streams of red lava bubbled and flowed from a fissure in a valley in Geldingadalur, near Mount Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland.
As the lava flow subsided under the rain on Saturday, a cloud of blue gas and a cloud of steam rose from the site, just 40 kilometers from the capital and close to a popular tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
The eruption occurred on Friday around 20:45 GMT, lighting the night sky with a crimson glow as hundreds of small earthquakes rocked the area.
Although Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport and the small fishing port of Grindavik are only a few kilometers away, the area is uninhabited and the eruption posed no danger to the public.
“The eruption is considered small at this stage and volcanic activity has decreased somewhat since last night,” said the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), which monitors seismic activity, in a statement on Saturday.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
He said the “eruptive fissure” measures approximately 500 to 700 meters (1,640 to 2,300 feet).
The lava area, he added, was less than a square kilometer (0.4 square miles), with small sources of lava.
Speaking to reporters, University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson described the valley as an “ideal” location for the eruption, comparing it to “a bathtub into which the lava can slowly leak”.
IMO earthquake risk coordinator Kristin Jonsdottir, however, said that “the outbreak is very likely to last for the next few days”.
Friday’s eruption occurred in the Krysuvik volcanic system, which does not have a central volcano, about five kilometers from the south coast inland.
Sigurdur Kristmundsson, a 54-year-old port worker in Grindavik, told AFP that locals were enthusiastic about the eruption.
“Nobody is in danger or anything. So I think people are excited and are not afraid of it.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Dormant for 900 years
Access to the area was initially blocked, but later opened to the public, although Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management emphasized that the several-hour walk from the nearest road was only recommended for those “used to being outdoors in difficult conditions “.
The gases from a volcanic eruption – especially sulfur dioxide – can be high in the vicinity and can pose a health hazard and even be fatal.
Gas pollution can also be carried by the wind.
“Currently, gas pollution is not expected to cause much discomfort for people, except near the source of the eruption. Gas emissions will be monitored closely,” said the IMO.
The Krysuvik system has been inactive for 900 years, according to the IMO, while the last eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula dates back almost 800 years and lasted about 30 years, from 1210 to 1240.
But the region has been under increased surveillance for several weeks after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was reported on February 24 near Mount Keilir, just outside Reykjavik.
Since then, more than 50,000 minor quakes have been recorded, and magma has been detected just a kilometer below the Earth’s surface in the past few days near Fagradalsfjall.
Geophysicist Gudmundsson said the eruption signaled a new period “that can last for centuries with eruptions, possibly 10 to 100 years apart.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Fire and ice land
Iceland has 32 volcanic systems currently considered active, the largest number in Europe. The country erupted every five years, on average.
The vast island near the Arctic Circle extends through the Middle Atlantic Range, a crevice at the bottom of the ocean that separates the tectonic plates from Eurasia and North America.
The displacement of these plates is partly responsible for Iceland’s intense volcanic activity.
The most recent eruption was in Holuhraun, starting in August 2014 and ending in February 2015, in the Bardarbunga volcanic system in an uninhabited area in the center of the island.
This eruption did not cause any major disruptions outside the vicinity.
But in 2010, an eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano launched huge clouds of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, disrupting air traffic for more than a week and canceling more than 100,000 flights worldwide, which left about 10 million passengers stranded.
© Agence France-Presse