A volcano that spilled bright red lava near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, after waking up for the first time in 900 years, appeared to have calmed down on Saturday, not a danger to humans, experts said.
Streams of red lava erupted and emerged from a fissure in a valley in Geldingadalur, near Mount Fagradalsfjall in the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland.
As the lava flow slowed down on Saturday in a downpour, a blue gas panel and a cloud of steam rose from the site, just 40 kilometers from the capital and near a popular tourist destination, the geothermal spa Blue Lagoon.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
The eruption took place on Friday around 20:45 GMT, illuminating the night sky with a red glow, while hundreds of small earthquakes shook the area.
While 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 slowed somewhat since last night,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), which monitors seismic activity, said on Saturday.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
He said the “eruptive fissure” measures about 500 to 700 meters (1,640 to 2,300 feet).
He added that the lava area was less than a square kilometer (0.4 square miles) with small lava wells.
Speaking to reporters, the University of Iceland’s geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson described the valley as an “ideal” place for eruption, resembling “a bathtub in which lava can flow slowly.”
Meanwhile, IMO coordinator for earthquake hazards Kristin Jonsdottir said in the meantime that it is “very likely that the eruption will last in the next few days”.
Friday’s eruption took place in the Krysuvik volcanic system, which has no central volcano, about five kilometers inland from the south coast.
Sigurdur Kristmundsson, a 54-year-old Grindavik port official, told AFP that locals were elated by the eruption.
“No one is in danger or anything. So I think people are excited and not afraid of him.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Inactive 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 pointed out that a few hours’ hike on the nearest road was recommended only for those “accustomed to being outdoors in difficult conditions ”.
Gases from a volcanic eruption – especially sulfur dioxide – can be raised in the immediate vicinity and can be a health hazard and can even be fatal.
Gas pollution can also be carried by the wind.
“Currently, gas pollution is not expected to cause much discomfort to people, except those close to the source of the eruption. Gas emissions will be closely monitored,” the IMO said.
The Krysuvik system has been inactive for the past 900 years, according to the IMO, while the last eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula dates back almost 800 years and lasted about 30 years, between 1210 and 1240.
But the region was under heavy surveillance for several weeks after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck on February 24 near Mount Keilir on the outskirts of Reykjavik.
Since then, more than 50,000 smaller tremors have been recorded, and magma has been detected just one kilometer below the Earth’s surface in recent days, near Fagradalsfjall.
Geophysicist Gudmundsson said the eruption signaled a new period “that could last for centuries with eruptions, possibly between 10 and 100 years away.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Earth of fire and ice
Iceland has 32 volcanic systems currently considered active, the largest number in Europe. The country had an eruption every five years on average.
The vast island near the Arctic Circle stretches along the ridge of the Mid-Atlantic, a fissure on the ocean floor that separates Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
The movement of these plates is partly responsible for Iceland’s intense volcanic activity.
The most recent eruption took place 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.
That eruption did not cause any major disturbance outside the immediate vicinity.
But in 2010, an eruption at Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent 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, blocking about 10 million passengers.
© Agence France-Presse