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19 January 2024
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Lava flows into Icelandic town during volcanic eruption
An Icelandic volcano that has been threatening the port of Grindavík for weeks began sending lava into the town during a fresh eruption on Sunday, 14 January 2024. The lava flows incinerated at least three buildings and triggered a massive response by Icelandic emergency officials, who have been building barriers known as berms to try to redirect the lava away from Grindavík.
The latest eruption began on a newly opened fissure in the ground, more than one kilometre long, northeast of the town. The berms were successful in channelling most of those flows away from Grindavík. But a second, smaller fissure also opened much closer to the town and sent lava directly into it. The town’s 4 000 residents had been evacuated and no one has been hurt.
Iceland is one of the world’s most volcanic countries, because it sits atop a hot plume of material from deep within Earth as well as being located where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart from one another. In many parts of Iceland this volcanico activity occurs as long parallel fissures open in the ground, sending fountains of fire into the air which later cool to form fresh plains of hardened rock.
Researchers with the Icelandic Meteorological Office and other research institutions have been monitoring the activity around Grindavík, which kicked off in early November with a spate of small earthquakes. The ground has also been rising as magma moves around beneath the surface, seeking a passage upward. In December, a short-lived eruption sent lava flowing harmlessly across the landscape relatively far from the town. A top tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, is closed, and a major power plant nearby remains threatened by the eruptions.
The latest eruptions are the fifth such event since 2021 on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which lies southwest of the capital city of Reykjavík. Volcanologists say the activity may be just the beginning of a new phase of eruptions. Before 2021 the last time this area was active, in a period called the Reykjanes Fires in the early 13th century, lava flows reached as far as what are now the suburbs of Reykjavík, as well as the ring road that connects Iceland’s international airport to the rest of the country.
The ongoing eruption is the most impactful in Iceland since 1973, when a volcano erupted on the southern island of Heimaey and buried most of its town in lava and ash. A 2010 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull sent ash over much of Europe, grounding flights for days.
Sources: Alexandra Witze, Nature; BBC
The latest eruption began on a newly opened fissure in the ground, more than one kilometre long, northeast of the town. The berms were successful in channelling most of those flows away from Grindavík. But a second, smaller fissure also opened much closer to the town and sent lava directly into it. The town’s 4 000 residents had been evacuated and no one has been hurt.
Iceland is one of the world’s most volcanic countries, because it sits atop a hot plume of material from deep within Earth as well as being located where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart from one another. In many parts of Iceland this volcanico activity occurs as long parallel fissures open in the ground, sending fountains of fire into the air which later cool to form fresh plains of hardened rock.
Researchers with the Icelandic Meteorological Office and other research institutions have been monitoring the activity around Grindavík, which kicked off in early November with a spate of small earthquakes. The ground has also been rising as magma moves around beneath the surface, seeking a passage upward. In December, a short-lived eruption sent lava flowing harmlessly across the landscape relatively far from the town. A top tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, is closed, and a major power plant nearby remains threatened by the eruptions.
The latest eruptions are the fifth such event since 2021 on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which lies southwest of the capital city of Reykjavík. Volcanologists say the activity may be just the beginning of a new phase of eruptions. Before 2021 the last time this area was active, in a period called the Reykjanes Fires in the early 13th century, lava flows reached as far as what are now the suburbs of Reykjavík, as well as the ring road that connects Iceland’s international airport to the rest of the country.
The ongoing eruption is the most impactful in Iceland since 1973, when a volcano erupted on the southern island of Heimaey and buried most of its town in lava and ash. A 2010 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull sent ash over much of Europe, grounding flights for days.
Sources: Alexandra Witze, Nature; BBC
