A volcano spewing glowing red lava near Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, after waking up for the first time in 900 years, appeared to subside on Saturday and poses no danger to humans, experts said.
Streams of red lava bubbled and flowed from a canyon in a valley in Geldingadalur, near Mount Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland.
As the lava flow slowed under downpours on Saturday, a blue plume of gas and a cloud of vapor rose from the site, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital and near a popular tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
The eruption took place around 20:45 GMT on Friday, illuminating the night sky with a crimson glow as 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 zone is uninhabited and the eruption posed no danger to the public.
“The eruption is considered minor at this stage and volcanic activity has declined somewhat since last night,” the Icelandic Meteorological Bureau (IMO), which monitors seismic activity, said in a statement on Saturday.
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
It said the “eruptive fissure” measures about 500 to 700 meters (1640 to 2300 feet).
The lava area, it added, was less than a square kilometer (0.4 square mile), with small lava fountains.
Speaking to reporters, University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson described the valley as an “ideal” site for the eruption and compared it to “a bathtub where the lava can slowly leak”.
IMO Earthquake Hazards Coordinator Kristin Jonsdottir, meanwhile, said it was “very likely that the eruption will continue in the coming days.”
Friday’s eruption took place in the Krysuvik volcanic system, which has no central volcano, about three miles inland from the south coast.
Sigurdur Kristmundsson, a 54-year-old port official in Grindavik, told AFP that locals were excited by the eruption.
“No one is in danger or anything. So I guess people are excited and not afraid of it.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Dormant 900 years
Access to the area was initially blocked but later opened to the public, although the Icelandic Ministry of Civil Protection and Disaster Response stressed that the walk of a few hours from the nearest road was only recommended for people who were “ used to being outside in difficult circumstances’.
Gases from a volcanic eruption – especially sulfur dioxide – can be elevated in the immediate vicinity and can be a health hazard and even deadly.
Gas pollution can also be carried by the wind.
“Currently, gas pollution is not expected to cause much discomfort to humans, except close to the source of the eruption. Gas emissions will be closely monitored,” the IMO said.
According to the IMO, the Krysuvik System has been inactive for the past 900 years, while the last eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula dates back nearly 800 years and lasted about 30 years, from 1210 to 1240.
But the region had been under closer surveillance for several weeks after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was recorded on Feb. 24 near Mount Keilir on the outskirts of Reykjavik.
Since then, more than 50,000 smaller tremors had been recorded and magma was detected just a kilometer below the Earth’s surface at Fagradalsfjall in recent days.
Geophysicist Gudmundsson said the eruption heralded a new period “that could last for centuries with eruptions, possibly 10 to 100 years apart.”
(Anton Brink / Anadolu Agency / AFP)
Land of fire and ice
Iceland has 32 volcanic systems currently considered active, the highest number in Europe. The country has had an eruption every five years on average.
The vast island near the Arctic Circle stretches across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
The shifting of these plates is partly responsible for Iceland’s intense volcanic activity.
The most recent eruption took place in Holuhraun, which started in August 2014 and ended 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 disturbances outside the immediate vicinity.
But in 2010, an eruption at Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent massive clouds of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, disrupting air traffic for more than a week and canceling more than 100,000 flights worldwide, stranding about 10 million passengers.
© Agence France-Presse