A volcano has erupted in Iceland for the fourth time since December, sparking evacuations in a nearby town, with local authorities producing a map showing the danger areas.
The eruption began at 8:23 p.m. local time (4:23 p.m. ET) on Saturday evening, with a 2.9-kilometer (1.8-mile) fissure opening up on the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the island nation, about 30 miles southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. A volcanic fissure, also known as a fissure vent, is an elongated, linear fracture or crack in the earth’s surface from which lava erupts.
The nearby fishing town of Grindavik was evacuated, as was the hugely popular Blue Lagoon thermal spa, according to a report by Icelandic news website RÚV.
Last night’s event marks the fourth time the SundhnúksgÃga crater row has erupted since late last year. Eruptions took place on December 18, 2023, January 14, and February 8, 2024. In November, the Svartsengi volcanic system became active after almost 800 years of dormancy with a series of earthquakes that opened large cracks in the ground north of Grindavik.
Public Security Department of Icelandic Police/Handout via REUTERS
The Icelandic Met Office has issued a hazard map of the area around the fissure. There are seven zone types for impacts likely to be experienced around the eruption site.
The area directly around the fissure is in the highest warning category, with lava flow, fault movements, earthquakes and gas pollution extremely likely.
Newsweek has contacted the Met Office for comment outside of normal working hours via the contact form on its website.
Grindavik is in an area of high risk, where, according to the map, possible lava flow, fault movements, sinkholes and gas pollution can be expected. Another area south of the town is at considerable risk, according to the Met Office’s most recent update at 1:25 a.m. local time.
Experts in Iceland have said the eruption was not a surprise. “This was definitely expected,” Rikke Pedersen, head of the Nordic Volcanological Center, told Reuters. “Of course the exact time of the eruption is impossible to predict. The first cues of this moving towards the surface actually only happened about 15 minutes in advance.”
Defensive barriers are in place to stop the lava flowing into Grindavik and other populated areas. One barrier north of the town directs the flow toward the sea, although this can be dangerous according to experts.
“We know that if lava, which is alkaline, comes into contact with sea water, chlorine fumes can be produced. So there will be a local danger as lava flows into the sea,” KristÃn Jónsdóttir, a geophysicist, told RÚV.
“Another thing that can happen is that lava can become unstable where it meets the sea and there can be minor explosions. Therefore, the place where sea and lava meet will always be dangerous.”
Icelandic Met Office
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