A 6,000 year old dormant volcano has erupted in Iceland – and it’s amazing

After months of earthquakes, a long-dormant volcano erupted in the southwest of Iceland on Friday night, leading to dramatic videos and beautiful red skies near the country’s capital.

According to the Icelandic Weather Office, the eruption near Mount Fagradalsfjall, about 20 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik, took place at 20:45. Although considered small, the eruption created a rift about 1,640 feet long and spewed more than 10 million square feet of lava, sometimes into fountains that reached heights of more than 300 feet.

It was the first volcanic eruption in this part of Iceland – the Reykjanes Peninsula, home to Reykjavik, where most of the country’s inhabitants live – in 781 years. And it was the first time this particular volcano went down in about 6000 years.

The eruption in the Geldinga Valley was remote enough that evacuations were not necessary, and no structures were endangered.

“It is not currently considered a threat to surrounding towns,” said the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Friday night on Twitter. “We ask people to stay away from the immediate area and stay safe.”

Experts warned residents to watch out for emissions of hazardous gases, including carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and there were some traffic congestion. Drones have been temporarily banned from flying over the area to give scientists first access, but flights inside and outside Keflavik International Airport are not affected.

The head of emergency management in the country tell people to close their windows and stay indoors to avoid volcanic gas pollution, which could spread as far as Thorlákshöfn, a city about 30 kilometers south of Reykjavik.

But on Saturday, the meteorological office said, “At present, gas pollution is not expected to cause much inconvenience to humans except near the source of the eruption.”

The eruption continues and can last a day or a month ‘, Magnús Tumi Gudmundsson, geophysicist at the University of Iceland, told RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

This makes this latest Icelandic geological event completely different from the large-scale earthquake at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010, which caused more than 100,000 flights across Europe to be canceled for weeks afterwards because of ash spreading across northern Europe and Britain . It is described as the largest strike of airspace since World War II.

“The more we see, the smaller this eruption becomes,” Páll Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, told the Associated Press on Saturday.

Despite the relatively small size, the eruption gave residents a unique view – and people across the region shared photos of the sky, while scientists set up a live stream of the flowing lava.

The location of Iceland makes it particularly susceptible to earthquakes – and eruptions

Iceland is no stranger to volcanic activity. There is usually an eruption every four or five years because the island is in an area that is particularly susceptible to seismic activity. The most recent, in 2014, was at Holuhraun, a lava field in the Icelandic Highlands.

Earthquakes are also a familiar experience; since 2014, the country has registered between 1,000 and 3,000 earthquakes per year. But since December 2019, the number has increased dramatically, according to the New York Times; scientists are still trying to understand why.

In the past week alone, Iceland has experienced more than 18,000 earthquakes, with Sunday more than 3,000. At least 400 occurred in the volcano area the day before the eruption – and it was a relatively calm day, according to state meteorologists.

“This is slightly less seismic activity compared to previous mornings where there were about 1,000 earthquakes,” the meteorological office said. said.

Many of these earthquakes could not be detected by ordinary people, but some were of magnitude 3 and larger so that they could be felt. The largest was an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 on the morning of February 24, followed by an earthquake of 5 to 30 minutes later.

“I have experienced earthquakes, but never so many in a row,” Reykjavik resident Audur Alfa Ólafsdóttir told CNN earlier this month. ‘It’s very unusual to feel the earth shaking 24 hours a day for a whole week. It makes you feel very small and powerless over nature. ”

According to Thorvaldur Thórdarson, a professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, the cause of this dramatic increase in seismic activity is still being studied.

“We are currently struggling with the ‘why’. Why is this happening? He told CNN. ‘It is very likely that we have an intrusion of magma into the [Earth’s] crust there. It certainly moved closer to the surface, but we’re trying to figure out if it’s moving even closer to it. ”

Icelanders have been warned about possible volcanic activity due to the earthquakes that started on March 3. Officials at the time did not expect the event to be life-threatening or affect property.

The location of Iceland along a series of tectonic plates – known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – made it uniquely susceptible to activity.

As the Times, Elian Peltier writes: ‘The land lies on two tectonic plates, which are themselves divided by a submarine mountain range that melts hot rock, or magma. Shaking occurs when the magma pushes through the plates. ”

Officials, including the Minister of Justice, Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, the Kuswag, en respond first shared overhead images of clear lava spilling through the crevice.

And many Icelanders shared images on social media of the aftermath of the eruption, which casts an orange tint into the air. This morning, his glow merged with the famous green and blue of the northern lights.

Pop star Björk – perhaps the most famous resident of Iceland – was one of those who was excited about the historical event and the subsequent beauty.

“YESSS !! , eruption !! ”She wrote on Instagram on Friday. “We in Iceland are sooo excited !!! we still got it !!! feeling of relief when nature expresses itself !!! ”