According to reports, the Icelandic Meteorological Office recorded about 17,000 earthquakes on the volcanic island last week.
A CNN report states that, although accustomed to the occasional quake, it was an unusual week for Iceland, in the southwestern region of Reykjanes.
On the morning of February 24, the largest and loudest earthquake occurred, a magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale, CNN reported.
This earthquake was followed by “a swarm still rattling residents in the nearby capital Reykjavík” and surrounding municipalities, an area occupied by two-thirds of the Icelandic population. Two major earthquakes struck on February 27 and March 1, which were more than 5.0.
So far, the report said there was little damage, with the exception of small cracks in the roads of the areas, as well as ‘rock falls on steep slopes near the epicenter of the swarm’, reported by Iceland’s Road and Coastal Administration .
“I have experienced earthquakes, but never so many in a row,” Reykjavik resident Auður Alfa Ólafsdóttir told CNN. ‘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. ”
CNN quoted a resident of the fishing village of Grindavík, where locals had a front seat for the quake. Páll Valur Björnsson, who teaches at the local College of Fisheries and sits as a deputy member of parliament, said: “I have never experienced anything like this.”
He added, ‘We are used to it; it started a year ago. But it is now much more – very disturbing. I’m not scared, but it’s uncomfortable. I woke up twice last night because of [tremors]. There was a very large one when I went to bed, and I woke up with one. It’s hard, but you have to learn to live with it. ”
Why are there so many tremors?
The reason why there is the occasional stronger shaking in the area is something that scientists can explain, but why it is taking so long now is something that scientists are ‘struggling’ with, the report says.
CNN shared this explanation about the cause of the occasional seismic activity of Iceland. “Iceland sits on a tectonic plate boundary that is constantly dividing apart and pushing North America and Eurasia apart along the line of the Mid-Atlantic Rant. Most seismic activity here is picked up only by sensitive scientific equipment. Occasionally stronger tremors are an inevitable part of life in an active seismic region. ”
Just this time, the rumble under the ground seems to have no end, CNN said.
CNN quoted Þorvaldur Þórðarson, a professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, as saying that concerns about the recent activity were understandable. “Of course it worries people. For this region, it is actually quite unusual, not because of the earthquakes or their intensity, but for their duration. It’s been going on for over a week now. ”
“We are currently struggling with the ‘why’. Why is this happening? It is very likely that we have an intrusion of magma into the [Earth’s] crust there. It has definitely moved closer to the surface, but we are trying to find out if it is moving even closer to it, ”he said.
An eruption may be imminent.
CNN said local officials warned that an eruption was imminent, given the multiple volcanoes in the area.
Elísabet Pálmadóttir, a specialist in natural hazards at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told CNN that surveillance equipment was being deployed by the authorities in the area, “from GPS and earthquake monitors to webcams and gas detectors,” and warned that the area was “an earthquake with strength 6 or higher. ”
“Should a volcanic eruption occur, it appears no towns would be at risk of lava flows,” according to the latest modeling by the University of Iceland’s Volcanology and Natural Hazards Group, which released maps of potential flows on Wednesday, “CNN said. .
Only 20 km south of the capital, an earthquake near the volcano Keilir forced the authorities to ban traffic in the area on Wednesday afternoon. The Icelandic MET office noted on its website that similar activities had previously preceded outbreaks, CNN said.
Víðir Reynisson, chief superintendent at the Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, said at a news conference on Wednesday that if an eruption were ‘more likely’ within the next few hours, it would be the first in the area since the 12th. century.
A video camera aimed at Keilir has been installed by Víkurfréttir, a local news service, which will start streaming live when an eruption takes place while residents wait – ‘some with excitement, others with anxiety’.
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