New eruptive gorge opens 1 km northeast of the current eruption site / VolcanoDiscovery

The new eruptive gorge that opened in Iceland today (image: Almannavarnir / facebook)

A new eruptive gorge opens today about 1 km northeast of the hitherto active eruption area. The seismic network detected a sharp peak of tremor at a depth of 1 km at 11:37 local time, which announced shortly afterwards when magma broke through the surface along a new section further up, on top of the active magma intrusion beneath it.
According to the Icelandic Weather Service (IMO), the new eruptive rift is about 500 m long. It appears to consist of two nearby fractures, one larger and one smaller, both of which erupt into small lava springs and feed a new lava flow to the east.
A few splash cones have already formed from lava fountains along the rift. Fortunately, the main RÚV webcam zoomed in at the right time at the start of the event, as can be seen in the video below.
According to the University of Iceland, the new lava flow continues with an exceptionally high discharge, as the viscosity of the flow is about 10 ^ 2 Pa. The lava flow moves eastward and still fills the Meradalir Valley, adjacent to the Geldingadalir Valley. (the place where the previous activity phase took place) and is about to pool into a new lava flow field.

What caused the opening of the new rift?
There are two possibilities:
a) The rising magma flood that continues to feed the continuous eruption would soon be blocked and probably found a new weak spot.
b) The dike was slowly closing in as the magma cooled on the inside and squeezed out the remaining liquid.

The immediate area was evacuated. There was no imminent danger to life due to the distance of the famous hiking trails.
The aviation color code remains orange.
The continuous eruption in Geldingadalir shows no signs of weakening and the activity builds a slowly growing cone around the two active openings in the center.

The beginning of the new eruptive gorge:

Previous news

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