A new series of major earthquakes prompted Iceland to declare a state of emergency on Friday evening: authorities fear that the continuing tremors will lead to a volcanic eruption on Mount Thorbjörn. The Icelandic reported this news platform RUV Friday. Iceland has also decided as a precaution to evacuate all four thousand residents from the town of Grindavík, about fifty kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavík.
Since the end of October, there have been more than 24,000 earthquakes on the island. About eight hundred took place on Friday, the heaviest with a magnitude of 5.2. The Icelandic weather institute IMO fears that large quantities of magma will spread underground due to the quakes and could emerge in the short term.
Because the current of magma that is forming could also reach Grindavík, the authorities have decided to evacuate the inhabitants. If the magma runs underneath an area, there is a possibility that a lava crack will form from which the lava will emerge. The increased seismic activity also led to the closure of the famous Blue Lagoon hot spring on Thursday.
Thirty active volcanoes
With thirty active volcanoes, Iceland is no stranger to a volcanic eruption: on average, a volcano erupts every four to five years. But this has happened more often in recent years. The Reykjanes Peninsula, where Grindavík is located, has seen three volcanic eruptions since 2021. Before that, the volcanoes on the peninsula were inactive for eight hundred years.
The last major eruption in Iceland was in April 2010, when the volcano erupted under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. Due to the ash clouds that the volcano spewed into the air, around 100,000 flights were canceled, leaving ten million travelers stranded worldwide.
Also read
Compared to the supervolcano, the most powerful eruption of this millennium was only child’s play