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The terrifying Keiliro Mountain rises over an area similar to the surface of the Moon just 25 km from Reykjavik. The area is now being closely monitored by scientists looking for the first signs of a possible impending eruption.
Iceland has been closely monitoring the situation since last week, when there were several weak earthquakes and underground shocks associated with increased magma in the Krisuvik volcanic system. These events underscored the assumption that a volcanic eruption is likely.
But since then, before the volcano erupts, it is questionable whether the system will capsize again.
Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency said on Monday that “we must continue to believe that a volcanic eruption could occur.”
“These events should always be taken seriously as the situation can change very quickly,” Thorbjorg Agustsdottir, a seismologist with Icelandic energy school GeoSurvey, told AFP.
According to the latest data, the magma is now sinking to a depth of only one kilometer.
“It just came to our knowledge then. This magma probably comes from a source that is between 8 and 10 km deep, maybe even 20 km deep,” said Thorvaldur Thordarson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, although magma is not always erupts when it gets close.
According to experts, the eruption would occur in the area between the Keiliro and Fagradalsfjal mountains, which is uninhabited, so there would be no danger to human life or property.
A new cycle of eruptions?
Krisuvikas is a so-called volcanic system without a central volcano. The last time this system erupted was in the 12th century, and the most recent volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula occurred in 1240.
Last year there were signs of a weak volcanic system waking up, and a magnitude 5.7 earthquake on February 24 indicated that a serious seismic event could occur.
Since then, the Icelandic Meteorological Service has registered more than 34,000 people on the peninsula. Seismic shocks: this amount has not been present during the entire digital monitoring period.
After a calmer two-day period, seismic activity intensified again overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.
“As we know, [seisminis aktyvumas] it can fluctuate, but it is still very active this year, ”said Sarah Barsotti, coordinator of the volcanic hazards division of the Icelandic Meteorological Service.
Iceland is the largest and most active seismic activity zone in Europe. It is actively monitored by experts who have an extensive monitoring network on this North Atlantic island.
However, the volcanic area of the Reykjanes Peninsula remains a mystery to scientists.
“We don’t know how the magma system is preparing for the eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula. What anxiety signals are involved? How long does it take? – We don’t know. Because we didn’t get a chance to measure it,” Th said. Thordarson.
However, one thing is clear: if an eruption occurs, a small amount of lava and ash will erupt.
In other words, there will be nothing like the Ejafjadlajokudl volcano eruption in 2010, during which a huge ash cloud spat out paralyzed air travel in Europe for several weeks and forced millions of passengers to wait.
“Eruptions in this volcanic area […] they are mostly quiet. There are lava spills, but not on a large scale, ”said Pallis Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland.
Geological studies have revealed that there are five volcanic systems on the peninsula and that they are activated approximately every 800 years.
The recent activation in the region lasted three decades and several eruptions lasted more than a decade.
“We may have a new period of eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula,” Th. Thordarson said.
This would not be the first time that volcanic areas have intensified in Iceland.
In the early morning of 1973, lava fountains that erupted 150 meters from the city center surprised the inhabitants of Heimay Island in the Westman Archipelago. This eruption was the first in that volcanic system in the last 5,000 years.
In July 2020, experts warned that the Grimsviotno volcano, Iceland’s most active, under the Vatnajokudli glacier, was about to erupt, but nothing had happened yet.
