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Footage from a Coast Guard helicopter shows lava erupting from a crack in the ground near Mount Fagradalsfjal, on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland.
Although Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport and a small fishing port are only a few kilometers away, the area is no longer inhabited, so the volcano is not considered to pose a threat to Icelanders.
“The eruption of the volcano started in the area of Fagradalsfjal, Geldingadalure around 8 pm 45 min. Greenwich Mean Time (10 pm 45 minutes Lithuanian time). The eruption is considered small, the crack in the ground is approximately 500-700 meters long. The lava has married in an area of less than one square kilometer, ”said the Icelandic Meteorological Office, which monitors seismic activity.
Coastguards and police rushed to the scene, but residents had previously been warned not to approach the area and the main road from the capital to Keflavik airport was closed on Friday.
On Friday the eruption was observed in the Krysuvik volcanic system, which does not have a main volcano. This region is characterized by eruptions in which lava flows from a crack in the ground, but no large ash clouds rise to the sky.
The Krysuvik system has not been active for the past 900 years. According to the Met Office, the last eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula occurred almost 800 years ago, around 1240.
However, seismic activity in the region has been more closely monitored in recent weeks, on February 24. near Mount Keiliro in the suburbs of Reykjavik after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.
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