Name: Tremendous uncertainty: Iceland braces for eruption
Uploaded: 2023-11-13T18:09:04.347Z
Duration: 2 min 19 s
Description: Some 900 earthquakes hit southern Iceland on Monday, authorities said, adding to tens of thousands of tremors that rattled the region in recent weeks as the country prepares for what could become a significant volcanic eruption. All 3,800 residents of Grindavik were evacuated from their homes over the weekend.

Some 900 earthquakes hit southern Iceland on Monday, authorities said, adding to tens of thousands of tremors that rattled the region in recent weeks as the country prepares for what could become a significant volcanic eruption. All 3,800 residents of Grindavik were evacuated from their homes over the weekend.

Grindavik

The community of Grindavík, in southern Iceland has been evacuated amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption.

Iceland Volcano

'Tremendous uncertainty': Iceland braces for eruption

Roads have begun to crack and buildings buckle under the pressure of underground magma as Iceland prepares for a possible volcanic eruption. Nine hundred earthquakes hit the south of the country on Monday, with tens of thousands of tremors reported in the region of Reykjanes in recent weeks. Scientists began to worry as lava started to head to the surface, as Matthew James Roberts from the Icelandic Meteorological Office explains. This intrusion was 15 kilometres long and to begin with there were thousands of cubic metres per second of molten rock magma coursing into this intrusion. This intrusion now sits just below the earth's surface, so a molten sheet of magma over a distance of 15 kilometres and it in fact stretches through and beneath the coastal town of Grindervik. All 3,800 residents of the town were evacuated from their homes over the weekend. Most have been able to find accommodation with friends and family, with only 50 to 70 in evacuation centres. Local Hans Vera says they are used to earthquakes, but not like this. It was always shaking, so there was no way to get sleep or nothing. So we were a little bit like, this is not normal anymore. Evacuees were able to return home briefly to retrieve belongings, but only via an escort. Huge cars from the rescue team, 20 policemen, all blinking lights, it's just unreal. It's like a war zone or something, it's really strange. Authorities fear the underground magma will pierce the earth's surface and potentially hit the coastal town and a geothermal power station. And the major worry from a hazard and risk perspective is that the magma could come to the surface and produce a fissure eruption, a Hawaiian-style lava-producing volcanic eruption, and this could produce fissures over a long length. The Reykjanes Peninsula is a volcanic and seismic hotspot, with volcanic activity occurring as recently as July. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted spectacularly from a fissure in the ground over 2,000 feet long. We have this tremendous uncertainty now, will there be an eruption, and if so, what sort of damage will occur?

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Iceland Volcano