Reykjavik — Icelandic authorities stated Friday {that a} second fissure had fashioned on the southwestern Reykjanes peninsula after lava began spewing forth for the sixth time within the area since December. After weeks of warnings, the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace (IMO) stated Thursday {that a} new eruption had began at 9:26 p.m. (5:26 p.m. Japanese) that night, following a collection of earthquakes.
Video confirmed orange lava bursting out of a protracted fissure, which the IMO estimated to be 2.4 miles.
Early Friday, the IMO introduced on social media {that a} second fissure had opened as much as the north of the unique one, however it stated the volcanic exercise largely remained on the primary crack.
The climate company, which additionally screens geological occasions, had beforehand reported that there was “appreciable seismic exercise” on the northern finish of the fissure.
Almannavarnadeild/Anadolu through Getty
About an hour after the eruption began an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 was recorded within the space.
That is the sixth eruption to hit the world since December, coming simply two months after the top of a earlier eruption that lasted greater than three weeks.
The chief of police of the Sudurnes area, Ulfar Ludviksson, advised Icelandic media that the evacuation of the close by fishing village of Grindavik had gone properly.
He added that 22 or 23 homes within the village had been at present occupied. Most of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents had evacuated in November, previous to a December eruption, and whereas residents have since been allowed to return in between eruptions, only some have opted to remain in a single day.
Based on the IMO, there was no lava flowing in the direction of Grindavik within the newest eruption.
Iceland’s famed Blue Lagoon thermal spa vacationer attraction stated late Thursday that it had taken “the precautionary measure of evacuating and briefly closing all our operational models.”
The Reykjanes peninsula had not skilled an eruption for eight centuries till March 2021. Additional eruptions occurred in August 2022 and in July and December 2023, main volcanologists to warn {that a} new period of seismic exercise had begun within the area.
Iceland is dwelling to 33 energetic volcano programs, the very best quantity in Europe. It straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack within the ocean ground separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
