New volcanic eruption on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula
Sat, 20 Mar 2021, 05:15
05:15 AM | BY: T
First view of the new eruption in Iceland (image: Coast Guard helicopter, via IMO / twitter).
Location of the new eruption on Iceland (image: IMO / twitter)
Seismograph showing the hours before the eruption. A very low tremor is current to the right of the image and only on those monitors next to the eruption site (image: IMO / twitter)
A new fissure about 200 m long opened near Geldingadalur, close to Fagradalsfjall mountain, where the seismic activity had been focussed lately.
Small lava fountains along the fissure feed two slowly advancing lava flows to the southwest and west. According to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), the most advanced front had reached an area about 2.6 km from Suðurstrandarvegur.
A new video of the eruption at Geldingardalur valley in Reykjanes peninsula. Taken from the Coast Guard helicopter. #Reykjanes #Eruption #Fagradalsfjall pic.twitter.com/B862heMzQL
— Icelandic Meteorological Office - IMO (@Vedurstofan) March 19, 2021
The eruption came somewhat as a surprise at this stage of the ongoing seismic crisis, because the seismic and ground deformation activity had decreased during the past days compared to the preceding weeks. Some scientists had started to speculate that the process might rather be calming down instead of developing into an eruption.
In fact, the eruption occurred with very weak seismic activity accompanying it. IMO's seismic stations only recorded weak volcanic tremor during the onset of the eruption.
A possible explanation is that the ground by now in this area had been already fractured so much by the preceding earthquakes that it was extremely easy for the magma to rise from the dike the last approx. 1000 meters upwards to reach and break out at the surface.
We will follow up on this event as more news and further details come in. Stay tuned and check this page from time to time!
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- Information about: Fagradalsfjall volcano
Previous news
Mon, 15 Mar 2021, 06:41
The volcano-seismic unrest continues on the southern Reykjanes peninsula, centered around Fagradalsfjall mountain. ... Read all
Fri, 12 Mar 2021, 16:06
The earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes peninsula, concentrated in the area around Mt. Fagradalsfjall SW of Keilir, continues with no signs of weakening. By early afternoon, the Iceland Met Office (IMO) had already recorded over 1700 earthquakes since midnight alone, including many of magnitude 3 or higher and a widely felt magnitude 5 event at 07:53 GMT this morning. ... Read all
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