Nearby fishing town evacuated again as sky near Reykjavik glows bright orange

  • Mossy Feathers (She/They)
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    88 months ago

    I know Iceland has a lot of active volcanoes, but is it normal for it to erupt this much? Seems crazy that they’ve had so many eruptions in such a short period of time, makes me wonder if there’s something big going on beneath the surface.

    • @OhmsLawn
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      68 months ago

      It’s all happening in the same place. Basically, pressure builds, the land deforms, then it vents. AFAIK this is fairly normal, and wouldn’t be much of an issue, if it wasn’t so close to populated areas and critical infrastructure. Geology professor Shawn Willsey has been producing some really good coverage of the topic.

      It doesn’t seem like it’s building towards an explosion, or anything. It’s just extremely inconvenient and frightening to the residents, whose homes are at risk. It’s also a major threat to public safety, given its proximity to the power (and geothermal heating) facility.