Nearby fishing town evacuated again as sky near Reykjavik glows bright orange
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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.
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.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
A volcano in Iceland erupted for the fourth time since December on Saturday, the country’s meteorological office said, spewing smoke and bright orange lava into the air in sharp contrast against the dark night sky.
In a video shot from a Coast Guard helicopter and shown on public broadcaster RUV, fountains of molten rock soared from a long fissure in the ground, and lava spread rapidly to each side.
Lava appeared to be flowing rapidly south toward the nearby fishing town of Grindavik, where a few of the nearly 4,000 residents had returned following earlier outbreaks, the Met Office said.
Icelandic police said they had declared a state of emergency for the area and the Civil Defence authority dispatched a helicopter to survey the extent of the eruption.
Scientists fear the eruptions could continue for decades, and Icelandic authorities have started building dykes to divert burning lava flows away from homes and critical infrastructure.
Iceland’s seismic and volcanic activity is due to its location between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, which move in opposite directions.
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