Lava spurts and flows after the eruption of a volcano in the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, July 12, 2023, as seen in this handout image taken from a Coast Guard helicopter.
| Photo Credit: Civil Protection of Iceland/Reuters
A seismic swarm has hit the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland with greater than 5,500 small earthquakes in the final three days, elevating the prospect of a volcanic eruption, the nation’s meteorological workplace (IMO) mentioned on Friday.
Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, among the many largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic sizzling spot as the 2 plates transfer in reverse instructions.
While quakes are a day by day incidence in Iceland, the most recent swarm was extra intensive than standard.
“These earthquakes are a warning sign, a part of a longer-term story that we know we’re entering a build-up phase to the next (volcanic) eruption,” IMO Service and Research division head Matthew Roberts instructed Reuters.
The quakes originated at a depth of as much as 5 km and had been precipitated by a long-term accumulation of magma that has been constructing strain and is now slowly drifting in direction of the floor of the earth, he added.
Earlier this 12 months a volcano erupted in an uninhabited half of the Reykjanes peninsula after intense earthquake exercise, the third such occasion in the area southwest of the capital Reykjavik since 2021.
A fourth eruption might now be creating, the IMO mentioned, though predicting the timing of volcanic outbreaks is tough.
“From my perspective as a scientist and someone who’s been following this activity very closely, I would say that an eruption within the next 12 months is likely,” Roberts mentioned.
The strongest of the earthquakes had been measured at a magnitude of 4.5, and round 15 tremors had been at 3.0 or stronger, the IMO mentioned.
Earthquakes with a magnitude above 2.5 can typically be felt by people, in response to the Michigan Technological University.
Grindavík, a fishing city on the peninsula with round 2,000 inhabitants, is the city closest to the seismic exercise.
