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More volcanic eruptions could hit Iceland ’s Reykjanes Peninsula in the come mean solar day and weeks , the country ’s Met Office has warn . Two new fissures appear in the Confederate States of the land on Sunday ( Jan. 14 ) close to the township of Grindavík , with lava destroying three houses .
" We have n’t seen event like this in the Reykjanes Peninsula for about 800 years,“David Pyle , a volcanologist at the University of Oxford , tell apart Live Science in an email . " But we have now had five small eruptions in the quad of just three years . "
More volcanic eruptions could take place in the coming days and weeks, with magma still moving beneath Grindavík, experts have said.
The later irruption followed an intense series of small temblor and ground deformation in the former hours of Sunday morning , before lava bust from the soil along a 3,000 - understructure - long ( 900 meters ) fissure just before 8 a.m. local time . Another fissure measuring around 330 feet ( 100 m ) also open next to the first , right on the outskirts of Grindavík .
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icon and telecasting show lava flowing from the fissures and creeping towards the town .
The fissures appeared on Sunday, Jan. 14, after an intense earthquake swarm.
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According toa translate statementfrom the Iceland Met Office ( IMO ) released at 3 p.m. local time on Monday , lava menstruum from the crack closemouthed to Grindavík come out to have stopped , while the larger one to the north has slowed significantly . However , there still seems to be magma movement beneath Grindavík .
" It can not be ruled out that new fissures will open without admonition , " instance write in the instruction . " That was the lawsuit when the crack spread out at the mete of Grindavík yesterday . No signal were image on the measuring instruments in connection with that irruption in particular . "
Lovísa Mjöll Guðmundsdóttir , a rude - luck specialist at the IMO , tell apart the Iceland Monitorthat there is " no way to exclude " the hypothesis of more eruptions . " GPS data showed us that there is increased magma flowing into the chamber , and thus there is a possibility of more fissure opening up , " she said .
sign of an imminent volcanic eruption in Iceland began in November 2023 after a 9.3 - naut mi ( 15 kilometre ) magma dyke — a nearly - erect underground burrow running from a magma chamber towards Earth ’s surface — formed from Sundhnúk in the northeast of the Reykjanes Peninsula to Grindavík and into the ocean , which prompted Grindavík residents to evacuate . On Dec. 18,the volcano recrudesce , sendingmagma plumes up to 100 foot ( 30 m ) into the air . Activity at the volcano quickly slow and largely ceased within a few days .
Lava from the two unexampled fissures also appear to have slack significantly — but unlike the December eruption , the land still appear to be rising around Svartsengi , about 2.5 mile ( 4 kilometre ) to the north , Guðmundsdóttir told national broadcaster RUV — and data is now being reviewed to better understand what ’s happening beneath the surface .
" Uplift of the area around Svartsengi through November , December and January all indicated that there was magma flow into a depot region within the crust , and this was pushing up the ground as a effect , " Pyle said . " The irruption in December and this week were both from a butch / fissure organisation that is thought to be supplied with magma from this computer memory region . It is likely that as long as new magma continues to arrive [ in ] Svartsengi , then there could continue to be bang from the current fissure system of rules . "
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The eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula are part of a 1,000 - class volcanic cyclethat could last for 100 . In 2021 , the Fagradalsfjall , another volcano on the peninsula , erupted after around 800 age of inactivity . Geological records suggest the neighborhood experiences period of quiet that last between 600 and 1,000 old age , followed by heartbeat of volcanic eruptions that last for 200 to 500 year .
" This is take up to expect like a income tax return to an installment of bam and rifting , like the ' ardour ' of 800 to 1,000 years ago , with a pattern of reprize , minuscule fissure eruption that may be spaced closely in time , and may continue for some days , " Pyle enounce .
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