A volcano erupted just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Iceland’s capital Reykjavik on Friday, turning the sky crimson as streams of red lava spewed from the ground. Known as the land of fire and ice, Iceland is Europe’s biggest and most active volcanic region, home to a third of the lava that has flowed on Earth since the Middle Ages, according to Visit Iceland.
The eruption occurred near Fagradalsfjall, a mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula, around 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the capital. Some four hours after the initial eruption at 2045 GMT – the first on the peninsula since the 12th century – lava covered about one square kilometer or nearly 200 football fields. The eruption posed no immediate danger to people in Grindavik or to critical infrastructure, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), which classified the eruption as small. A fissure 500 to 750 meters (547 to 820 yards) long opened at the eruption site, spewing lava fountains up to 100 meters (110 yards) high, Bjarki Friis of the meteorological office said. The vast North Atlantic island borders the Arctic Circle where it straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack on the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
The shifting of these plates is in part responsible for Iceland’s intense volcanic activity. Thirty-two volcanic systems are currently considered active in the country. More than 40,000 earthquakes have occurred on the peninsula in the past four weeks, a huge jump from the 1,000-3,000 earthquakes registered each year since 2014.
