ICELAND VOLCANO LIVE: Nation declares state of emergency and evacuates 4,000 people in build-up to expected eruption

 

Iceland on high alert amid fears volcano will erupt soon

The southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula has been shaken by thousands of quakes since a seismic swarm hit on October 25, with Iceland ‘on edge’ as it anticipates Fagradalsfjall, just a few kilometres from Grindavik, will erupt.

GRAPHIC: Iceland grappling with earthquakes in build-up to expected volcanic eruption

GRAPHIC: How number of earthquakes in Iceland have increased since 'seismic swarm' hit nation

'Time's finally up': Iceland's impending volcanic blast 'marks the start of centuries of eruptions' as one region is hit by 800 new quakes that have split houses apart and created gaping chasms

Iceland’s looming volcano blast is just the beginning of a new era of volcanic eruptions that will last for centuries, with the build-up of magma beneath the coastal town of Grindavik signalling that more is to come, scientists have warned.

The Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula is threatening to erupt, with Iceland’s Met Office saying that the ‘likelihood of a volcanic eruption is high’ and could happen at anytime in the coming days.

After 800 years of inactivity, a 2021 eruption marked the start of a new cycle of volcanic activity, and now Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, says that blast may have kicked off ‘a new eruptive phase’ which could last centuries.

‘Time’s finally up,’ Edward W. Marshall, a researcher at the University of Iceland’s Nordic Volcanological Center told Live Science. ‘We can get ready for another few hundred years of eruptions on the Reykjanes.’

For MailOnline's full report, click the link below.

Iceland prepares to shield geothermal plant from risk of volcanic eruption

Icelandic authorities are preparing to build defence walls around a geothermal power plant in the southwestern part of the country that they hope will protect it from lava flows amid concerns about an imminent volcanic eruption.

Seismic activity and underground lava flows intensified on the Reykjanes peninsula near the capital Reykjavik over the weekend, prompting authorities to evacuate nearly 4,000 people from the fishing town of Grindavik on Saturday.

The probability of an eruption remained high despite a decrease in seismic activity, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute said.

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