Just when you believe everything is fine, nature can unleash its dormant wrath and remind us all how rapidly things can become awful. The volcano from the Fagradals Mountain in southwest Iceland erupted on Friday night after six millennia of being dormant, and the event took place after several weeks of earthquakes in the area.
The news comes from CBSNews.com, and the event also means the first volcanic eruption that the Reykjanes Peninsula had to face in 781 years.
Eruption near Reykjavik
The eruption took place 15 miles south of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. The glow from the unleashed lava can even be seen up to 20 miles away from the country’s capital, as the Associated Press reveals.
This is Fagradalsfjall. It's about 15 miles south of Reykjavik and just erupted. You can start practicing your pronunciation:
Foie-gras-thals-fiat-ill
Have fun#iceland #volcano pic.twitter.com/IYFHQMzWsx— RAGNAR ÆGIR / Music By Ragnar (@rfjolnisson) March 19, 2021
The potentially hazardous gases emanated by volcanic eruptions are very toxic for humans, as they consist of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, as well as hydrogen fluoride. Therefore, Icelandic Pollice said that people living nearby the recent eruption were to stay in their houses and keep their windows closed.
A new video of the eruption at Geldingardalur valley in Reykjanes peninsula. Taken from the Coast Guard helicopter. #Reykjanes #Eruption #Fagradalsfjall pic.twitter.com/B862heMzQL
— Veðurstofa Íslands / Icelandic Met Office (@Vedurstofan) March 19, 2021
Luckily, there are no major concerns for people located near the Fagradals Mountain volcano eruption, as the lava area covers less than 1 square kilometre. The Icelandic Meteorological Office reports that the eruptive fissures are about 500 to 700 meters long.
The office wrote the following:
The eruption is small and the volcanic activity has somewhat decreased since yesterday evening. The eruptive fissure is appr. 500 – 700 m long. The lava area is less than 1 km2. Lava fountains are small and lava flows are currently a very local hazard.
Also, the office emphasizes the seismic activity detected in the area before the volcanic eruption:
A screenshot from the seismograph showing the hours before the eruption. A very low tremor is current to the right of the image and only on those monitors next to the eruption site, (bottom lines). The eruption starts at ca 20:45, time stamp is at the bottom. #Reykjanes #Eruption pic.twitter.com/OKMNBlthxX
— Veðurstofa Íslands / Icelandic Met Office (@Vedurstofan) March 20, 2021
One great example of Iceland’s increased seismic activity is represented by 18,000 earthquakes that recently hit the country in just about a week, as another article from our website has written.
