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A volcano on Iceland ’s Reykjanes Peninsula has resumed erupt after a four - week hiatus , with unexampled fissures open near the town of Grindavík , the Icelandic Met Office ( IMO ) announced Sunday ( Jan. 14 ) .
The eruption followed an acute series of earthquakes that begin around 3:00 a.m. local time in the Sundhnúksgígar area and transmigrate southwest toward Grindavík . The seismic swarm cause a lava - spewing crevice to open up around 8 a.m. to the SE of the Hagafell mountain , spread to within just 3,000 feet ( 900 meters ) of the town .
Aerial footage shows lava spilling out of the erupted volcano.
Around noontide , a new eruptive fissure opened just north of Grindavík . " Lava flows extruded from this crack have now entered the township , " IMO representatives wrote in astatement .
Seismicity and land deformation datum indicate a magma dyke scat down the Reykjanes Peninsula has reached beneath Grindavík . Magma fall into the dike may have " reactivated " subsist fault and fractures in Earth ’s insolence , and in all likelihood opened blade raw fissures , the statement tell .
Related:‘No signal were seen : ' Iceland vent could erupt again without warning as magma still moving beneath Grindavík
On Jan. 14, another eruption happened in the north of Grindavik in the Reykjanes Peninsula.
More fissures could open up in the coming twenty-four hour period as magma continues to fertilize the dyke , expert told theIceland Monitor .
Þorvaldur Þórðarson , a professor of vulcanology and petrology at the Icelandic University , severalize the Iceland Monitor that eruptive activeness has shift from the upper chap to sneak nigher to Grindavík , foreshadowing two possible scenarios .
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Lava is seen edging closer to the outskirts of Grindavík on Jan. 14.
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" One [ scenario ] is that if the shift is made , then the activity will continue in the scurvy fissure , " he said . If this is the sheath , and the eruption proceed , lava " will go along to run towards the town . " The other scenario , which is even bad , is that this is an summation to what is pass off in the upper fissure , " he say . " This increases the eruption . "
Explosions of hot lava erupted from a fissure that appeared close to the town of Grindavík.
It ’s look probable that magma will labor into the dike and extend it further down the peninsula , Þórðarson said . " It seems to me that the cranny is always getting long , " he said . " The position has unfortunately become very raw for Grindavík . "
Below are images of the eruption so far , designate lava flow creeping towards evacuated houses in Grindavík .
The latest eruptions are part of an uptick in volcanic activity in the region that began in 2021.
Lava flows from the fissures has slowed significantly since the eruption began.
Seismic activity on the morning of Jan. 14 forced residents to evacuate.
