Iceland is no stranger to volcanic eruptions, with 130 volcanoes across the country.
An eruption at one of these occurs at least once every five years, many of them small and flying under the radar, others forcing residents to flee and affecting the world around them.
Only recently towards the end of 2023 did Iceland witness another violent eruption, this time along its Reykjanes peninsula.
Up to seven volcanic systems straddle this volcanic belt, mostly small shield volcanoes.
While the region experiences many minor events, one expert has suggested that the peninsula is one of the most likely volcanic regions around the world to fully erupt this year.
The popular YouTube channel GeologyHub explores such phenomena, and noted in its short documentary, “Five Volcanoes Which Could Erupt in 2024”, that Reykjanes “entered a highly active phase at the beginning of 2020”.
In particular, it pointed to the Reykjanes volcano itself, noting that it has seen more magmatic intrusion events occur than any other active volcano on the peninsula.
During the fifth intrusion of the volcano — when magma cools and solidifies after an event — magma shot towards the east and then northeast and southwest, forming a 15km-long dike that runs directly beneath the town of Grindavik.
“While only the centre of this dike would end up producing an eruption in December 2023, that eruption was unusually small, brief, and non-explosive,” the channel’s expert noted.
“Since that dike now represents a long-term weak point in the crust, future eruptions are likely to occur from it in the next decade.”
Magma is still pooling at a depth of mourned 1,100 metres south of the Svartsengi geothermal power plant at five kilometres depth, and since October 2023, has created two magma run events after too much pressure in the chamber causing it to break rock and flow to the east.
The sequence of events has happened in what is a fairly uniform timeline and has led some scientists, like those at GeologyHub, to expect an eruption to occur at some point between January 4, 2023, and February.
However, the channel noted: “It is only highly likely that an eruption will eventually occur as long as magma keeps pooling at the 5-kilometre deep magma chamber.”
Iceland’s volcanic eruption in December saw a fissure appear on the surface from which magma flowed through a 4-kilometre-long fracture.
It was the fourth eruption since 2021 and the largest so far, according to the Icelandic government.
While the eruption didn’t pose an immediate threat to life the area was closed to all traffic, and people were warned not to approach the area.
In the first two hours of the eruption, hundreds of cubic metres of lava were released, but by the following day, the eruption’s intensity had decreased.
Photos and videos shared on social media showed scenes of apocalyptic magnitude, with the sky bathed entirely in scarlet and the ground a scolding red.
