Over the weekend, thousands of earthquakes rumbled Iceland’s southwestern coast; the local weather officials warned of a “significant likelihood” of a volcanic eruption in the coming days. The Icelandic Meteorological Office posted several updates stating that more than 2,000 earthquakes were recorded in the span of 48 hours; this also included 1,000 earthquakes in a 12-hour period on Sunday. Since late October, more than 20,000 earthquakes have been recorded stated officials. Officials declared a state of emergency close to the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano, located on the Reykjanes Peninsula. The increase in seismic activity along with a nine-mile underground river of magma being formed led authorities to declare a state of emergency; this also led to the evacuation of over 3,000 residents from the small fishing town Grindavik. Last week, a very popular geothermal spa called “The Blue Lagoon” closed its doors due to not only the possiblility of an eruption, but also because of the alarming amount of disruption caused by the earthquakes in the area. The volcano eruption is very hard to predict, but authorities assume that it could happen in the next few days. Back in 2010, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, one of the largest volcanoes in the country, resulted in a huge ash cloud halting most of the air travel in Europe. Thankfully, “it is unlikely that this eruption will cause the same amount of disruption in air travel” stated Iceland’s government. This isn’t an uncommon thing for Iceland to experience. This can be evidenced through its very extensive history of volcanic activity. The country has a population of 400,000 people and around 130 volcanoes with most of these volcanoes being active. Iceland straddles two tectonic plates; these plates themselves are divided by an undersea mountain chain that oozes molten hot rock or lava. Ultimately, this sets Iceland up for a volcanic eruption that could take place at any time.
