Earth’s newest ‘baby’ volcano is painting Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall region with incandescent lava

A picture of the eruption sites shows the lava flow and volcanic gasses spewing from the fissure. — Lava from the newest eruption is flowing southward towards the location of a earlier eruption, which occurred in August 2022. (Picture credit score: IMO/Elísabet Pálmadóttir)

Earth’s latest volcano has been born by way of a model new volcanic fissure that opened up on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, spewing fountains of molten rock from the bottom.

The occasion marks the third yr in a row that the underlying Fagradalsfjall lava area has erupted.

The newest eruption occurred on Monday (June 10) after a number of days of seismic exercise. Scientists have recorded greater than 7,000 earthquakes within the area since July 4, the most important of which was a magnitude 4.8 quake, in response to a assertion from the Icelandic Met Workplace.

“Have a look at that Icelandic child ‘cano [volcano] go,” Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and science author, mentioned in a Twitter publish on Monday (July 10). “That is Earth’s freshest coat of paint: incandescent molten rock being blasted skyward from a brand new Icelandic fissure.”

Lava continues to be trickling from the 1.7-mile-long (2.7 kilometers) fracture within the floor and flowing right into a small, shallow valley to the southeast that might quickly spill over. The encircling space is uninhabited and the eruption poses no risk to infrastructure, in response to the assertion.

Associated: The 12 greatest volcanic eruptions in recorded historical past

If the lava circulation snakes southward past the small valley, it may attain the Merardalir valley, which is the place the final Icelandic volcanic eruption occurred on Aug. 3, 2022. The yr earlier than that additionally noticed a dramatic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula that broke an 870-year-long quiet interval within the Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcanic system.

Right here we go once more!A volcano is erupting for the third yr in a row on the Reykjanes Peninsula, close to Iceland’s capital Reykjavik. Right this moment marks 323 days because the 2022 eruption ended. The interval between the eruptions of 2021 and 2022 was 319 days… #Fagradalsfjall #Keilir pic.twitter.com/ynBRM4ikN7July 10, 2023

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Scientists detected the primary indicators of the newest eruption in April by way of a small subsistence sign — a slight sinking of the bottom probably attributable to an influx of magma. The next sequence of earthquakes, which was just like these recorded previous to the eruptions in 2021 and 2022, alerted the researchers that one other eruption might be on the horizon.

Additional monitoring revealed {that a} vertical sheet of magma, generally known as a “dike intrusion,” was migrating upwards to the floor between the Keilir and Litli-Hrútur mountains. In 2022, the identical phenomenon culminated in an eruption 5 days later.

A map showing the hazard zone following the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Consultants have warned that circumstances can change rapidly within the neighborhood of the eruption space. (Picture credit score: Icelandic MET Workplace (IMO))

On July 7, researchers calculated that 424 million cubic toes (12 million cubic meters) of magma — an identical quantity as in 2022 and sufficient to fill 5,000 Olympic-size swimming swimming pools — was brimming lower than a mile (1.6 km) under the bottom floor, fracturing Earth’s crust.

The magmatic dike continued to inflate and inch upward till mid-afternoon on Monday, when it lastly breached the floor and emerged “as a sequence of fountains,” in response to the assertion.

The eruption has since decreased in depth, with fewer, smaller lava jets. Seismic exercise has additionally subsided.

Scientists are protecting an in depth eye on the lava circulation’s actions and warned that circumstances can change rapidly. “The lava may cause wildfires within the space that considerably scale back air high quality,” specialists wrote within the assertion. “New volcanic fissures can open with out discover. Lava blocks can fall from the sting of the lava area. New lava can immediately circulation at excessive speeds from the sting.”

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