Tourists and residents have been evacuated after a volcanic eruption in Iceland opened a half-mile-long fissure.
Dramatic pictures show smoke and glowing hot yellow and orange lava coming out of the chasm, the latest in a series of outbreaks near Iceland’s capital in recent years.
Massive Fissure Opens Up
Magma forced through the earth’s crust opened a massive fissure of length between 700 m and 1,000 m, Iceland’s meteorological office said.
The first signs of the eruption gave scant warning, and authorities have assured that it does not threaten any infrastructure at this time.
Flights and Evacuations
Flights at Keflavik airport in the capital of Reykjavik were not affected, according to its web page.
People had been evacuated from the Blue Lagoon, a luxury geothermal spa resort, and the nearby town of Grindavik, citing police.
Grindavik, home to nearly 4,000 before an evacuation order in 2023, has stayed mostly deserted since, for fear of the periodic threat from lava flows and related earthquakes.
Volcanic Eruptions in Iceland
A volcano erupted on Wednesday in southwest Iceland, authorities said, with live media images showing it belched smoke and dramatic flows of glowing hot yellow and orange lava.
The North Atlantic nation has experienced a dozen eruptions since geological systems on its Reykjanes peninsula reactivated in 2021.
Experts have said the eruptions in the area could recur for decades, or even centuries.
The fissure eruptions, as the outbreaks are known, are characterised by lava flows emerging from long cracks, rather than from a central crater.