Tensions are rising in many places

Volcanologist Þorvaldur Þórðarson said it was highly unlikely that another eruption would occur within the town of Grindavik. However, the possibility of another eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula is increasing by the day.

“According to the calculations that have been done, there is more magma in this shallow reservoir than before the last eruption, so this is beyond the tolerance limit. The question is whether something will happen in the next hours or days and we will get repeated material,” Þorvaldur said.

When asked if he expected an eruption to be more powerful than the last one, Þorvaldur said:

“If this continues for a few more weeks, the eruption will be much larger and the lava will be richer. If the inflow from the large magma reservoirs is simply reduced, it may take longer to reach the tolerance limit. Then we will get something a little bit bigger but with similar power,” Þorvaldur said.

Similar path as last time

Þorvalður said that if the eruption had not started by the end of September, all sorts of changes could have happened. He was convinced that this eruption would have occurred in a similar place in the Sundhnúka crater series as the last one.

“For me, it’s almost impossible for an eruption to happen inside Grindavik, although we can certainly expect a repeat of the events of January 14,” Þorvaldur said. But in the eruption that began on January 14, lava flowed through several craters in the town’s houses.

“We don’t see any signs of magma beneath Grindavik that people have been talking about. There’s a line on the south side of the Reykjanes Peninsula where there are no craters or fissures, and Grindavik is just south of that line,” Þorvaldur said.

He said the volcano had never erupted south of that line in the past 14,000 years, and it was unlikely to happen now. “While we cannot rule it out, it is very unlikely,” Þorvaldur said.

More fireplaces arriving on time

There has been a lot of seismic activity across the country in recent days. When asked if the pressure on the Reykjanes Peninsula had an impact in this regard, he said:

“Tensions are building in many places, and of course if tensions are released somewhere, there is the potential for knock-on effects. We have many volcanoes and volcanic systems, but it’s interesting that these earthquakes come out of nowhere like this.”