volcano erupting against a dark blue sky

Iceland eruption may be the start of decades of volcanic activity

A second outburst of lava in under a year strongly suggests that the country’s Reykjanes Peninsula will become one of the most volcanically dynamic parts of the planet for several generations.

After centuries of quiescence, Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula has erupted twice in less than a year, sending up fountains of incandescent rock. The latest eruption, which started at 1:18 p.m. local time on August 3, opened up at a fissure only a few hundred feet away from the cone crafted by last year’s volcanic outburst.

Less than a year has passed since lava stopped sputtering from Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula following the first major volcanic outburst from this region in almost 800 years. But now the island is once again bleeding molten rock. The start of a new eruption so soon after unrest in 2021 seems to underscore that this once quiescent peninsula has awoken from its long slumber.

“This could herald the start of decades of occasional eruptions,” says Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at Lancaster University.

The new eruption, which started at 1:18 p.m. local time on August 3, sent scarlet ribbons streaming from the base of a small mountain into the uninhabited Meradalir Valley. Located far from populations, the volcanic burbles likely

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