What volcanologists expected began

The expected happened, the volcanic eruption has begun on the island of Finland, specifically on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the eruption began at 22 hours and 17 minutes local time on Monday, December 18, the images were published by the Department of Public Security of the National Police and were taken from a coast guard helicopter, this had been happening for a month, since the Icelandic government took the respective precautions and declared a state of emergency, ordering the evacuation of a municipality.

In those days of November, there was a wave of thousands of earthquakes recorded in just 48 hours. The evacuees were about 3,400 inhabitants of Grindavík, a fishing town near the famous blue lagoon, which is a well-known geothermal spa and one of the main tourist destinations. of Iceland, since experts believe that the lava pocket must have extended below that town, and they have also calculated that the current is about 10 km long and heads towards the sea.

The authorities also fear for the Svartsengi power plant that produces energy for about 30,000 inhabitants and although the situation is critical, experts do not expect this eruption to be as strong as that of the volcano in 2010, when the ash cloud stopped traffic at that time. air in Europe for several weeks, more than 100,000 flights had to be suspended and some 10 million passengers were affected.

Iceland is part of the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is a mountain range that extends along the Atlantic Ocean from north to south. These mountains, despite being between 1000 and 3000 m high, are almost all submerged. The most important characteristic is that Between the mountains and along the ridge extends a valley whose walls reach 3 km high and which is the gap through which the Marine floor is expanding, separating America from Europe and Africa.

In Iceland the mid-Atlantic ridge comes to the surface and the crack continues to open at a rate of about 3 cm per year. This process is what triggers the intense volcanic activity that gave rise to the island and which results in eruptions like the one we are seeing. .

The currently affected area is a volcanic system that emerged about 6,300 years ago and it is not a typical volcano like the one we usually imagine, that is, a conical mountain similar to Mount Fujin in Japan or Teid in Spain, this is a set of eruptive fissures and various cones that are joined together.

The volcanic area that is now erupting was active about 80,000 years ago and remained quiet until April 2021. Finally, the authorities have prohibited the flight of drones over the area and access is restricted, tourists and extreme image hunters are expected to Don't risk your lives to take a photo, volcanoes don't like selfies when they are erupting.

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