Icelandic volcano erupts near capital
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[July 11, 2023]
By Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) -A volcano has erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula in
southwest Iceland, near the capital Reykjavik, following intense
earthquake activity in the area, the country's Meteorological Office
(IMO) said on Monday.
"At the moment, it's a very small eruption," said Matthew Roberts of the
service and research division at the IMO. He added there was no direct
imminent hazard to people in the region. |
![](../images/071123PIX/news_i15.jpg)
Smoke billows and lava spurts after the
eruption of a volcano, on the Reykjanes peninsula, near the capital
Reykjavik, in southwest Iceland, July 10, 2023, in this picture obtained
from social media. Juergen Merz - Glacier Photo Artist/via REUTERS |
Traffic at Reykjavik's international Keflavik airport was not
disrupted, the airport said on its website.
Experts from the IMO will assess where exactly the lava is
emerging and how the eruption evolves over the coming hours.
It was confirmed at 1640 GMT, the IMO said.
Images and livestreams by local news outlets MBL and RUV showed
lava and smoke emanating from a fissure in the ground on the
side of the Fagradalsfjall mountain.
Reykjanes Peninsula is a volcanic and seismic hot-spot southwest
of the capital Reykjavik. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted
spectacularly from a 500-750 metres long fissure in the ground
in the Fagradalsfjall volcanic system.
Volcanic activity in the area continued for six months that
year, prompting thousands of Icelanders and tourists to visit
the scene. In August 2022, a three-week eruption happened in the
same area.
The system, which is around 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) wide and 19
kilometres long, had remained inactive for more than 6,000 years
prior to those two eruptions.
Unlike the eruption in 2010 of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano,
which halted approximately 100,000 flights and forced hundreds
of Icelanders from their homes, this eruption is not expected to
spew much into the atmosphere.
"This is not a volcanic eruption with any ash. This is simply
lava," the IMO's Roberts said.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
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