Source: Grindavik Road Administration
A sinkhole has formed under an Iceland town evacuated over the weekend as fears escalate that a volcanic eruption is imminent.
Volcanologist Þorvaldur Þórðarson said the sinkhole appeared to show the magma tunnel under the fishing town of Grindavik was close to the surface – and might even erupt within the town limits, obliterating the small town.
“It indicates that it will soon erupt and that, unfortunately, indicates that the eruption will occur within the town limits of Grindavík,” Þorvaldur told Icelandic media on Sunday (local time).
“It’s a darker scenario than I had imagined.”
The 3000 residents of Grindavík, in Iceland’s south-west, were evacuated at the weekend after fears of a volcanic eruption grew following a series of earthquakes and evidence of magma spreading underground.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Saturday there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula because the size of the underground magma intrusion and the rate at which it was moving.
“I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV.
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Iceland declared a state of emergency on Saturday, over the volcanic threat. Its Civil Protection Agency ordered a complete evacuation of Grindavik.
Alda Sigmundsdottir, a journalist in Reykjavik, told the BBC that residents were allowed back into town only “to get their absolute bare necessities” and pets.
“We are just currently waiting for the eruption to start,” she told the BBC’s Newshour.
The Reykjanes region has in recent years seen several eruptions in unpopulated areas, but the current outbreak is believed to pose an immediate risk to the town, authorities said.
Þorvalður said that if the lava came up where the sinkhole had formed, it would likely flow west – and away from Grindavik. But some was also likely to flow east.
“Then the only question is how much damage there will be to the town and how large a part of it will be covered by lava, if this all comes true,” he said.
Late last week, increased seismic activity prompted the closure of the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, one of Iceland’s main tourist attractions.
Reykjanes is a volcanic and seismic hot spot south-west of the capital Reykjavik. In March 2021, lava fountains erupted spectacularly from a fissure in the ground measuring between 500 and 750 metres long in the region’s 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, followed by another in July of this year.
The Fagradalsfjall system, which is about six kilometres wide and 19 kilometres long, had remained inactive for more than 6000 years prior to the recent eruptions.
-with AAP