Eva Deschamps / December 20, 2021
After three months of interruption, the eruption of a volcano near Reykjavik is considered officially over, Icelandic authorities said Monday.
It's been three months since there was any lava effusion, so the eruption is considered over, said AFP an official of the Meteorological Institute of Iceland (IMO), Iryndis Yr Tisladottir. The institution in charge of the volcanic activity, which always calls the hikers to the caution, continues however to supervise the sector, she indicated. This small and spectacular eruption of lava had occurred on March 19in the vicinity of Mount Fagradalsfjall, about thirty kilometers southwest of the Icelandic capital.
The lava had not flowed for eight centuries in the Reykjanes peninsula, and nearly 6,000 years where the eruption occurred, according to Icelandic vulcanologists. Sixth eruption in Iceland for twenty years, it had become the longest recorded in half a century by spewing lava for exactly six months. But hardly acquired this title, the craters and faults had stopped spewing lava on September 18, after having spread more than 140 million cubic meters of magma in the valleys of Geldingadalur.
Relatively easy to access, the eruption had become a real tourist attraction, with according to the Icelandic tourist office more than 350,000 visitors. New eruptions in this area remain a credible hypothesis, according to experts. History teaches us that volcanic activity in this sector occurs in cycles, said the IMO. The institute has also revised downward last week the risk of eruption of another Icelandic volcano, the Grimsvötn, in an inaccessible area in the center of the island.
This volcano located under a huge glacier is the most active in Iceland, with an average eruption every five to ten years. Two weeks ago the alert level of eruption had been raised to orange by the IMO. There is still a probability of eruption but it is lower than before, Tisladottir told AFP.