On August 3, 2022, a new volcanic eruption began in the Fagradalsfjall fissure zone on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.
On August 3, 2022, a new volcanic eruption began in the Fagradalsfjall fissure zone on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. The eruption site in the Meradalir Valley is about a kilometer northeast of last year’s eruption in the Geldingadalir Valley. The recent eruptions come after an 870-year quiet period in the Krýsuvík–Trölladyngja volcanic system.
This volcanic system is composed of two groups of fissures or swarms, named Fagradalsfjall and Krýsuvík. The fissures trend northeast-southwest for 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the rift zone where the North American and Eurasian plates are moving apart, according to the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes.
Starting in early August, the Meradalir eruption emitted fountains of lava along a 300-meter (1,000-foot) segment of the fissure. The brilliant display attracted crowds of tourists, who hiked in to see the slow-moving basaltic lava as it flowed east-northeast.
Iceland’s Institute of Earth Science estimated that 10.6 million cubic meters (14 million cubic yards) of lava had covered an area of 1.25 square kilometers (0.5 square miles) by August 15.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
