The idea of a tunnel-like body of magma coursing under a city and threatening to explode might conjure up images from the 1997 action movie Volcano, but that is precisely the scenario facing residents of the small Icelandic town of Grindavik. A number of the 3,500 people living in the coastal community on the Reykjanes Peninsula have already been evacuated as they watch lava crack through the ground and ooze into the sea from a 15-kilometer crack in the earth.
The threat of a volcanic eruption, which could occur with little warning, began last month when thousands of mini earthquakes struck the area. Then, on Oct. 25, a pair of strong earthquakes hit, with the first hitting at a depth of 3 miles (5 km) and the second measuring at 8 miles (16 km). Then came a swarm of more than 2,000 more earthquakes over the next 48 hours. And this weekend, the Icelandic Meteorological Office warned that there is a “significant chance” that an eruption will happen soon.
As the quakes continue, some register more than 6.0 magnitude, and residents fear that magma is getting closer to the surface as a sinkhole grows under one house in the town. But a professor of volcanology tells Newsweek that it is difficult to determine how close the magma is, as it is hard to see underground from above.
An enormous crater has opened up at the Sundhnukar lava field, and GPS tracking shows the ground is uplifting near Grindavik at an alarming rate of around 5 centimeters per day. Some houses have their walls ripped apart as they shift, and roads have been split open.
Photographer Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove, who has spent much time in the region, tells The Current that the whole landscape is being “ripped apart” by the upcoming eruption. He adds, “It is unbelievable — the worst situation we have ever seen here.”
As the volcano erupts, it will likely send hot lava and gas into the air, making the southwestern part of Iceland hot and dry for weeks or even months. And with the Reykjanes Peninsula, where the North American and European tectonic plates rift apart, it’s no surprise that seismic activity is high.
But many residents say they want to avoid returning to their homes even if the town can withstand an eruption because it’s too dangerous for children and pets to be there. One carpenter, Hans Vela, says his family has been camping out in a friend’s basement since Friday and don’t plan to return. “We’ve been displaced a couple of times before, but not this long,” he says. “If we’re lucky, it will blow over quickly.” But he knows it can’t be luck forever. The town’s last eruption, in 2021, lasted just over three months. And that may be a short time to wait if the magma moves fast enough.
