From Iceland — Volcano Near Reykjavík "Cannot be Ruled Out"

Volcano Near Reykjavík “Cannot be Ruled Out”

Published July 1, 2015

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Axel Sigurðarson and Icelandic Met Office

Increased seismic activity at the site of an undersea faultline could be an indication of an impending volcano.

The Icelandic Met Office reports a cluster of tremors happening right now on the Reykjanes Ridge, a faultline off the southwest coast of Iceland that lies on the bottom of the ocean. As can be seen in real time, these tremors are still continuing.

“We cannot rule out that there may be an eruption and a little volcano comes out,” Krist­ín Jóns­dótt­ir, an expert on earthquakes at the Icelandic Met Office, told MBL, but added that past precedent is a whole other matter. “What we have seen over the past year is that there comes up some activity, and then it just dies out. But it’s still a possibility and we’ll be paying close attention.”

Hundreds of tremors have been recorded on the ridge, some measuring as high as 5 on the Richter Scale, though most measured at about 2 or 3. We will keep you updated if the situation intensifies.

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