Iceland volcano continues to erupt near evacuated fishing town

A volcano in Iceland that erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December has continued to spew lava.

Magma had been building up underground on the Reykjanes peninsula near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik since the last eruption in February, leading authorities to warn it could soon erupt again.

The warning went out late on Saturday, just 15 minutes before fountains of lava began to spew out of the 3km long crack in the earth that had opened up a few months ago.

The eruption was roughly the same size and at the same place as the last one.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said that as of Monday afternoon, volcanic eruption activity had been relatively stable since late Sunday.

Lava had mostly started coming out at two locations along the eruptive fissure.

Man-made barriers have been successful in steering the lava away from the Svartsengi geothermal power plant and the nearby fishing town of Grindavik, where 4000 people live.

Residents of the town were evacuated for the second time since February after having already been evacuated late last year.

Footage from public broadcaster RUV showed lava flowing a few hundred metres from the town.

“The defences at Grindavik proved their value … they have guided the lava flow in the intended direction,” local utility HS Orka said.

Lava had over the weekend flowed over one of the three roads going into Grindavik, and on Monday, it inched south towards another road into the town.

The lava looked unlikely to reach the sea, the met office said, adding that hazardous gases from the volcano were unlikely to reach Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, due to strong winds.

Planes have continued flying in and out of Iceland’s international airport during the eruption.

The eruption has been the seventh on the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021, when underground volcanoes that had been dormant for around 800 years again became active.

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GLOSSARY

• magma: underground molten rock that becomes known as lava when it breaks through the Earth’s surface
• fissure: a long narrow opening or crack made by rock or earth splitting
• dormant: not active, but with the ability to become active at a later time

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QUICK QUIZ
1. How many times has the Iceland volcano erupted in the last three years?
2. What is the name of the small fishing town that has been evacuated because of the eruptions?
3. How long is the fissure, or crack, that is spewing out lava?
4. When was the eruption warning issued?
5. What is the capital of Iceland?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Lava barriers
Design a lava barrier for your town if you had an erupting volcano situation like Iceland.

Sketch your design including what materials you would need to use, what size it would need to be and where it would divert the lava.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Design and Technologies, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Is 15 minutes warning enough for people to evacuate before the lava started flowing? How and where would they go at such short notice?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there during the event being discussed in the article, or for the interview.

Create a conversation between two characters from the article – you may need or want to include yourself as one of the characters. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.

Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.