A major volcanic eruption has begun on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula. There is a risk that lava flows could reach the evacuated town of Grindavik.

”We hope for the best,” says Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

A strong earthquake was measured north of the city of Grindavik at 9 p.m. on Monday, and just over an hour later, magma erupted from the earth.

Lava is spewing high and the lava flow from the fissure is around 100 to 200 cubic meters per second, which is many times more powerful than previous eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in recent years, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Agency.

The length of the crack was estimated at approximately 3.5 kilometers before midnight local time. 

”There is a risk that lava flows could reach the city of Grindavik,” Kristín Jónsdóttir, head of natural hazards at the weather authority, told public service broadcaster Rúv.

Police believe that no one is in immediate danger, and emergency services have been called to the area.

The city's mayor, Fannar Jónasson, tells Rúv that he believes the city was deserted when the outbreak began.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir notes that this appears to be a major outbreak.

”"Our thoughts go out to the local people as before, we hope for the best," she writes in a statement on social media. 

Small Grindavik with about 4,000 inhabitants, forty kilometers southwest of Reykjavik, was evacuated in mid-November after hundreds of earthquakes and the discovery of a 15-kilometer-long magma flow underground just outside the city.

This is the fourth eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in three years.

Iceland, and Reykjanes in particular, lies directly over the ”Mid-Atlantic Ridge” where the Eurasian and North American continental plates meet, making volcanic eruptions very common.

Source: TT-DI.SE