Iceland's looming volcano blast is just the beginning of a new era of volcanic eruptions that will last for centuries, with the build-up of magma beneath the coastal town of Grindavik signalling that more is to come, scientists have warned.
The Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula is threatening to erupt, with Iceland's Met Office saying that the 'likelihood of a volcanic eruption is high' and could happen at anytime in the coming days.
After 800 years of inactivity, a 2021 eruption marked the start of a new cycle of volcanic activity, and now Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, says that blast may have kicked off 'a new eruptive phase' which could last centuries.
'Time's finally up,' Edward W. Marshall, a researcher at the University of Iceland's Nordic Volcanological Center told Live Science. 'We can get ready for another few hundred years of eruptions on the Reykjanes.'
The region has been rattled by around 1,100 new earthquakes since midnight, with experts warning that magma is rising ever closer to the earth's surface fueling fears of an imminent volcanic eruption.
Thousands of quakes over the past few days have turned the fishing community of Grindavik into a 'ghost town', with 4,000 residents forced to evacuate.
Those who were allowed to return to their properties with emergency services to collect belongings were ordered to evacuate yesterday after the Icelandic Met Office said its meters had detected increased levels of sulphur dioxide - a possible indicator of an eruption.
Videos have shown apocalyptic scenes in the deserted town, with homes torn apart and gaping chasms opening up in roads.
A huge nine-mile long magma intrusion, just northwest of Grindavik, has formed and is growing, according to experts, with magma thought to be as close as 500 metres from the surface.
Just a few days ago, experts were saying that magma was accumulating three miles below ground, but it has now risen much closer, if estimates are correct.
'At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,' the Meteorological Office said.
The Icelandic Met Office informed police on Tuesday that their new meters had detected increased levels of sulphur dioxide, prompting the police chief to evacuate Grindavik.
Benedikt Ófeigsson, a geophysicist at the met office, said that while the amount of SO2 detected is not high, the increase points to magma coming closer to the surface.
'SO2 is not released from magma until very close to the surface. It just means the top kilometre,' he said.
The last measurements, from this weekend, had measured magma at a depth of about 800 metres, but Mr Ófeigsson now expects it is even shallower.
'We are talking about maybe 500 metres. It's unclear, it's so high pressure, it's pressure dependent when it comes up. So it's not possible to tell the depth directly, but it [the magma] must be very shallow for us to see SO2 '.
Mr Ofeigsson yesterday told Icelandic broadcaster RUV that there was no indications on other devices that an eruption was starting, but that they still did not want to rule it out, explaining that SO2 does not appear in this way unless magma is very high in the earth's crust.
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