800-Year-Old Dormant Faultline in Iceland Has Awakened Due to Volcanic Eruptions, Expert Warns

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Giles Laurent)
800-Year Dormant Faultline in Iceland Has Awakened Due to Volcanic Eruptions, Expert Warns

The volcanic activities in Iceland have awakened a faultline that has been dormant for nearly centuries. A volcanologist warned that it could belch out lava with little to no warning in the years to come.

Dormant Faultline in Iceland Has Awakened

An expert issued a warning on Tuesday, citing a volcanic eruption that destroyed homes in Grindavik, a fishing port in Iceland, over the weekend, that a long-dormant faultline running beneath the nation has sparked, posing a threat to spew lava for years to come with little warning.

"After eight centuries of a relative break and a complete cessation of surface activity, we have entered a new episode of plate separation which could last several years - possibly decades," said volcanologist Patrick Allard from France's Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

Several houses near the southwest of Reykjavik's capital, Grindavik, were wholly engulfed in glowing lava on Sunday.

Authorities in the North Atlantic country stated on Monday that the fishing village was evacuated mainly due to the possibility of an eruption last month. Since then, the most recent volcanic activity has decreased.

Situated between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, the island is bisected by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a fissure on the ocean floor.

The Reykjanes peninsula, which had not experienced an eruption in millennia, saw its fifth in less than three years on Sunday.

Three to 10 kilometers (two to six miles) below the surface, scientists "saw the ground distorting, with magma rising from the depths and seeping into" that area even before the first of the five eruptions began in March 2021, the expert said. Eruptions began to happen when the magma bubbled upward through Earth's fractures.

According to Allard, it demonstrates "magma is very close to the surface, ready to erupt."

The Earth's crust is thinnest around the Icelandic faultline, which will contribute to these magma "pressure releases," he added. However, they did not anticipate a huge portion would truly bubble up from the Earth's surface.

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Majority of USA at Risk of Damaging Earthquakes After More Faultlines Were Discovered

Meanwhile, there are already 1,000 fault lines in total in the United States, including 350 more fault lines discovered by the most recent National Seismic Hazard Model on top of those found by the USGS in 2018. An earthquake with significant damage might occur throughout 75% of the nation.

With Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, DC, and other central and northeastern cities located in the "Atlantic Coastal Corridor," the modifications raised the risk of catastrophic earthquakes in this region.

Furthermore, seismically active regions of California, Alaska, and Hawaii had an increased risk. There is currently a 95% chance that some parts of the Golden State will experience catastrophic earthquakes in the next century.

The USGS also estimated that the average yearly economic losses from earthquake-related building damage will be $14.7 billion based on the updated model.

The model predicts a moderate to high likelihood of shaking in 25 states during the next 100 years. Some locations likely to be affected are Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina, and California.