A rift has reopened in the Atlantic after 800 years – the awakening of volcanoes already worries experts

A volcanic explosion recently destroyed fishing houses in Iceland. This phenomenon would mark the awakening of a fault that has been dormant for 800 years.

On January 14, several houses in Grindavik, a fishing village on the south coast of Iceland, were raided. ravaged by lava flows from the Sundhnjukagigar volcano. Fortunately, this phenomenon did not cause any casualties, the damage was largely contained. material order. The event had been held in 2018. predicted a few weeks earlier, allowing the evacuation of the population on time. The eruption also forced the closure of the Blue Lagoon, one of the most popular tourist spots in the region. In December, a first eruption had already occurred. took place but its intensity had been less important.

According to experts, this event marked the awakening of a fault that had been dormant since 800' nbsp;ans: the mid-Atlantic ridge. This underwater fault is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and crosses to a lesser extent the Arctic. It marks the boundary between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate at the level of the North Atlantic Ocean and between the South American plate and the African plate in the South Atlantic. 

Thus, "after eight centuries of relative rupture and complete cessation of activity& ;eacute; surface, we have entered a new episode of plate separation which could last several years, even several decades, eclared&eac; &agrav; AFP volcanologist Patrick Allard from the Institute of Globe Physics in Paris. This separation enlarges the Atlantic by several centimeters each year and further distances Europe from the American continent. ;eacute;ricain.

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, which is responsible for monitoring weather activity, seismic and volcanic, magma has infiltrated in the fractures of the earth's crust which is very thin around the fault. It was this infiltration that caused the explosion. eruptions. 

Since the two eruptions, the office remains on permanent alert. If there is still a lack of elements to make precise forecasts, scientists from the The weather office estimates that a new eruption could take place in a few weeks.

Indeed, the risk is present since the magma would continue to accumulate under the Reykjanes Peninsula, a few kilometers from Grindavik. In addition to the village, the Svartsengi geothermal power station, providing water and electricity to the village, &agrav; the region, could in turn being threatened given its proximity to with the volcano.

Nevertheless, what worries us most is that this next eruption could be difficult to ; anticipate, preventing you from raising the alarm time. With consecutive eruptions, the magma finds its way to the surface more and more quickly. Thus, the activity preventive seismic activity is reduced. Experts estimate there could be less than an hour between crack, alert and eruption.