The volcanic eruption that rocked the port city of Grindavik in southwest Iceland on Sunday has ended, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Friday.
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“It is very likely that the magma has stopped flowing into the dam (intrusion of magma into the earth's crust, editor's note) and that the eruption is over,” the IMO wrote in a bulletin.
On Sunday, two fissures opened near Grindavik, about forty kilometers southwest of Reykjavik, and one of the lava flows reached the small port town, reducing three houses to ash.
The few dozen residents who were relocated to Grindavik at the end of December had been urgently evacuated just hours before the eruption.
“The risk of ground collapse in the city fissures remains high,” the IMO continues.
The city, which is normally home to nearly 4,000 residents, was evacuated for the first time on November 11, 2023 as a precautionary measure after hundreds of earthquakes caused by the movement of magma beneath the Earth's crust – a precursor to a volcanic eruption.
They were briefly able to return home shortly after the December 18 eruption and finally returned home on December 23, but only a few dozen residents chose to relocate to Grindavik.
In this land of fire and ice, the most volcanic region in Europe, 33 volcanic systems are considered active.