File:Basalt lava flow eruption (7 August 2022) (Meradalir Valley, near Fagradalsfjall Volcano, Iceland) 1.webm

English: (Web camera screen capture video from overnight on 7 August 2022.)

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On Wednesday, 3 August 2022, a basaltic lava flow eruption started in a valley near the Fagradalsfjall Volcano in southwestern Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula. This followed a swarm of thousands of earthquakes since 31 July 2022. The activity seen here is a fissure eruption - basaltic lava is fountaining from a long crack. Four small cones that developed early on near the left end of the fissure are now inactive.

Update: the Meradalir Valley eruption died down around 17 to 20 August 2022.

A months-long basaltic lava flow eruption also occurred in this area in 2021. It was preceded by about 50,000 earthquakes.

Iceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic Ocean between Britain and Greenland. It is situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, along which the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate separate and new oceanic crust forms. Seismicity in the area is due to subsurface magma movement from hotspot (mantle plume) activity, as well as seafloor spreading (= tectonic divergence). Magma reaching the surface results in volcanic eruptions. Some famous eruptions in Iceland include Laki (1783), Surtsey (1963-1967), Eldfell (1973), Hekla (1991, 2000), Eyjafjallajökull (2010), and Grimsvötn (2011).