Fogbow

The ground below the Icelandic fishing town of Grindavík is so fissured and unstable following the volcanic eruption earlier this month that it could collapse, officials have warned.

The ground beneath Grindavík, a small fishing town on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, is so fissured following a volcanic eruption on Jan. 14 that it could collapse, the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) has warned.

This "crack collapse" may occur in places where the ground is already unstable, according to a translated IMO statement updated on Thursday (Jan. 25).

Fissures that opened to the north of Grindavík sent lava flows coursing through the town during the eruption, which has since ended. The overall risk assessment for Grindavík was subsequently lowered from great (red) to considerable (orange) on a hazard map, but new dangers now loom over — or in this case under — the town.

Icelandic Volcano Erupts Third Time in Months, Threatening Popular Blue Lagoon Tourist Site

BY RAGNHILDUR SIGURDARDOTTIR / BLOOMBERG
FEBRUARY 8, 2024 3:30 AM EST

A volcanic eruption has started again in Iceland close to an already severely damaged fishing town and the country’s top tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon spa.

It’s the third time in recent months that lava is gushing out of cracks on the ground on the Reykjanes peninsula, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the country’s capital.

The eruption started at about 6 a.m. local time northeast of the Blue Lagoon, according to Iceland’s Met Office.

Lava is bursting out from a 3-kilometer crack and flowing west, according to the authorities. The flows are directed away from Grindavik, a town that’s had to be abandoned — potentially permanently — due to damage from the lava outbursts and seismic activity.

“It is farther away from Grindavik than last time so it is better for the town,” Kristin Jonsdottir, a seismologist at the Met Office, said by phone. “What’s at stake now is rather the infrastructure further to the north, like Svartsengi, where the power plant and Blue Lagoon sit, and the road between Keflavik and Grindavik.”



https://time.com/6692704/iceland-volcan ... ue-lagoon/

A state of emergency has been declared in Iceland after lava from a volcanic eruption damaged key hot water pipes.

Thousands of people in the Reykjanes peninsula have been urged to limit their hot water and electricity use as the pipes could take days to fix.

There are concerns that other crucial pipelines close to the Svartsengi power station could be affected if the lava flow does not ease soon.

A magnitude-4.6 earthquake northwest of Malibu caused widespread shaking that was felt early Friday afternoon from the coast to inland areas of Southern California.

The quake was reported just before 2 p.m. about 7 miles northwest of Malibu in the Santa Monica Mountains. More than a dozen aftershocks, the largest of magnitudes 3.0 and 2.7, were reported within an hour in the same area.

"It's got a very robust aftershock sequence," said seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones, adding that the possibility that the quake was a foreshock to a larger seismic event rapidly diminishes over time.

Shaking was reported throughout the greater Los Angeles area, possibly by as many as 12 million people. The quake was felt from the LA, Orange and Ventura county coasts, including the South Bay and Long Beach, to inland areas like the San Fernando Valley, downtown LA, Riverside, Irvine and Anaheim.

As lava sprayed out of a volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula for the third time in as many months on Thursday, Sigurdur Enoksson felt the eruption spelled an end to his life in the town he had called home for three decades.

“This did it. I think we lost this battle,” said Sigurdur, who owns a family bakery employing 10 people in Grindavík. “After 29 years of having my bakery, I think this is the end. I think we are not coming back [to] Grindavík.” The latest eruption did not pose a direct threat to the town, but caused lava to hit water pipes in the region, affecting hot water supply for more than 20,000 people.

Sigurdur, 59, was planning to wind down towards retirement before the onset of the cataclysmic eruptions that have destroyed homes and wrenched gaping cracks in the Earth. The town’s future has since been thrown into question, with scientists fearing volcanic outbreaks could continue for years. “They’re saying eruption [could] be part of our lives for maybe years. How can you [run] a business with that?

GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) — A volcano in Iceland erupted Saturday evening for the fourth time in three months, sending orange jets of lava into the night sky.

Iceland’s Meteorological Office said the eruption opened a fissure in the earth about 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) long between Stóra-Skógfell and Hagafell mountains on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

The Met Office had warned for weeks that magma — semi-molten rock — was accumulating under the ground, making an eruption likely.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Blue Lagoon thermal spa, one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions, when the eruption began, national broadcaster RUV said.

No flight disruptions were reported at nearby Keflavik, Iceland’s main airport.

johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 10:32 am We just had an earthquake here in the NYC metro area at about 10:25 ET this morning. Gentle rolling and shaking for about 15 seconds. No objects moving off the desk and nothing broken. However, definite flexing of the building, bouncing of the monitor screen, etc. I'm guessing about a 4.0-4.5 on the Richter scale. Wonder where the epicenter was.

This was about the same shaking as the 2011 Washington DC area earthquake, which was a 5.8, but was about 300 miles away. I'm guessing the epicenter was much closer than that one, which was about 300 miles away.

Update: Twitter is all over it. This source claims 4.8 magnitude with epicenter in western New Jersey: