By: Demi
For the fourth time in three months, a volcano erupted in southwest Iceland, causing authorities to evacuate the well-known geothermal spa resort, Blue Lagoon, and sending catastrophic lava rushing toward the town of Grindavik. The Icelandic Meteorological Office reports that the eruption between the Hagafell and Stora Skogfell mountains on the Reykjanes Peninsula started on Saturday night, creating a 1.8-mile-long crack in the ground. The official broadcaster of Iceland, RUV, was providing live coverage of the eruption as the lava was still flowing early Sunday. The extent of the damage and the potential number of casualties were unknown at the time. On Sunday, it was not possible to get in contact with the Icelandic Meteorological Office for comment.
Any residents who had returned also departed Grindavik, a town of about 4,000 people that was evacuated prior to the volcano's initial eruption in December, according to the Associated Press. Abby Garcia told Reuters that she thought the "bright red hue in the sky" was a sunset while visiting the Blue Lagoon resort on Saturday with friends. Garcia claimed that she was hurriedly taken from the pool and placed on an evacuation bus. Keflavik International Airport, the closest airport, was still open on Sunday and there were no flight disruptions. In contrast to the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which forced the suspension of air travel throughout Europe, RUV reported that this eruption was not producing ash. That spectacular explosion clearly illustrated what occurs when hot lava meets ice cold water, as reported by The Washington Post. When molten rock, or magma, comes into contact with ice and meltwater, it releases steam, a phenomenon known as a phreatomagmatic eruption.
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