By: William Tian

On the southern peninsula of Iceland, the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted in 2021 after 781 years of dormancy. Now scientists are traveling there to study the lava and find out what is below the surface of our planet.

On March 19, 2021, the dormant volcano Fagradalsfijall in Iceland began to rumble and them spew hot lava. According to the Icelandic meteorologist office, before the volcanic eruption, there were thousands of small earthquakes near the area. Usually, volcanoes in Iceland occur far away from population centers. Still, eruptions like Fagradalsfijall can be more threatening to residents because it is only an hour away from the country’s capital. The volcano has gained a huge amount of attention, with tourists coming to watch the volcano, and now with scientists are doing research.

Scientists now know that the eruption was caused due to carbon dioxide released by a magma pool between the mantle and the crust. This section is called the moho. The scientific community hasn’t seen eruptions like this happen before. “For the first time, more or less, we are looking at an active eruption on our oceanic crust where the lava is directly erupting from the mantle source,” Dr. Olafur Flovenz, director of Iceland GeoSurvey said. The scientists scooped up some lava and tested it. After getting the results, scientists discovered the lava was full of crystals.

Other scientists mapped out their predictions of what will happen during the eruption. They used satellite and airborne images, and they showed topographic maps and monitored how the Iceland landscape will change. When the scientists monitored the volcano, they were surprised by the eruption. The lava filled Geldingadalir Valley at a rate of 4-8 cubic meters per second! After the volcano stopped erupting in mid-September, it produced a lava field of 4.8 square kilometers with a volume of 150 x 106 cubic meters. Lava has filled neighboring valleys, endangered communication cables, highway access, and hiking paths.

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