The European nation of Iceland is called that because it s home to both volcanoes and glaciers. A nd meteorologists say there are signs that a volcanic eruption is brewing.
Southwestern Iceland has seen 17,000 earthquakes over the past week according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Sound like a lot? It is a lot. One resident told cnn that it s very unusual to feel the Earth shake 24 hours a day for a whole week. The largest of these tremors had a magnitude of 5.6. That s considered a moderate quake depending on how deep it is.
There have been some small cracks in the roads and rock falls where the ground is steeper but aside from that not a lot of damage has been reported. The tremor seemed to calm down from Wednesday to Thursday but a government official doesn t think the seismic activity is over. And while scientists don t know exactly what s caused this swarm of quakes, a University of Iceland volcanology professor thinks they might be because there s been a quote "intrusion of magma into the Earth s crust in southwest Iceland."
This is where several volcanoes are located and it s especially concerning because 2/3 of the country s population lives in the southwestern part of the island. University computer models predict that if there s an eruption, the resulting lava flows probably won t impact any nearby towns or the region s international airport but again, that s only based on models. All this has triggered a range of reactions from people there from anxiety to excitement and cameras have been put on standby to live stream an eruption should one take place.
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