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The largest of Iceland’s volcanos saw an eruption in August 2014, which lasted for six months, but experts worry another is about to happen.
A series of relatively small quakes, with the largest registering at 2.1 on the richter scale, have been hitting the 6,591ft tall Bardarbunga volcano which has been interpreted as a sign an eruption is on the horizon.
Páll Einarsson, a volcanology expert at the University of Iceland, revealed the latest quakes were part of a series that have been “in progress for two years” as he warned Bardarbunga is “clearly preparing for its next eruption” within the next few years.
He told the Daily Star: “The reason for the earthquakes in this place is that the volcano Bardarbunga is inflating, i.e. the pressure of magma in the magma chamber is increasing It has been doing this since the last eruption ended, in February 2015.
“The volcano is clearly preparing for its next eruption, that may happen in the next few years.
“The earthquakes last week are just the symptoms of this process, they do not cause the volcano to erupt.”
If the huge volcano were to blow, it could cause travel chaos across Europe and the Atlantic – much like its compatriot the Eyjafjallajökull volcano did in 2010.
The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption left 10 million air passengers stranded after grounding flights all around the world and cost the European economy around £4billion.
Experts have stated if the Bardarbunga volcano was to come to life it would cause problems on a similar scale.
Earthquakes can suggest an imminent volcano explosion, as the magma moves through the cracks of the magma chambers.
This causes pressure on the surrounding rock which causes the earthquakes, which are then tracked.
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