Controlling the lava to save the town

Iceland is an island far north of the Atlantic where there are polar bears, it has the same surface area as the island of Cuba, although it is cold and treeless, but what it lacks in vegetation it makes up for with volcanoes, it has 33 active volcanoes that is Iceland, eruptions are a fairly normal thing, this is because it is in a place where two tonic plates separate, when this happens under the ocean the magma from the mantle comes out through that separation and cools when it meets the ocean water forming a rocky ridge.

In Iceland, so much magma comes out due to the separation that that underwater ridge reached the surface, forming The Island. Since the Vikings settled on the island, it was known that volcanic eruptions were going to be part of the landscape as seen on ancient maps.

In March 2021, a period of activity began in the newest part of The Island, the Reikians peninsula to the southwest of The Island, the Fagradalsfjall volcano began to produce enormous amounts of lava and thousands of tourists from all over the world came to see the spectacle from a safe distance, as most of the island is unpopulated this did not affect anyone, although dikes were built to prevent the lava from destroying the coastal road.

Other eruptions occurred in August 2022 and July 2023 but they also occurred in uninhabited places, so they did not represent any threat, but this changed at the beginning of November 2023 when tremors and small earthquakes began to be recorded in the fishing town of Reykjavík, Home to 3,700 inhabitants, after more than 1,000 small earthquakes and some not so small ones had been recorded, experts decided it was time to evacuate.

No wonder the ground literally opened up in some parts of the town, irreparably damaging the structure of many houses, causing the western part of the town to sink more than a meter in a period of 24 hours, the town of Reykjavík was left full of cracks and When something like this happens what usually follows is a rash, where? place your bets, but just in case, on November 11, the 3,700 inhabitants of Reykjavík were evacuated, although during the emergency many people had left their pets and farm animals so the next day they were allowed to return in shifts in vehicles emergency to pick up animals and important documents while a helicopter flew overhead ready to take them away if the lava began to gush out.

As the days have passed, the number and intensity of the earthquakes has decreased. Although the magma continues to flow below, this interferogram shows how much the ground swelled between November 18 and 19. The areas in red rose 3 cm, that is right where the blue lagoon is located, the most important tourist attraction in Iceland and which for obvious reasons remains closed to the public and the Svartsengi geothermal energy plant that provides electricity and water to the 30,000 residents of the Peninsula, that is, the accumulation of magma. It is happening just 4 km from the town of Reykjavík.

The authorities said that even if an eruption does not happen soon, the inhabitants will not be able to return until Mesa after in fact it would be preferable for it to erupt soon, because if it does so in a place where it does not affect the town then that pressure would already be released there. and everyone could start rebuilding their houses and move on with their lives or if the eruption happens near the town and destroys it, and you start a new life somewhere else.

The problem now while it does not erupt is the uncertainty, but the Icelanders are taking advantage of the time and planning for different scenarios where they could rescue the town from the lava if necessary, with water, specifically seawater which is the most abundant resource in a town on the coast and it wouldn't be the first time.

On January 23, 1973 the Eldfell volcano erupted 150 m from the center of the town on the small island of Heimaey 11 km off the South Coast of Iceland, as in the present imminent eruption its 5000 inhabitants were evacuated and the volcano covered with lava an area of 3 square km, two of these 3 square km became land that the island reclaimed from the sea, which is good if you live there, because your Island became bigger, but it is also bad because the lava It covered part of the town and in fact the lava could have covered the entire town but the inhabitants fought back.

With huge bomb ships and more than 100 km of pipe, they bathed the lava flow continuously for days and weeks until it cooled enough and stopped advancing towards the town. Thanks to these efforts, a large part of the town remained intact, although covered. of pomes stone, there is now a museum in the area of the town that was covered in lava in 1973 where a cabin is shown that remains in the same state as it was left when they evacuated and the now dormant Eldfell volcano planted a grass on its slopes to prevent it from eroding.

Pumping water to cool the lava is something that is currently being prepared in case something very similar happens in Reykjavík, but whatever happens what is certain is that we will learn a lot about volcanoes, their origin and how The earth's crust, which is the skin of the planet we inhabit, behaves like little fleas.

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