For 800 years the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland has been a relatively peaceful place. But in recent months fiery volcanic fissures have been bursting open, spilling straight lines of lava across the landscape. This month several homes in Grindavík were destroyed as molten rock spilled into the town. The fires have dampened down for now but the rock record suggests there are more to come.
“Reykjanes is fed by five volcanic systems, many of which come to life every 800 to 1,000 years,” says Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at Lancaster University. The last time this happened was about 1,100 years ago – soon after the Vikings had established themselves on Iceland – and the Reykjanes fires, as they were known, erupted on and off for about 300 years.
