Police and coast guard raced to the scene 25 miles from Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, after the eruption around 9.45pm, but the public has been advised to stay away from the area. While Iceland's Keflavik International Airport and the small fishing port of Grindavik are only just a few miles away, the area is uninhabited and the eruption was not expected to present any danger. Volcanic eruptions in the region are known as effusive eruptions, where lava flows steadily out of the ground, as opposed to explosive ones which spew ash clouds high into the sky. That quake has since been followed by an unusual number of smaller tremors - more than 50,000, the highest number since digital recordings began in 1991. The shifting of these plates is in part responsible for Iceland's intense volcanic activity.

Source: The Nation March 20, 2021 01:05 UTC