In Iceland Volcanic activity is a fact of life and the local people have learned to live with both the drawbacks – and the many considerable advantages of its fierce magma, such as utilising the geothermal energy from the dramatic natural environment
Iceland is one of the most active volcanically active areas on Earth. Iceland is on the Mid-Atlantic ridge – a huge 40,000 km crack in the ocean floor. Tis crack is caused by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.
Each year, the landmass of Iceland grows by around 2.5cm – this is because it is getting wider where the two plates meet! In the Western part of Iceland, to the west of the volcanic area, sits on the North American plate and the Eastern part belongs to the Eurasian plate – this technically means that Iceland is actually two continents!
As Iceland is one of the most volcanically active areas on Earth, on average Iceland will experience a volcanic event every five or so years!
With all the power that is residing just beneath the earth’s crust, safety is a top priority in Iceland, volcanic / seismic activity is monitored really closely (https://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/volcanic-eruptions/) and local
Did you know…
Since the Middle Ages, a third of all the lave that has covered the Earth’s surface has erupted in Iceland!
Over 90% of housing in Iceland is heated by natural geothermal heat – one of the cheapest and cleanest forms of energy in existence