There is a long history of volcanic activity in Iceland, which has more than 30 active volcanoes. The country straddles two tectonic plates, which are themselves divided by an undersea mountain chain that oozes molten hot rock, or magma. Quakes occur when the magma pushes through the plates. “It confirms the nature of the activity we monitored in the past few weeks,” Dr. Einarsson said about the eruption. “There’s a lot of them, and that worries people, but there’s nothing to worry about, the world is not going to collapse.”

Source: New York Times March 20, 2021 08:28 UTC