Spectacular images of the Blue Lagoon surrounded by volcanic lava

The lava that flowed from Iceland’s latest volcanic eruption engulfed the main parking lot of one of Iceland’s largest tourist attractions last Thursday, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. A tongue of black and orange lava could be seen covering the area where there used to be 350 cars or coaches every day. A service building used to store visitors’ belongings was also engulfed by lava, but there did not appear to be an immediate threat to the thermal pools as a defensive wall contained the lava. The fishing village of Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon were evacuated on Wednesday night after an eruption in the Sundhnukagigar volcanoon the Reykjanes Peninsula, for the seventh time in a year. Most of the 4,000 inhabitants of Grindavik They were evacuated a year ago, shortly before the first eruption. Since then, almost all the houses have been sold to the state, and their residents have left. The peninsula’s volcanoes had not erupted for eight centuries until March 2021, when a period of increased seismic activity began. Iceland is home to 33 active volcanic systems, more than any other European country. It is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a fault on the ocean floor that separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates and causes earthquakes and eruptions.