A volcano erupted in Iceland on Wednesday near the capital Reykjavik, spewing red hot lava and plumes of smoke out of a fissure in an uninhabited valley after several days of intense seismic activity.

The eruption was around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Reykjavik, near the site of the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwestern Iceland that erupted for six months in March-September 2021, mesmerising tourists and spectators who flocked to the scene.

On Wednesday, a strip of glowing red lava could be seen gushing from the ground, spouting 20-30 metres (65-100 feet) into the air before spreading into a blanket of smouldering black rock.

As it cooled, blueish smoke rose up from the hilly landscape on the Reykjanes peninsula.

About 100 curious onlookers quickly made their way to the scene, bewitched by the sight of the bubbling lava and the intense roar that could be heard rising up from the ground as the lava erupted, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), which monitors seismic activity, estimated the size of the fissure at about 300 metres. It said the eruption started in the Meradalir valley, less than one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the scene of last year's eruption.

Wednesday's eruption came after a period of intense seismic activity, with about 10,000 earthquakes detected since Saturday, including two with a magnitude of at least 5.0.

While there was no ash plume, the IMO said it was "possible that pollution can be detected due to the gas release".

Gases from a volcanic eruption -- especially sulphur dioxide -- can be elevated in the immediate vicinity, and may pose a danger to health and even be fatal.

Gas pollution can also be carried by the wind.

"Risk to populated areas and critical infrastructure is considered very low and there have been no disruptions to flights", the Icelandic foreign ministry said on Twitter.

More than an hour after the start of the eruption, a commercial passenger jet could be seen flying over the eruption site at low altitude heading for Reykjavik's main airport Keflavik.

- Tourist magnet -

Last year's eruption saw more than 140 million cubic metres of magma spilled into the area over a period of six months before it was officially declared over after nine months, in December 2021.

Relatively easy to access, the site became a major tourist attraction, drawing more than 430,000 visitors, according to the most recent figures from the Icelandic Tourist Board.

Wednesday's eruption was believed to be five to 10 times bigger than last year's eruption, with about 20-50 cubic metres of magma spewing out per second, Magnus Tuma Gudmundsson, professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, told Icelandic media.

On Wednesday, rescue teams and police rushed to the scene to assess the danger and possible gas contamination, and discouraged people from visiting.

Iceland President Gudni Johannesson, who happened to be driving near the scene of Wednesday's eruption when it occurred, echoed that appeal.

"I just want people to be careful and know more before they go there into the unknown. If this eruption will be anything like the last one, there will be enough time, so there is no need to rush," he told the English-language media Iceland Monitor.

- Awakening -

Mount Fagradalsfjall belongs to the Krysuvik volcanic system on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland.

Known as the land of fire and ice, Iceland has 32 volcanic systems currently considered active, the highest number in Europe. The country has had an eruption every five years on average.

Wednesday's eruption was the country's seventh in 21 years.

However, until last year, the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption since the 13th century, when a volcano erupted for 30 years from 1210-1240.

Geophysicists have said that the 2021 eruption could signal the beginning of a new period of eruptions lasting centuries.

A vast island near the Arctic Circle, Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack on the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

The shifting of these plates is in part responsible for Iceland's intense volcanic activity.

Iceland's main volcanic eruptions
Reykjavik (AFP) Aug 3, 2022 - A volcano erupted just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Iceland's capital Reykjavik on Wednesday, spewing lava from a fissure in the ground near the site of a similar eruption last year.

Known as the land of fire and ice, Iceland is Europe's biggest and most active volcanic region, home to a third of the lava that has flowed on Earth since the Middle Ages, according to Visit Iceland.

The vast North Atlantic island straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack on the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

The shifting of these plates is in part responsible for Iceland's intense volcanic activity.

Thirty-two volcanic systems are currently considered active in the country.

Here are the main eruptions in Iceland's history:

2021

The eruption of the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano on March 19, just 40 kilometres from the capital Reykjavik, spewed more than 140 million cubic metres of magma into the valleys of Geldingadalur over six months, making it the longest Icelandic eruption in 50 years.

Lava had not flowed for eight centuries on the Reykjanes peninsula, and for nearly 6,000 years where the eruption occurred, according to vulcanologists.

Relatively easy to access, the eruption became a major tourist attraction, drawing more than 430,000 visitors, according to the Icelandic Tourist Board.

2014-2015

Bardarbunga, a volcano located under the Vatnajokull glacier -- Europe's largest ice cap -- in the heart of southern Iceland's uninhabited highlands, erupted for five months, both under the ice and breaching the surface in a fissure at the Holuhraun lava field.

It created Iceland's biggest basalt lava flow in more than 230 years but caused no injuries or damage.

2011

The Grimsvotn volcano, also located under the Vatnajokull glacier, is Iceland's most active volcano. Its latest eruption was in May 2011, its ninth since 1902. Over one week, it spouted a cloud of ash 25 kilometres (15 miles) into the sky, causing the cancellation of more than 900 flights, primarily in the UK, Scandinavia and Germany.

2010

In April 2010, enormous plumes of ash billowed into the sky for several weeks during the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, causing the biggest air traffic disruption in peacetime until the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 100,000 flights were cancelled, leaving more than 10 million travellers stranded.

1973

In one of the most dramatic eruptions in the country's recent history, the island of Heimaey in the Westman Islands awoke one January morning to an eruption in a fissure just 150 metres (yards) from the town centre. The eruption of the Eldfell volcano occurred not only in a populated area -- one of the country's then most important fishing zones -- but it also surprised locals at dawn. A third of homes in the area were destroyed and the 5,300 residents were evacuated. One person died.

1918

Considered one of Iceland's most dangerous volcanoes, Katla's last eruption added five kilometres of land mass to the country's southern coast. Located under the Myrdalsjokull glacier, when Katla erupts it ejects large quantities of tephra, or solidified magma rock fragments which are disseminated in the air and carried by the powerful glacier flooding caused by melting ice. Averaging two eruptions per century, Katla has not erupted violently for more than 100 years and experts say it is overdue.

1875

Virtually unknown at the time, Askja, Iceland's second-biggest volcano system, erupted in three distinct phases. Two of the three ash clouds rose more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) into the sky. The toxic fallout across Iceland, which in some places reached a thickness of 20 centimetres (eight inches), killed livestock, contaminated the soil and sparked a wave of emigration to North America. Isolated in a plateau and far from civilisation, Askja is today a popular tourist attraction and its lava fields were used to train astronauts for the 1965 and 1967 Apollo missions.

1783

The eruption of the Laki volcanic fissure in the south of the island is considered by some experts to be the most devastating in Iceland's history, causing its biggest environmental and socio-economic catastrophe: 50 to 80 percent of Iceland's livestock was killed, leading to a famine that left a quarter of Iceland's population dead.

The volume of lava, nearly 15 cubic kilometres (3.6 cubic miles), is the second-biggest recorded on Earth in the past millennium.

The meteorological impact of Laki's eruptions had repercussions for several years in the Northern Hemisphere, causing a drop in global temperatures and crop failures in Europe as millions of tonnes of sulphur dioxide were released. Some experts have suggested that the consequences of the eruption may have played a part in triggering the French Revolution, though the issue is still a matter of debate.

The volcano's 130 still-smoking craters were placed on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2019, along with the entire Vatnajokull national park to which it belongs.

934

The eruption of Eldgja -- which means "canyon of fire" in Icelandic -- is the biggest basalt lava eruption the world has ever seen. Part of the same volcanic system as the mighty Katla volcano, the Eldgja fissure is 75 kilometres long, stretching to the western edge of Vatnajokull. The eruption led to two large lava fields covering 780 square kilometres (301 square miles).

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