This photo provided by the Icelandic Met Office shows an eruption, center right, on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland on Friday, March 19, 2021.
The long dormant volcano flared to life Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in that area's first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.
(Icelandic Met Office via AP)REYKJAVIK – A long dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland flared to life Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in that area's first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.
The Fagradals Mountain volcano had been dormant for 6,000 years, and the Reykjanes Peninsula hadn't seen an eruption of any volcano in 781 years.
But volcanologists were still taken by surprise because the seismic activity had calmed down before the eruption.