Iceland volcano eruption opens a rare window into the Earth beneath our feet | HeritageDaily

The recent Fagradalsfjall eruption in the southwest of Iceland has enthralled the whole world, including nature lovers and scientists alike.

The eruption was especially important as it provided geologists with a unique opportunity to study magmas that were accumulated in a deep crustal magma reservoir but ultimately derived from the Earth’s mantle (below 20 km).

A research team from University of Oregon, Uppsala University, University of Iceland, and Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) took this exceptional opportunity to collect lava samples every few days in order to construct a…