It's a little hard to believe, but Iceland has experienced 18,000 earthquakes the space a week. Most of them have been too small to feel. The largest quake was February 24 and was a magnitude 5.6. The seismic activity suggests that a volcano the southwest of Iceland may be to erupt. Volcanoes southwestern Iceland have been dormant over 800 years, but seismologists believe an eruption could be imminent. Iceland is a volcanic island and is used to the occasional tremor. However, swarms quakes have unsettled residents the capital city Reykjavik. Scientists say despite the large number quakes, there has been very little damage.
Iceland is situated top the meeting tectonic plates deep in the earth. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust around 100km thick which Earth's land mass sits. The plates below Iceland are continually splitting apart and pushing North America and Eurasia away from each other an infinitesimally slow rate. Living a tectonic plate means seismic activity is inevitable. One Reykjavik resident spoke his anxiety caused by the 18,000 recent quakes. He said: "I have experienced earthquakes before, but never so many a row. It is very unusual to feel the Earth shake 24 hours a day a whole week. It makes you feel very small and impotent nature."
