Since this weekend, eyes have been on the town of Grindavik, Iceland, where three homes have been burned in recent hours. The fault lies with a volcano, which erupted on Sunday near this fishing port of 4,000 inhabitants, all of whom have since been evacuated. Lava had not reached houses for fifty-one years. “It’s unreal. It’s like watching a movie,” one of them told AFP on Monday. If they are very often synonymous with danger, why do volcanoes fascinate us so much, especially when they become active? Response elements with Jacques-Marie Bardintzeffvolcanologist at Paris-Saclay University and author of the work Volcanologist (The Harmattan).
Why are we attracted to images of erupting volcanoes?
It’s difficult to take your eyes off a report showing images of Iceland. Some tourists are even willing to cross the planet to get as close as possible to these active volcanoes. For Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff, it is the multiple paradoxes that surround them that explain such public fascination. “Volcanoes are both majestic, but also very disturbing. There is the beautiful on one side, and the destructive aspect on the other.”
Because beyond an impressive geological phenomenon, the erupting volcano takes us back to mythology. “Since humans have existed, the volcano has always been deified, among the Greeks, the Romans, the Mexicans, and even the Hawaiians,” continues Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff. During an eruption, all the elements meet: earth, air, fire, sometimes water… Like a struggle, like gods fighting. »
Isn’t it also simply because it’s pretty?
It is also because we do not know exactly what is taking place beneath our feet that these events have something mysterious. “Everything happens 100 km underground, while the radius of the Earth is 6,000 km. It’s both a lot and a little, explains the volcanologist. There, the temperature and pressure are such that the rock can melt, which is called magma. It can then rise through fractures which, if they open, creates an eruption. If it remains liquid, a lava flow is formed, as currently in Iceland. Projections can also occur, which is called an explosive eruption. »
In the first case, the show is also worth seeing for its aesthetic aspect. “Molten rock turns red, orange, or yellow when it is particularly hot. Nature is truly beautiful when it is unleashed, with all these colors, especially against a background of blue sky, black rock, snow, etc., believes the scientist. When you are there, a few meters away, it is exceptional. We are witnessing the birth of a rock, as at the beginning or end of the world. »
Even if they are destructive, do we have the right to be a fan of volcanoes?
Although they offer superb images, volcanoes have also caused terrible disasters, as again in 1985 in Colombia where the volcano Nevado del Ruiz caused 25,000 deaths. And particularly during fiery clouds, these clouds of gas and ash which can tumble at 300 km/h, leaving no chance to those in their path.
But volcanoes are also a source of life, recalls Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff. “Iceland wouldn’t exist without them!” These are underwater volcanoes which emerged and created Iceland, where people live very well most of the time, recalls the volcanologist. In fact, they are part of the ecosystem and are witnesses to the good health of planet Earth: it produces energy, releases it, and this is transformed into earthquakes, into oceans that open, into growing mountain ranges… Planets that do not have volcanoes are dead planets, like the Moon. »
Today, there are an estimated 1,600 active volcanoes on the continents. With, on average, 50 eruptions per year.