In case you didn’t know, people keep world records for pretty much anything.

Anything, apparently, including how fast magma flows during a volcanic eruption – and, we have a new leader of the pack.

The volcano in question is located near the town of Grindavik, Iceland, and recently went from experiencing regular seismic activity to three giant eruptions in a row.

The town was evacuated as scientists realized a massive magma dike had formed underground.

Analysis estimates that the dike had a length of 9.3 miles, and after some time, researchers were also able to estimate the flow of magma into the area – “ultra-fast.”

The magma flowed into the dike at around 261,328.5 cubic meters per second. To put it into perspective (or try to), it’s like filling three Olympic sized swimming pools every second.

That’s 30 times faster than the flow rate of magma in the previous three eruptions in the area since 2021.

Scientists who feared this new volcanic system would be bigger than those previous three combined are unfortunately being proven right.

They’ve seen lava fountains 165-260 feet tall and a plume around 2 miles in altitude. Tephra, a frothy material that forms when lava quickly cools, was reported in Grindavik by the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

“A conspicuous, dark plume rises from one part of the eruptive fissure. This is likely due to magma interaction with groundwater which results in a slight explosive activity where white plume of steam mixes with dark volcanic plume. It seems that tephra does not travel far from the eruptive fissure at the moment. The volcanic plume is dispersed towards south-west.”

I don’t know about you, but when you’re worried about the next super-phenomenon that’s going to destroy the world, it’s hard to know where to look first.

There are just too many possibilities these days.

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