Iceland is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth because it straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, and sits atop a deep mantle plume or hotspot. This unique combination of rifting and abundant magma has built the entire island above sea level and keeps it constantly reshaping through eruptions and earthquakes.
Icelandic volcanoes are world-famous: Laki's 1783 eruption caused a continental haze and famine across Europe, Eyjafjallajökull's 2010 ash cloud grounded air traffic across the continent, and the Reykjanes Peninsula near the capital has entered a new eruptive cycle with repeated fissure eruptions since 2021. Earthquakes are frequent but usually moderate, concentrated along the rift zones and the South Iceland Seismic Zone.