And the North American tectonic plate. They� re slowly pulling apart from each other, but iceland is also above a geological hotspot deep inside the earth, where plumes of hot material can well upwards. The last eruptions in the Reykjanes Peninsula were in the 1200s, lasting for decades, but then nothing for 800 years, until five eruptions that started in march 2021. So, why was there such a Big Gap . 0ver geological time, the Tectonic Plates are pulling it apart about the speed that your Finger Nails grow, so a few centimetres every year. But they don� t seem to smoothly pull apart, they go through pulses of higher activity, and this is likely what we� re seeing right now, in the reykjanes. In 2010, in the south of the country, another eruption generated a giant ash cloud. It exploded through an ice sheet, which pulverised the ash into an even finer material, disrupting Air Travel across europe