Fiery eruptions spewing from Iceland’s volcanoes could follow the tens of thousands of earthquakes that have shaken the nation over the past fortnight, scientists fear.

Experts monitoring underground magma movements in the Reykjanes Peninsula, in southwest Iceland, are on tenterhooks. Seismic whispers and changes in the land’s shape mean an “effusive volcanic eruption could occur”, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). But so far, nothing has happened.