Project to drill tunnel to volcanic magma chamber

Iceland could make scientific history by becoming the first country to drill into a volcanic magma chamber in 2026.

Krafla volcano in northeastern Iceland. Photo: Fun Iceland — Krafla volcano in northeastern Iceland. Photo: *Fun Iceland*

In 2026, Iceland's Krafla Magma Test (KMT) project will drill a hole into the magma chamber of the Krafla volcano in the northeast of the country. The magma chamber, located 1.6 to 3.2 kilometers below the ground, will provide unlimited geothermal energy to Iceland's homes and buildings, the Mail reported on January 4. Despite the extreme temperature of the magma (1,300 degrees Celsius), experts say the project is safe and will not trigger a volcanic eruption in the country. "This is the first journey to the center of the Earth," said project manager Björn Þór Guðmundsson.

Iceland has tapped geothermal energy, heat generated deep within the Earth, to power turbines and generate electricity. Iceland’s geothermal power plants drill wells more than a mile deep to tap the heat. The heat is passed through turbines and the turbines spin to generate electricity, but this method only retains a small fraction of the available energy. Additionally, geothermal energy is relatively cool compared to the heat from fossil fuel power plants (250 degrees Celsius versus 450 degrees Celsius). That low temperature is inefficient. Instead, tapping the higher temperatures from magma chambers could lead to a more abundant energy supply.

“The point of producing energy from super-hot geothermal heat near magma is that these wells produce more energy than conventional wells. We can drill one well instead of 10 wells for the same level of electricity,” Guðmundsson explains.

Krafla, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted nine times between 1975 and 1984. Scientists can now pinpoint Krafla's magma chamber below the caldera with seismometers, at a depth of about 2 kilometers.

Since the late 1970s, there has been a geothermal plant at Krafla operated by Landsvirkjun, Iceland’s major electricity company. The company has drilled 33 geothermal wells in the area, but none of them go straight to the magma chamber. Getting to the magma chamber is not a problem, as other companies around the world have tried to drill much deeper. The problem is what happens to the drilling equipment once it reaches the magma chamber.

In 2009, during the Iceland Deep Drilling Project, experts accidentally drilled into a magma chamber at Krafla. But drilling had to be stopped after reaching a depth of 2,100 m when the drill bit came into contact with magma and corroded the steel in the wellbore. Testing proved that drilling into the magma chamber is safe and does not cause an eruption if the right equipment is used. "One of the main goals of KMT is to develop wells with suitable materials that can withstand such conditions," says Guðmundsson.

In 2026, the KMT project will break ground near that initial borehole and begin a journey to the magma chamber that could take two months. If successful, scientists will add sensors to the magma chamber to measure pressure, which could help improve eruption predictions. But that will involve developing sensors that can withstand the magma’s extreme heat, pressure, and acidity. Other experiments could then inject fluids into the chamber to change the pressure and temperature, and measure the results.

An Khang (According to Mail )

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