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Last week the 6,591ft tall Bardarbunga, a “powerful and versatile” volcano, was rattled by the four largest earthquakes since it last erupted in 2014.

The earthquakes, measuring magnitude 3.9, 3.2, 4.7 and 4.7 on the Richter scale, struck the caldera region over several days last weekend.

Another magnitude 4.1 earthquake hit the 200km long and 25km wide volcanic system earlier last week and several tremors struck in September.

Páll Einarsson, a volcanology expert at the University of Iceland, said the latest quakes are part of a series that have been “in progress for two years”.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Online, he said the volcano is “clearly preparing for its next eruption” within the next few years.

(Image: GETTY/ICELANDIC MET OFFICE)

The 10,000-year-old volcano spewed out large volumes of sulphur dioxide during its last seven-month eruption between August 2014 and February 2015.

Although the eruption did not disrupt flights, the emissions impacted air quality in Iceland, leading to health consequences across the country.

The Icelandic Met Office has not issued any warnings despite describing activity levels at the volcano as “high”.

The warning code is green – meaning the volcano is in a normal, non-eruptive state, according to the volcano monitor.

Yet memories of the 2014 eruption and the flight chaos caused by the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano the may worry airlines and locals.

Seven years ago Iceland’s massive Eyjafjallajökull erupted and spewed a choking veil of ash across Europe.

The deadly volcanic dust wiped out skies and grounded 100,000 flights, resulting in the economy losing £4 billion.

Should an eruption of Bardarbunga take place, it’s possible there could be a repeat.

(Image: ICELANDIC MET OFFICE)

Disaster expert Dr Simon Day, of University College London, said the earthquakes could “precede a large explosive eruption and consequent widespread ash fall”.

But he told Daily Star Online that “it is statistically unlikely to do so”.

Geophysicist Einarsson said magma has been building beneath the volcano since it last erupted in 2015.

He said: “The reason for the earthquakes in this place is that the volcano Bárðarbunga is inflating, i.e. the pressure of magma in the magma chamber is increasing It has been doing this since the last eruption ended, in February 2015.

“The volcano is clearly preparing for its next eruption, that may happen in the next few years.

“The earthquakes last week are just the symptoms of this process, they do not cause the volcano to erupt.”

(Image: GETTY)

Bárðarbunga is the largest and most powerful volcano in Iceland.

It is located under the northern part of the Vatnajökull glacier in South Iceland, Europe’s largest glacier.

Einarsson said it is “impossible” to predict when the volcano will erupt, but said Icelandic authorities must take action to prepare for “more disastrous eruptions”.

(Image: ICELANDIC VOLCANOS)

“It is impossible to predict what the next eruption will be like, but statistics says it is most likely to be rather harmless,” he said.

“Very few people have died in Icelandic eruptions in the last centuries.”

“Of course we have to be prepared for larger and more disastrous eruptions, but they are not common.”