Yesterday (12-January-2016) an earthquake swarm started in Tjörnes Facture Zone, south part of it. The earthquake swarm it self was a minor one, with strongest magnitude earthquake at magnitude 2,4. Other earthquakes so far have been smaller in magnitude. At the moment around 92 earthquakes have been recorded, over the past few hours the earthquake swarm has died down a little, but it might pick up at any time or stop completely, it is not possible to know what happens next.
The earthquake swarm in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office (en.vedur.is).
Earthquake swarms are common in TFZ so I write about it frequently. This area can have eruptions (based on historical data), but nothing suggest that is earthquake swarm is nothing more than a fault line earthquake activity in this area. The risk of stronger earthquakes remains high at the moment, if any such earthquakes happens is impossible to know. A magnitude 6,0 earthquake hit this area 40 years ago, the epicenter of that earthquake is slightly more east than current earthquake swarm (news in Icelandic with pictures can be found here ).
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Quake in Bardarbunga?
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/drumplot/drumplot/von.png
Yes, two. But the earthquake list only gave one magnitude 1,8 earthquake (clearly a incorrect magnitude). This plot shows two earthquakes. It was a low period earthquake, maybe a magnitude 3,0 or larger.
Good call , Green star @Bárðarbunga
Wednesday 13.01.2016 20:13:43 64.623 -17.475 0.6 km 3.2 99.0 3.2 km SE of Bárðarbunga
Seems like Bardy has sleep apnea just snorting ( or snoring ) but no real action yet.
Looks like a fair amount activity in the south west as well, I guess this is also rift activity?
http://www.volcanocafe.org/the-state-of-affairs-in-vatnajokull/
He is just speculating on rather unsound grounds in my view.
That is not my opinion. I’ve posted only for information and to discuss. 🙂
I know it’s not your opinion Mike, about the activities that took place during the 2014 -2015 BB saga:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282909663_Bardarbunga_Iceland_2014-15_Doming-induced_ring-fault_displacement_ice_flow_and_magma_transport_in_the_regional_dike
Although it is open for discussion, the results as shown have some clear implications on how to interpret the events and maybe also the upcoming.
Oh my gosh! After reading your link I am reminded of that Jethro Tull song, “Nothing is Easy”. So many things to consider!
Noticed quite a bit of the quakes in this swarm are deep. Magma moving?
At the moment this looks like a tectonic earthquakes. There are no earthquakes at more depth than 20 km at the moment. That means it’s no connected to any magma movement. Magma movement normally starts at more then 20 km depth and moves upwards. It can be seen in the earthquake pattern.
Kopasker has a star now looks like the double that’s listed overnight was a single at 01.49
For the last 48 hours 201 earthquakes have happened. That is a decent number of earthquakes.