This is a short article about ongoing activity in Reykjanes volcano.
At 17:38 UTC an magnitude Mw4,3 earthquake took place in Eldvörp crater row. This earthquake was felt over a wide area of south Iceland and on Reykjanes peninsula.
Strong earthquake activity west of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
As it currently is, the earthquake activity in this area is going to continue to increase until an eruption starts. When that might happen is not something I can predict.
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Updated at 20:52. Icelandic Met Office downgraded this earthquake when it was reviewed again. This article has been updated in accordance with the new information.
Today (15-May-2022) a strong earthquake activity started in Eldvörp crater crow west of Grindavík town. Largest earthquake at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw4,1. Stronger earthquakes are a possibility. Total of five earthquakes with magnitude stronger than Mw3,0 have taken place since 11:00 UTC this morning. More than 100 earthquakes that are smaller in magnitude have happened since then.
Earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano in Eldvörp crater row. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
I am not seeing any clear signs that this earthquake activity is because of tectonic activity. This earthquake activity is in my personal view because of magma trying to find a path to the surface, something that it seems to struggle with. A process that was also seen just before the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. The difference now is that an eruption in this area might be a magnitude or two larger than an eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain, until an eruption starts, this is just a speculation. It is impossible to know when an eruption is going to start at this location, or if it is going to start. That is the most likely outcome of all this, but volcanoes remain unpredictable.
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Today (14-May-2022) at 16:56 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,8 took place in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. This earthquake was clearly felt in Reykjavík, Selfoss and large parts of south and south-west Iceland. Depth of this earthquake seems to be 7,8 km.
Earthquake activity in Þrensli, just south of Reykjavík city. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is unclear in my personal view if this is just a normal fault earthquake that might be possibly connected to SISZ or if this is because of stress changes from all the inflation of Krýsuvík and Fagradalsfjall volcanoes. There is a chance of larger earthquake in this area following this earthquake. When that earthquake might happen is impossible to know.
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There is a an ongoing earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano and it has been going on for more than a week now. Location of this swarm has moved a little and the main earthquake activity is now at Reykjanestá area out in the ocean. There have been five earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 today (13-May-2022) and the largest so far had a magnitude of Mw3,5.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge and on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests two things. Either the magma has not been able to find a path to the surface close to Grindavík town. The second option is that there are two dyke intrusions happening in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake activity slows down but never fully stops it seems. It is unclear why that happens. I am expecting earthquake activity to get stronger until an eruption starts somewhere in Reykjanes volcano.
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Today (10-May-2022) during the night an earthquake swarm started in a new location in the volcano Reykjanes. This location is about 11 km south of Keflavík International Airport, it is also close to a village named Hafnir. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0 and Mw3,2. The second earthquake was felt in the area. A lot of smaller earthquakes also took place at this location.
Green stars in Reykjanes volcano where the activity took place. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests that a new magma injection is taking place in this location. The chance of an eruption is in my view high for this location, when it might happen is impossible to know. There is a old lava field in this area and some say it might be from last ice age. I am not sure on the exact age of this lava field, the crater that created this old lava field has eroded away by the ocean centuries ago.
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During the night of 10-May-2022 an earthquake swarm took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and based on distance from the coast it is unlikely that this earthquake was felt.
Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is normal for this part of Tjörnes Fracture Zone. It is not possible to know what is going to happen next in this activity if anything and it might just stop.
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The earthquake swarm in Trölladyngju-Krýsuvík volcano continues. The earthquake activity increased again this morning (7-May-2022). This earthquake activity suggests that magma is on the move in this area of Kleifarvatn lake.
Largest earthquakes in this swarm today (7-May-2022) had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,5. Both earthquakes where clearly felt in Reykjavík area.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano in Kleifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity continues with short breaks. I am not clear on why that is happening. One possible reason for this is that there is a drop in the pressure of the magma at this location or that the magma is trying to find easier path to the surface. This pattern of activity might make it longer until an eruption happens in Kleifarvatn lake.
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Yesterday (04-May-2022) an earthquake swarm started in Kleifarvatn lake that is in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,4 but earthquakes down to magnitude Mw2,9 where felt in Reykjavík.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is difficult to be exactly sure what is going on. However, most signs suggest that this earthquake swarm that is ongoing is because if magma movement or magma trying to push upwards in the crust at this location. Earthquake activity is showing a small amount of fluctuation and I don’t know why that is happening. Eruption in this area is likely, it is however impossible to know when that might happen.
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Moving to Denmark
I am currently moving back to Denmark. Until middle of June or start of July updates might be slower because of limited internet access.
At 08:12 UTC on 30-April-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Presthnúkur volcano. This earthquake was felt in Geysir south of the area where the earthquake took place.
Earthquake activity in Presthnúkar volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Few smaller earthquakes took place after the strongest earthquake. It has to noted that those earthquakes where in the different part of the volcano and are possibly not aftershocks.
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Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano (Global Volcanism Program website remains down) is ongoing with little breaks. Largest earthquake in the last 48 hours had a magnitude of Mw3,1. I don’t know if it was felt. This earthquake activity shows that magma continues to inflate this part of the Reykjanes volcano.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is part of a higher than normal earthquake activity in this area. It has been ongoing since 2019, with the most quiet period during the six month long eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. I don’t know when the crust is going to break on that magma that is in this area. It might not happen with a large earthquake swarm or activity. A earthquake small as Mw2,5 might start an eruption in this area.
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Please remember to support my work with donations. It helps me greatly. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Moving to Denmark
I am moving to Denmark in May. That means that for some time there is going to be a time where I am not going to be able to post a lot of updates even if something happens. This also means that my earthquake monitoring at Hvammstangi is going to shut down. Because of how the internet is today. I am unable to transmit data from a remote computer to a main computer over the internet. I don’t know why this is, but I suspect that there is some type of new attack going on, resulting in WinSDR server program crashing on the data transmission at random times. I am going to start recording earthquakes in Denmark after I finish moving. This are however only going to be larger earthquakes down in the Mediterranean area, Greece and that area where larger earthquakes often happen. I also consider this a fine change for me, since I’ve been recording earthquakes in Iceland since 2008 and I’ve got a lot of backlog to work through because of high earthquake activity because of volcano activity in recent years. My earthquake website can be found here.
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