Category: Earthquakes

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Earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 in Katla volcano

Today (27. June 2023) at 07:42 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake was part of a earthquake swarm that had started few moments earlier. There is no change in harmonic tremor at the writing of this article and earthquake activity has slowed down again. This earthquake was felt in nearby areas.

Green star and red dots in Katla volcano caldera, along with older earthquakes from yesterday shown as blue and yellow dots. Time on map is 27. june. 23, 09:20 (Icelandic time).
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity seems to happen in active time periods with quiet period between them, when there are few to no earthquake activity. This activity is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Renewed earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (26. June 2023) the earthquake activity in Katla volcano increased again for few hours. Largest earthquake this time had a magnitude of Mw2,5. This earthquake activity has slowed down again. This earthquake activity is ongoing, even if there is no activity at the writing of this article.

A lot of orange dots and blue dots showing earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera. Time on image is 26. June. 23, 19:55 Icelandic time.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Its is still unclear what is going on in Katla volcano. There was no change in harmonic tremor following this earthquake activity. Showing that magma did not move in any obvious way when this earthquake activity took place.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (26. June 2023) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm is in a location in Reykjanes volcano that has been having repeated earthquake activity over the last few months. This strongly suggest that at this location there’s an active dyke that might erupt in the future.

Earthquake swarm out in the ocean close to Reykjanestá in the Reykjanes volcano. A lot of red dots piled on top of each other. Blue to orange dots located elsewhere on the Reykjanes peninsula. Time on map 26. June. 23. 16:05 (Icelandic Time).
Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,0. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. I am unclear on how many earthquakes have happened in Reykjanes volcano at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (24. June 2023) an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. Largest earthquakes had magnitude of Mw3,8 and Mw3,3. Other earthquakes have been smaller. This earthquake swarm is ongoing but has slowed down since this morning.

Two green stars in Katla volcano caldera along with blue and red dots that show this earthquake activity. It is spread over some area in the caldera. Time on image is 24. june 23, 13:45.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article there is no clear sign that an eruption is about to happen. That might change without a warning. This earthquake activity might stop and nothing more is going to happen until next time. That is what has been going on for the last few months and years.

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Second earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano in June (2023)

This month of June 2023. Bárðarbunga volcano has had it second earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1. This is a normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Few other earthquakes in other volcanoes that are close to Vatnajökull glacier area.
Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. It is going to be a long time until next eruption happens in Bárðarbunga volcano (expected, anything can happen).

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Earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano

In rather unusual activity, there have been earthquakes in Eyjafjallajökull volcano since yesterday (7. June 2023). It started with a small earthquake of magnitude Mw1,1 at 20,5 km depth. Earthquakes are few, so there’s clearly no risk for an eruption at the moment.

Blue, orange and red dot in Eyjafjallajökull volcano that is located west of Katla volcano and Mýrdalsjökull glacier. There are dots and red dots in Katla volcano and over the area in other volcanoes.
Earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It would be highly unusual if Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupts now, since it looks like that volcano is on ~200 year cycle when it comes to eruptions and between those cycles it remains quiet with no earthquake activity, or at most few earthquakes each years. This has been true since end of the eruption in 2010 in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. There however is the question is something has changed. I don’t have any answer yet, but this is something to keep an watch for. This might turn out to be nothing, as is the case most times.

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Earthquake close to Surtsey island

During the night of 6. June 2023 at 03:17 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,0 at the depth of 15,8 km, took place close to Surtsey island. This was just a single earthquake and only one smaller earthquake with magnitude of Mw1,1 took place at 03:20 UTC, it is possible that few smaller earthquakes took place at this same location without having been recorded because of distance from seismometers that Icelandic Met Office has.

Green star next to Surtsey island, that is located south-west of Vestmanneyjar islands. A yellow dot showing a smaller earthquake north of the green star. Second yellow dot is an ghost earthquake.
Earthquake next to Surtsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

No other earthquakes have happened in this location today. This is just one off earthquake activity currently and I don’t expect that to change.

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Regular earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

The regular once to two month earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano took place today (5. June 2023) at 00:04 UTC. This time the earthquake magnitude was Mw3,4. Few smaller earthquakes happened before the main earthquake took place. There has been minimal earthquake activity after the main earthquake.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano in Vatnajökull glacier. There is not a lot of other activity on this map. Time of map is 05. June. 23 time 12:00.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is regular earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. There is no risk of eruption from Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment.

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Increase in earthquake activity in Reykjanes and Fagradalsfjall volcano

During the night of 3. June 2023 an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano, at location called Reykjanestá. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0. Other earthquakes where smaller. This earthquake swarm suggests a magma movement, but it is difficult to be sure if that is what happened now.

Earthquake swarm out in the ocean next to Reykjanestá and there's also an earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. Time on map is 03. june. 23 12:35 (Iceland time)
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano and Fagradalsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Its been ten months since last eruption took place in Fagradalsfjall volcano. It is likely that a new eruption is going to happen soon, but it is impossible to know when. In last few weeks earthquake activity has been increasing in Fagradalsfjall volcano and that suggests that magma pressure inside the volcano is increasing. It just has not reached the levels to start a new eruption.

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Earthquake in Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík volcano

Today (30. May 2023) an earthquake took place in Krýsuvík volcano in Kleifarvatn lake. This earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1. I don’t know if this earthquake was felt, it is possible. This earthquake is the second earthquake in this magnitude range in last few days.

Green star in Kleifarvatn lake. Along with few other blue dots on Reykjanes peninsula showing earthquake activity in other volcanoes. One red dot in Reykjanes volcano just west of Grindavík town.
Earthquake activity in Keifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This seems to be normal earthquake activity, it doesn’t seems to be connected to any magma movement in Krýsuvík volcano. Effects of inflation in other volcanoes (Fagradalsfjall volcano) is something that might be starting to create earthquakes. This is difficult to see in the data at the moment, but that might change in next few weeks if that is happening.