Yesterday an earthquake swarm started in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This earthquake swarm doesn’t appear (it might be connected, but it is difficult to know currently) to be connected to the inflation that is happening at Fagradalsfjall volcano. Largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0. This earthquake swarm took place just south-west of Kleifarvatn lake.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm doesn’t seems to indicate an magma movement. There has not been any indicators (clear) that Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano has gone active. It remains a dormant volcano.
Yesterday (23. May 2023) at 19:22 UTC an earthquake swarm started east of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,8 at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is ongoing. The largest earthquake was felt in Akureyri and other nearby towns.
Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Around 130 earthquakes have happened in this earthquake swarm so far. This area of Iceland has frequent earthquake activity. This earthquake swarm might increase, as they sometimes do in this area. It is impossible to know when this activity is going to stop. It took me a little longer to write this article, because this is a frequent earthquake area and I was also trying to get a little break (I also have to do other things outside of this) in next few days from geology. How that goes is to be seen.
I also want to point people out that I have set-up a website that shows Icelandic Met Office harmonic tremor charts and other information for that area.
I also have a webicorder website with an earthquake recording that I run. I am trying to figure out how to install and run seismometer in Iceland again. Its a slow work in progress for me because of the technical problems I am dealing with.
Today (11. May 2023) there was a earthquake swarm in Þórðarhyrna volcano. This are small earthquakes, but their location and depth suggest that this is a dyke intrusion taking place at this location.
Earthquake activity in Þórðarhyrna volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Þórðarhyrna volcano is part of Grímsfjall volcano fissure swarm, that connects to Laki eruption fissures. Last eruption in Þórðarhyrna volcano was in the year 1902 to 1904 and had the VEI=4 according to Global Volcanism Program report that can be read here.
During the night of 4. May 2023 an earthquake swarm took place in the Reykjanes volcano out in the ocean. This was not a large earthquake swarm. Largest earthquake recorded had a magnitude of Mw3,4. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.
Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests an dyke intrusion in this area. This is part of Reykjanes volcano, but that volcano is in part out in the ocean. The Reykjanes volcano has been having regular dyke intrusion in recent years without it resulting in an eruption. That is most likely what is going to happen now.
This morning there was a strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. At the writing of this article the largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,8 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,7, the third largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,5. This earthquakes where felt in nearby farms and towns close to Katla volcano. Currently, a lot of smaller earthquakes have happened in Katla volcano.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There are no changes in harmonic tremor levels at the writing of this article. That makes an eruption unlikely to happen now. That might change later without warning. The air aviation code has been moved to yellow and can be viewed here.
I’ll write a new article if something more happens.
This morning (25. April 2023) an earthquake swarm started north of Grindavík town, next to the Blue Lagoon. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article. If this is going to result in a eruption is impossible to know. The magma has reached the depth of 2 km and that is not good news if this continues to intensify. Large earthquakes do not need to happen before an eruption starts under the correct conditions in the curst and there has been a lot of dyke activity in Reykjanes volcano in last 3 years. Without that activity resulting in a eruption.
Earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Eruption at this location would be bad, because of the tourist infrastructure next to this location that is the Blue Lagoon. Only thing that can be done now is to monitor the situation and see if it changes from what is currently happening.
It is possible to view the earthquake swarm in high resolution on Skjálfta-Lísa and other private websites that have similar maps.
Today (23. April 2023) at 15:!5 UTC an earthquake swarm took place in Grímsfjall volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,3. Few other smaller earthquakes also took place.
Earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There are no signs that Grímsfjall volcano is about erupt following this earthquake swarm. That might change without warning, but seems unlikely to happen at the moment. More earthquakes might happen in next few hours.
During the night of 23. April 2023 at 03:34 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This was just a single earthquake this time around. Depth of this earthquake was 4,6 km.
Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake shows that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate. This is now normal earthquake activity and happens every one to three months, sometimes the time between earthquakes is longer.
Today (18. April 2023) at 07:59 UTC an earthquake swarm started west of Grímsey island. The distance is around 36 km west of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw4,2 and was felt in Siglufjörður and Akureyri towns.
Earthquake swarm west of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
At the writing of this article, this earthquake swarm is ongoing and there’s a risk of stronger earthquakes in this area. This area last had a major earthquake swarm in June 2020. With largest earthquake in that swarm having a magnitude of Mw5,8.
Today (13. April 2023) there has been a small earthquake swarm in south part of Brennisteinfjöll volcano. This location had an earthquake swarm few weeks ago at this same location. It also was small in magnitude. Depth of this earthquake swarm has now decreased from 7 km to around 3 km. At least that is what it seems, based on the current earthquake data.
Earthquake activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity shows a sign of magma movement. It is my opinion that the magma is now pushing it self trough the crust at this location. That can take a while, up to several weeks before an eruption starts. I did see something similar happen before the Bárðarbunga volcano eruption in 2014. That process took good three months before the eruption and was marked by small earthquake swarm like this one. How long this is going to take is impossible to know, because what type of crust is at this location is not well understood (outside of types of rock it is made out of at the first top layers). This is in my view an earthquake activity that needs to be monitored, because of possible eruption risk at this location. This is directly north of a small lake south of the earthquake swarm. If an eruption happens and the lava flows into the lake, that might create a lot of problems.
This earthquake swarm can be viewed here in more details. The website is Skjálfta-Lísa and is only in Icelandic.
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