Today (22-November-2022) an earthquake swarm took place in Kolbeinsey island. This is far north of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1 and total of four of those earthquakes happened. More than dozen smaller earthquakes have happened. Because how far this activity is from Icelandic Met Office SIL network only the largest earthquakes are being measured.
Green stars show the earthquake activity in Kolbeinsey island. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
What is going on is unclear. This might just be normal tectonic activity for this area. There is only poor monitoring of this area since its out in the ocean and remote.
Yesterday (19-November-2022) at 21:13 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. This was a small earthquake swarm with just few earthquakes, but it had an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 taking place at 21:13:05. Just before and after this earthquake fewer smaller earthquakes took place.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
Since this earthquake activity stopped, everything has been quiet in Katla volcano.
This started on Monday (14-November-2022) with an earthquake of magnitude Mw2,0 at 25,6km depth. This depth is as deep as the crust goes in this location of Iceland. This earthquake activity has been followed by two micro-earthquakes of magnitude of Mw0,5 and Mw0,6 at 11,5 km depth.
Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
There are no clear or obvious signs that Hekla volcano is about to do anything. But this deep earthquake activity suggests magma movements at depth or pressure changes maybe. This is clearly not a big activity and at the writing of this article I don’t expect anything to happen.
Early morning today (10-November-2022) an swarm of earthquakes took place slightly north of the place where the eruption in August 2022 took place in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This possible dyke intrusion was small and only lasted for about 1 hour before it stopped. Depth of the earthquakes was from 5 km to 7 km.
Skjálfta-lísa high resolution map of the earthquake activity. From Icelandic Met Office website.
This activity might give a clue on in what area next eruption is going to take place in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Based on earlier eruption there won’t be any warning before an eruption earthquake swarm starts. In August that eruption started with a minor earthquake swarm, created from a dyke intrusion that was happening. In the hours before an eruption starts there’s going to be a strong earthquake swarm, based on what happened just before the eruption in August. It is interesting if the eruption activity moves north-east, rather than south-west. Why that happens, if it does so, is not something I am clear on why happens.
Today (9-November-2022) at 13:34 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Hengill volcano. This earthquake was felt in Hveragerði town and in Reykjavík. Few smaller earthquakes followed the larger earthquake.
Earthquake activity in Hengill volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
It looks like this earthquake swarm is over or close to end. I don’t expect anything major to happen in this earthquake activity.
Today (3-November-2022) at 11:06 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake took place a bit of a distance from land. This earthquake seems to be part of an activity that is now happening in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This seems to be an ongoing earthquake swarm in this area.
Earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
It is difficult to know what this earthquake activity means, if it means anything. Its been a while since Tjörnes Fracture Zone had a strong earthquake above Mw6,0 in this area and north of it. Earthquakes in Tjörnes Fracture Zone can go up to Mw7,0 in magnitude, those are rare and happen only after a long time period of quiet it seems.
Today (31-October-2022) at 15:00 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,2 took place at Herðubreið mountain. This earthquake started a swarm just east of the earthquake swarm that has been going on for more than a week now. Earthquake activity remains high at the writing of this article.
Earthquake activity around Herðubreið mountain. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
It is unclear what is going at this area. This looks like a tectonic earthquake activity, but there might be more in this than appears. At the moment, this is just earthquake activity and its unknown if that is going to change.
Today (31-October-2022) at 14:57 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal inflation earthquake as Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate after the large eruption in 2014 to 2015.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano, also in this image the earthquakes from Herðubreið mountain. Image is from Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is normal and happens every few months in Bárðarbunga volcano.
During the night of 27-October-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,0 took place at 02:13 UTC. This earthquake was followed by few minor earthquakes. This earthquake was also felt in Grímsey island and in Akureyri town.
Earthquake activity south east of Grímsey island. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
There’s a good chance of more earthquake activity in this area. Since this seems to connected to or be part of an earthquake swarm that started on 8-September-2022.
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Sometime yesterday (24-October-2022) a change happened in the earthquake swarm close to Herðubreið mountain. I am not sure when that change happened and it probably took few hours to happen before I detected it. But the change seems to be that now the earthquake swarm is at two locations and not just one. The second change is that the earthquake swarm is now getting more intense. The earthquakes at the writing of this article are minor, only magnitude Mw0,0 to Mw2,7 at the strongest. Nothing above Mw3,0 so far, but that might change without warning. Depth of this earthquake swarm is around 2 to 3 km at the writing of this article.
Earthquake activity close to Herðubreið mountain. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.
What is going to happen next is impossible to know. An eruption in this area has not happened for at least 12.000 years or even longer. I don’t know if stronger earthquake activity is required for this area for an eruption to happen. It already is rather fractured from older earthquake activity and rift activity, that makes it possible for magma to have easier paths to the surface without much earthquake activity. That is at least one idea on the situation in this area. I might be wrong on this, since I don’t have information on the finer details of the crust around Herðubreið mountain.
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