Yesterday (12-October-2022) an earthquake swarm started south and east of Grímsey island. This is in the same area as an earthquake swarm took place few weeks ago. Largest earthquakes so far in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,5. Larger earthquakes remain a possibility. Largest earthquakes have been felt in nearby populated areas.
Earthquake activity south of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This area has frequent earthquakes. This earthquake swarm might grow as sometimes happens. It might also equally just stop, since that is also something that earthquake swarm in this area do.
Today (12-October-2022) at 14:18 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,5 took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This earthquake was followed by few smaller aftershocks. This earthquake seems to be happening because of a inflation that is taking place in Fagradalsfjall volcano and this strongly suggests that inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano is slowly reaching critical levels. There is no eruption expected from Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano as is.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests that more stronger earthquake activity is possibly on the way. When it might start is difficult to know for sure. This has been the pattern in recent months. Earthquake activity starts to appears like this and then one day a major earthquake swarm starts. What happens now is a wait and see as before.
Since yesterday (06-October-2022) the earthquake activity has been increasing in the volcanoes Fagradalsfjall and Reykjanes volcanoes. Please note that Global Volcanism Program has updated the informations regarding Fagradalsfjall mountain and now classifies it as its own volcano, this is after a new report and information from Icelandic Met Office. From now on I am going to use that classification when updating on activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. I’ll not update older articles (too much work), but this also applies to them as such.
This also means that Fagradalsfjall is a new volcano in Iceland.
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano and Reykjanes volcano along with Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity at start of an eruption cycle in Fagraldsfjall volcano are not large. They grow larger once magma has started to push into the crust, until then the earthquake activity only seems to happens with minor earthquake swarms.
Article updated with new information.
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This earthquake swarm is around 1330 km away from Reykjavík and in the North Atlantic ocean. What is going on here is unclear, but this is probably an earthquake swarm before an eruption or during an eruption in that area. The ocean depth at this location is between 3 to 4 km so nothing is going to appear on the surface.
Earthquake activity on the edge of Reykjanes ridge. Screenshot from EMSC website.
Total of 61 earthquakes have been recorded since 26-September-2022 when this activity started. Largest earthquake so far had a magnitude of Mw5,7 but several earthquakes with magnitude of Mw5,0 appears to have taken place. Because how remote this area is only the largest earthquakes are being recorded. It is possible to monitor the earthquake swarm here on EMSC website.
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This is a short update on the earthquake swarm that is ongoing east of Grímsey island.
The earthquake swarm that started on 8-September-2022 east of Grímsey island is ongoing. Over 6000 earthquakes have been recorded at the writing of this article. Largest earthquakes in recent days have had a magnitude Mw4,2 and have been felt over a wide area. People living in Grímsey island and tourists in Grímsey island feel this earthquake swarm clearly.
Earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There are no signs of an eruption is about to start. That might change without warning, but I don’t know likely an eruption is in this location because there’s no good data on possibility of an eruption. There’s also no clear reading from any nearby GPS station. This most likely is just an earthquake swarm. The risk of a magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake in this area remains high and such earthquakes can happen without warning.
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During the night of 8-September-2022 at 04:01 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,9 took place east of Grímsey island. According to news reports this earthquake did wake up people in Grímsey island and was felt over a wide area in north-eastern Iceland. Over 22 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place since this earthquake swarm started. Over 700 earthquakes have been recorded at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is ongoing and number of earthquakes and possible stronger earthquakes might happen after this article is published.
Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake swarms like this are common in this part of Tjörnes Fracture Zone and happen every 2 to 3 years, it is longer between large earthquakes in the magnitude range of 6,0 to 7,0, but they do happen. This area has an volcano, but there are no signs that is currently active and remains dormant.
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Today (06-September-2022) at 13:19 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Torfajökull volcano. This earthquake took place in the caldera rim. There were few other minor earthquakes in the same location.
Green star in Torfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This area of the Torfajökull volcano caldera has been having activity for several years. The amount of activity in this area goes up and down and for the longest time now, there hasn’t been anything going on there. What is going on in this area is unclear, since I don’t see any obvious signals that an volcano activity is about to start in this area. Torfajökull volcano does not erupt lava flows, since its magma are Andesitic magma and up to Rhyolitic magma types [Magma types on Wikipedia]. That results in a ash cloud eruption. Last eruption in Torfajökull volcano was in the year 1477, probably triggered by a dyke intrusion from Bárðarbunga volcano.
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During the night of 6-September-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,5 took place 1,2 km south-west of Keilir mountain. The depth was 4,1 km. This earthquake was part of a swarm of earthquakes in that same area. All of them smaller than this earthquake.
Earthquakes close to Keilir mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm and activity strongly suggests that a new earthquake time period is about to start. If it is going to end in a eruption like in July – August is a wait and see situation. How this develops is also impossible to know. It seems that for now, this earthquake swarm is over. Earthquake activity is ongoing and continuos on Reykjanes peninsula and has been since 2021 when cycle of earthquake and volcano activity started.
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During the night of 27-August-2022 an earthquake swarm took place close to Eldeyjarboði blind skerry. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1. Other earthquakes where smaller and at this distance, only earthquakes with magnitude above Mw2,2 were detected. The distance from Reykjanestá is about 80 to 90 km. Last eruption in this area was in the year or around the year 1830. Location of the earthquakes detected is not accurate because of distance from the SIL network.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
What is happening at this location is unknown. This can just be normal tectonic activity or this can be earthquake activity related to volcanism at this location. It is impossible to know since the area is under ocean and unless an eruption is seen. This can be assumed to be normal tectonic earthquake activity in this area.
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Today (21-August-2022) at 15:28 UTC and 15:27 UTC two strong earthquakes took place at distance of 531 km from Reykjavík. The smaller earthquake had a magnitude of mb4,7 (EMSC information) and the larger earthquake had a magnitude of Mw5,1 (EMSC information). At 16:32 UTC an mb4,4 earthquake took place (EMSC Information).
This might be a eruption at this location or about to start. It is impossible to know for sure because of distance from the coastline and depth of ocean at this location. If an eruption happens, it is not going to be observed at all. The ocean depth at this location is 2,5 to 8 km (deepest areas).
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