Category: Earthquakes

Posted on

Update on Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall mountain eruption on 21-March-2021

This information is going to get outdated quickly. This article covers Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This article is written on 21-March-2021 at at 00:40 UTC.

  • This eruption is tiny. The amount of magma erupted is now around 0.02km3 but this number might not be fully accurate since I’ve not seen any published number about of volume of lava erupted so far.
  • This is unconfirmed but it is possible that an new fissure opened up under the lava field next to the hill side (seen on the web camera, this is on the left side).
  • The current erupting fissure is now about 200 meters long and might be getting shorter.
  • Earthquake activity has almost stopped at the writing of this article.
  • This eruption might only last 1 to 3 days before it stops.
  • There is no sign of deflation in the GPS data at the writing of this article.

There are no other reports about this eruption at current time. This might change without warning.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi frá eldstöðvunum – Rúv.is – Live from the eruption.

Beint vefstreymi af eldgosinu – Vogastapi (Rúv.is) – Added 22-March-2021. View from a distance. Should show a red glow from the eruption if the weather isn’t too bad. – This web camera is no longer active!

Update at 15:28 UTC – One side of the main crater collapses

Here is a video of the main crater collapse on one side and give lava a new path for short period of time. At the writing of this update that path for the lava has closed down again.

Gígbarmurinn gefur sig og ný hraunrennslisæð myndast (Rúv.is)

Update at 21:21 UTC

Kvikustreymið braut sér nýja leið (Rúv.is) – This is a new video of the crater collapse that took place at 14:20 today (21-March-2021).

Article updated at 15:29 UTC. New information added.
Article updated at 21:21 UTC. New information added.
Article updated at 03:06 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera added.
em>Article updated at 16:34 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera has been removed by Rúv – comment added to that web camera.

Posted on

Overview of the eruption in Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall mountain

This is a short overview of the eruption that is now ongoing in Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall mountain area. This is part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system according to latest information. This information might change as the time and more information is collected. This article is written on 20-March-2021 at 02:58 UTC.

  • This is the first eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system since the year 1340.
  • The eruption started at 20:45 UTC according to Icelandic Met Office.  The harmonic tremor from the eruption is almost invisible.
  • The fissure is at the writing of this article estimated about to be 1 km long with the direction south-west and north-east.
  • Currently the eruption is small and there is no risk of damage to any infrastructure. Next road (currently closed because of earthquake damage) that might get damaged is 2,5 km distance from the eruption site.
  • This eruption suggests that more eruption might start in different fissures once this eruption is over.
  • The valley that the lava is flowing into might get filled with lava if the eruption lasts long enough. The valley next to it is equally deep so there is no danger of this lava flow.
  • The eruption is in a area that is difficult to access even by a car.

 

The earthquake activity in the dyke between Fagradalsfjalls and Keili. Mostly just minor eartquakes show by red dots
The earthquake activity in the dyke. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The eruption might only last for two to three days as it currently looks but that might change without warning since it is impossible to know for sure what is going to happen next with this eruption.

There are no good web cameras of this eruption since it is remote and started late on Friday night and the weather on Reykjanes peninsula is not good for today (20-March) or tomorrow (21-March).

Updated at 04:49 UTC. Web cameras added to this article.

Rúv – Beint vefstreymi af eldgosinu – Vogastapi
Beint vefstreymi frá eldstöðvunum – Rúv.is – New! This web camera is closest to the eruption.
Road camera 1
Live from Iceland – Keilir
Live from Iceland – Reykjanes

Article updated at 03:49 UTC. Information added. Spell check fixes.
Article updated at 04:52 UTC. Web cameras added.
Article updated at 14:44 UTC. New web camera added from Rúv.

Posted on

Eruption confirmed in Fagradalsfjall mountain

This article is going to go get updated soon as possible or a new article is going to be written. This information is going to get outdated quickly. This is Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano.

This volcano eruption seems to have started without any earthquake activity or major harmonic tremor as of writing of this article. More information later this evening.

Update at 22:46 UTC

Here is a web camera link from Rúv. It might work. But all the web cameras are getting heavy traffic now.

Update 22:56 UTC

This is the possible location of the eruption based on satellite images of the area. This is in eastern side of Fagradalsfjall mountain. This is from Icelandic Met Office.

Update at 23:13 UTC

This the first picture of the eruption. The fissure is about 200 meters long at the writing of this article. Picture is from Icelandic Met Office.

Update 00:05 UTC on 20-March-2021

Video of the eruption. Video from Icelandic Met Office. Downloaded from Twitter.

Update at 00:56 UTC on 20-March-2021

Here is a new video of the eruption on Rúv website.
Title of the article was also fixed.

Posted on

Inflation slows in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system

This is a short article that because the situation can change without warning and article is written on 19-March-2021 at 21:07 UTC. There have been updates to names used and now Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja name is used by Global Volcanism Program and Icelandic Met Office. Suggesting that the magma that is about to erupt has its origin in Krýsuvík volcano system eat of current centre of activity. This sometimes happens in Iceland when magma travels long distances deep underground.

Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system with two green stars showing two earthquakes with magnitude larger than three
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Today at 15:01 an earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw3,1. This earthquake has in my view clear signs of magma movement close to the surface as the depth of this earthquake was just 0,1 km (100 meter).

A magnitude 3,1 earthquake that took place. Image shows P wave and a S wave and a long period after the S wave
A magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake that took place today at 15:01 UTC.

This earthquake strongly suggests that magma created it at shallow depth. It has not yet resulted in an eruption but it is a question if this the final sign before an eruption happens. The current quiet time might last up to 2 months but it is impossible to know for sure.

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano early morning of 19-March-2021

At 04:30 this morning (19-March-2021) an earthquake swarm started just off the coast of Reykjanestá. This activity looks tectonic in nature for now but it is highly focused in one location. This earthquake activity did start on 24-February-2021 when the Mw5,7 earthquake happened. This activity was only going on for short period of time on 24-February-2021 before it stopped until now.

Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá shown by few green stars. A lot of earlier activity is in Fagradalsfjall mountain area.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá in the far left corner of this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,7 but in total of 10 earthquakes with magnitude above 3 took place in this earthquake swarm. Around 100 earthquakes where recorded at the writing of this article but after 06:00 this earthquake swarm slowed down from its peak activity around 05:50. This earthquake swarm might increase again without warning.

Posted on

Update on the activity between Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountains

This is a short article written on 17-March-2021 at 17:49 UTC. The situation can change without warning.

It has been less activity in in Fagradalsfjall volcano (Krýsuvík volcano). Current day to day change is not a lot at the writing of this article but it is also possible that bad weather that is now passing over Iceland is masking some of the smaller earthquakes in the dyke between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Inflation continues at what seems to be about the same rate as yesterday (16-March-2021).

Earthquake activity shows but less then in last few days. Most of the red dots are located between mountain Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountain after change in earthquake after the weekend
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano located between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Number of strong earthquakes has dropped after the strong earthquake activity during last weekend (12 to 14 March). What also changed is that the dyke can’t move more south then it already has. It seems that it hit a impasse in the crust that it was unable to break or go around (harder crust is the most common why this happens). The current status is a waiting for the eruption to start and when that happens is impossible to know.

Since there is not a lot of change going on at the writing of this article I am going to slow down the number of updates I am posting. Next update is going to be when something happens or at the latest Monday 22-March 2021.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Borgarfjall (Rúv.is) If an eruption happens it might be visible here – This web camera no longer works.
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti – This web camera no longer works.
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)
Live from Iceland – Keilir – This web camera is working (I think).

Donations

Please remember to support my work if you can. Donations help me staying away from always being broke. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated on 18-March-2021 at 20:07. Web camera updates.

Posted on

Inflation continues in Fagradalsfjall mountain, eruption expected close to or in Nátthagi valley

This is a short article because the situation is always changing. This article is written on 15-March-2021 at 21:23 UTC. This article is about Fagradalsfjall volcano but Icelandic Met Office updates go to Krýsuvík volcano so I link to that volcano also.

Between Friday and Monday the activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano was really strong. Several earthquakes with magnitude above Mw4,0 took place and the second largest earthquake took place on Sunday 14-March at 14:15 UTC with the magnitude of Mw5,4. Earlier that day at 12:34 UTC an magnitude Mw5,2 earthquake had taken place. According to the news (Icelandic) over 50.000 earthquakes have taken place since 24-February-2021 when this earthquake activity started (20 days ago). Of those six have been larger than magnitude 5, earthquakes with magnitude between 4 to 5 have been 53 and total of 524 earthquakes with magnitude between 3 to 4. Inflation is now reported to be 20 cm or 10 cm on both sides of the dyke. Eruption is expected to happen close to or in Nátthagi valley soon. When that happens is impossible to know but the magma inflow into the dyke doesn’t show any signs of slowing down or stopping.

A lot of red dots on Reykjanes peninsula showing the earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall mountain area where the eruption is going to happen. Few green stars showing the largest earthquakes on the map.
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall mountain and nearby area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It has also been reported that the magma dyke managed to push it self a little more south in the line it had been then compared to Friday according to newest data that scientists have access to. Today (15-March-2021) earthquake activity has been small and slow but after 16:30 UTC it started to increase again but at the writing of this article no major earthquake has happened. It has mostly been small earthquakes taking place.

If anything major happens I’ll post update soon as possible.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Borgarfjall (Rúv.is) Nátthagi valley web camera
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Everything continues to be locked down with Google Adsense and I don’t know when that is resolved or if that gets resolved at all. Thanks to everyone that has supported me already. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Magma dyke seems to have stopped close to Nátthagi valley south of Fagradalsfjall mountain

This article is short because the situation is always changing. This is about the volcano Fagradalsfjall but I have also added Krýsuvík because that volcano is being updated at Global Volcanism Program website. I am not sure currently what volcano is considered active in this make injection. This article is written at 20:39 UTC.

Today (12-March-2021) at 07:43 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,0 at 3,7 km depth took place close to Nátthagi valley just south of Fagradalsfjall mountain. Over the last 48 hours 72 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place. This earthquake activity is happening at the south end of the magma dyke that has now stopped moving south but continues to expand based on the earthquake activity that is now happening. This is also the location where an eruption might happen without any warning or strong earthquake activity. Eruption out on the ocean is no longer considered a possibility because the magma dyke stopped moving south.

Dense earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in the Fagradalsfjall or Krýsuvík volcanoes. A lot of green stars on the map
The dense earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall or Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

GPS data shows that inflation remains heavy and has moved some GPS stations up to 120mm over a time period of two weeks. There are no signs of this inflation stopping or slowing down.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Borgarfjall (Rúv.is) If an eruption happens. This camera maybe has the best view
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti
Live from Iceland
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)

Next article is going to be on Monday 15-March-2021 if an eruption doesn’t happen or something else major doesn’t happen. I am hoping to get weekend break this weekend. If that is going to be successful is currently unclear.

Donations

People remember to donate to support my work if you can. Thanks to everyone that have donated already. It helps me a lot. Thanks for the support.

Posted on

Strong earthquakes west of Grindavík village and update on magma dyke movements

This is a short article about the activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This article is written on 11-March-2021 at 17:34 UTC.

This morning at 08:53 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,5 took place west of Grindavík town. Second earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 took place at 09:03 UTC. This earthquakes are not connected to any magma movement in this location. The reason for this earthquake activity is because of the inflation from the Fagradalsfjall volcano dyke. According to new measurements the dyke in Fagradalsfjall volcano is moving around 500 meters every 24 hours. Currently the dyke has moved more south but it was moving south-west yesterday and the days before that. Today (11-March-2021) the dyke has only 2 to 3 km left until it goes under the ocean and a road called Suðurstrandarvegur (road 427). If the magma reaches the ocean and an eruption starts, it is going to be an explosive eruption while the ocean can access the main craters that are erupting. Depending on locations this can go on for weeks and is going to form new islands that might only exist for short time period until the ocean erodes them away.

Dense earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in the volcano Fagradalsfjall. Three green stars west of Grindavík town and a lot of red dots showing new earthquake activity.
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

If an eruption happens before the magma dyke reaches the ocean the magma only has 2 to 3 km left until it reaches the ocean and it is now expected if that happens that the lava is going to reach the ocean in 6 to 10 hours and go over Suðurstandarvegur (road 427). Since 24-February-2021 over 34.000 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office in this volcano activity.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Borgarfjall (Rúv.is) New!
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti (Rúv.is)
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)
Live from Iceland

Posted on

Update on Fagradalsfjall volcano activity on 10-March-2021

This is a short update on the activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This article is written at 21:08 UTC.

Since Monday 8-March-2021 there has been a lot going on and there are no signs of this activity slowing down. Currently it seems that the volcano dyke is expanding to the south and that is more into Fagradalsfjall mountain that is a earlier eruption structure from maybe few million years ago. This expansion of the magma dyke is resulting in strong earthquake activity and during the night the strongest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw5,1 at 03:15 UTC. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,6 at 08:50 UTC. Over the last 48 hours 68 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place. Smaller earthquakes are happening with the rate of 1 to 5 or more earthquakes at every minute. Since 24-February-2021 over 34.000 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office.

Dense earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Dense location of green stars that shows the location of the main active area. A lot of red dots showing smaller earthquakes
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The chance of an eruption are increasing according to Icelandic Met Office in the news this evening. While the magma dyke has space to expand it is going to do so. The magma in the dyke is now at the shallowest only at 1 km depth or less. Exact depth has been problematic to get information about. Eruption can happen without much earthquake activity because how shallow the magma is to the top of the crust. There remains a high risk of an earthquake with magnitude Mw6,0 to Mw6,5. Both in the fracture areas on both ends of the dyke and in Brenninsteinsfjöll volcano.

Next update is going to be on Friday (12-March-2021) unless something major might happen.

Donations

Please donate if you can. Everything is still locked down with Google Adsense that doesn’t seems to have liked the traffic increase my website got when the Fagradalsfjall volcano started going active on 24-February-2021. There is nothing I can do about it since there are exactly zero person to contact with Google Adsense and I just have to hope this is somehow resolved if that is what happens (it might not because Google placed their eggs in the automation basket and that’s not a good thing). Thanks for the support. 🙂