Category: Earthquakes

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano this morning

Today (27-July-2020) a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. This was just normal earthquake swarm at shallow depth that is often the case with earthquakes in Katla volcano.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,4 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw2,8. Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. No harmonic tremor change was seen before or after the earthquakes took place. This earthquake has been connected to emptying of glacier water filled cauldron in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. This happens frequently in the summer.

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

During the night of 23-July-2020 at 05:36 UTC a magnitude Mw3,3 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. There was no change in harmonic tremor following this earthquake and that means that magma stayed were it is in Katla volcano. In the hours since this earthquake took place there has not been any increase in earthquake activity or harmonic tremor change in Katla volcano.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earlier earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw2,4 and Mw2,7. All other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. I don’t expect anything more to happen now and Katla volcano remains quiet.

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Strong earthquake swarm close to Fagradalsfjall (Reykjanes volcano)

Yesterday (19-July-2020) at 23:36 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw5,1 took place 0,3 km south-west of a mountain called Fagradalsfjall that is inside Reykjanes volcano. This is the same location that I wrote about in earlier article. At the writing of this article 1340 earthquakes have happened over the last 48 hours. Second largest earthquake took place at 06:23 UTC today (20-July-2020) and had a magnitude Mw5,0. At the writing of this article 26 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place. Some rock slides have happened during this earthquake swarm when the largest earthquake took place and more rock slides might happen in this activity.


The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano. A lot of wrong locations are on this map because the SIL network can’t handle all the earthquakes that are happening. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity has been connected to magma injection and inflation in Reykjanes volcano. Currently it is not known if magma has moved into the direction were this earthquake swarm is. At the writing of this article the earthquake swarm has slowed down in activity. How long this slowdown is going to last is difficult to know for sure. There is more risk for strong earthquakes in this area.

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Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano

Over the last few hours there has been an earthquake swarm close to mountain called Fagradalsfjall in or close to the volcano called Reykjanes. At the writing of this article no earthquake with magnitude over Mw2,0 have happened. That might change without a warning.


The earthquake swarm in the volcano Reykjanes or close to it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there isn’t anything suggesting that magma is on the move at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is something to watch out for since this might increase in size and magnitude over the next few hours. Inflation data from GPS measurements from this area are still unclear. There is also ongoing earthquake swarm north of Grindavík town but it has quieted down in last few hours.

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Three strong earthquakes in Tjörnes Fracture Zone close to Gjögurtá

During the night (19-July-2020) three earthquakes took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone on the Flatey – Húsvík fault. Around midnight earthquake activity started to increase on the Flatey – Húsavík fault. The first earthquake with magnitude Mw3,0 took place at 02:54 UTC and the largest earthquake with magnitude Mw4,4 took place at 03:07 UTC and the second largest earthquake with magnitude Mw3,3 took place at 07:05 UTC. More earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 can’t be ruled out and there remains a risk of earthquake with magnitude of Mw7,0 is going to happen in this area.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is the largest earthquake since 8th July 2020 when a magnitude Mw4,2 earthquake took place in this area in the rift valley that is also active during this earthquake swarm. Over 14.000 earthquakes have been recorded since start of this earthquake swarm on 19th June 2020. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Two strong earthquakes north of Grindavík town

This morning (18-July-2020) two strong earthquakes that were felt in Grindavík town and Reykjanes area took place this morning at 05:54 UTC and 05:56 UTC in the volcano Reykjanes. Earlier earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and the second earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,1. There isn’t a lot to go on by the GPS data that is showing any inflation taking place following this earthquake swarm. The strongest earthquakes were also rather shallow being only at 2,5 km depth.


The earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This magma intrusions are a repeated pattern and now strongly suggests that a eruption is going to happen in this volcano. When is impossible to know. What is most likely to happen is that more and stronger earthquake swarm might happen. Current depth of smaller earthquakes in this swarm is now from 8 km to 0,1 km. This appears just to be earthquakes in the rocks at the most shallow depths for now due to pressure changes at more depth from magma. There is a risk of stronger earthquakes in this area because of this dyke intrusions.

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Two strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano yesterday (14-July-2020)

This article is a bit late because I didn’t have the energy to write it yesterday (14-July-2020).

Two earthquakes with magnitude 3,0 (at 23:41 UTC on 13-Jyly-2020) and a magnitude Mw3,6 (at 00:56 UTC on 14-July-2020). This earthquakes are because Bárðarbunga volcano continue to inflate as it has been doing since the end of the eruption in Holuhraun in February 2015.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There were two aftershocks with magnitude of Mw2,5. Other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude. This activity is normal now for Bárðarbunga volcano and no eruption is expected and would require a lot more earthquake activity as was seen during the 2014 August and September start of the eruption from Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Earthquake swarm in Herðurbreiðartögl

Yesterday (10-July-2020) an earthquake swarm took place in Herðurbreiðartögl mountains. There is no known volcano in this area and the source of this earthquake swarm is most likely an tectonic stresses in this area. The largest earthquake had a magnitude Mw3,2 (14:15 UTC) and Mw3,1 (17:47 UTC). This earthquake swarm is still ongoing but there aren’t many earthquakes happening at the writing of this article.


The earthquakes swarm in Herðubreiðartögl area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The mountains in this area where created in eruptions during last glacier period around 12.000 years ago or earlier.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano close to Grindavík town

Yesterday (9-July-2020) an earthquake swarm took place north-east of Grindavík town in the Reykjanes volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and the reason for this earthquake swarm was a magma injection at 4 to 6 km depth into a sill that is forming north-east of Grindavík town, close to what seems to be a old fissure in that area.


The earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano yesterday. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is a chance that the magma that is pushing this activity might be as shallow as 3 km but currently it is difficult to know for sure but deformation that can be monitored by GPS data is going to give more clear picture in next few days. Currently there doesn’t seems to be enough magma in the higher level of the crust to start and eruption or the magma is blocked by some other unknown factors in the crust.

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Magnitude Mw4,2 earthquake in Tjörnes Fracture Zone yesterday (8-July-2020)

Yesterday (8-July-2020) at 17:41 UTC an magnitude Mw4,2 earthquake took place in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake was closer to land than other earthquakes and was felt over a wide area. The fault line that created this earthquake has almost north to south direction. The earthquake swarm that started on 19-June-2020 is ongoing but the amount of earthquakes that have been happening has dropped over the last few days to just around 300 earthquakes over 48 hour time period.


The current earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The risk of a strong earthquake with magnitude Mw6,0 to Mw7,0 remains in the area and is going to do so for a while after this earthquake activity ends.

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