Category: Earthquakes

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Activity in Torfajökull volcano

Sometimes nature does something unexpected. This applies now to Torfajökull volcano. It seems that this earthquake activity started on 27-January-2019 without any warning. The article about that earthquake swarm can be found here.


The earthquake activity on 29-April-2019. A clear line of earthquake has appeared. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Second earthquake swarm on 3-May-2019. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The earthquake swarm on 4-June-2019. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

After Bárðarbunga volcano eruption in 2014 I set-up a new system (that I use for my self. No-one uses something something similar that I know of) to detect possible eruptions. Each volcano is different and there is also a risk of false detection. However I do think that based on latest activity that something is going on in Torfajökull volcano. If this results in a eruption is too early to say at the time of writing of this article. If this is on a path to an eruption there might not be any warning or much of a warning besides few magnitude 3,0 to 4,5 earthquakes in Torfajökull volcano. Last eruption in Torfajökull volcano was in 1477 (north of the caldera) so its behaviour before an eruption is unknown. Last time a eruption took place in west side of the caldera was in the year 1170 or around that year.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks! 🙂
If you donate with the bank please update your information here. I have switched everything back to Denmark since I expect to move to Denmark by September. When I am back in Denmark I am going to open a new Danish PayPal account for donations. It is going to take ~3 months due to security requirements that are now in place by PayPal and the law.

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Earthquake swarm south of Kolbeinsey island

Yesterday (27-May-2019) an earthquake swarm took place south of Kolbeinsey island, but this earthquake swarm is in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,5 at 01:35 UTC. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,1 and took place at 06:57 UTC. Other earthquakes in this earthquake swarm were smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It appears that this earthquake swarm is over for now. It might start again without warning since earthquake activity in Tjörnes Facture Zone is unpredictable.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support!

Banner advertisements

I am going to add advertisement back to the website so I can at least get some extra income from this website when I don’t get any donations. This are going to be Amazon advertisements since I don’t have Google Adsense due to their now strict rules on doing things. Thanks for the understanding. This also applies to my earthquake monitoring website.

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Magnitude 8,0 earthquake in Peru

Today (26-May-2019) at 07:41 UTC (02:41 local time) a magnitude 8,0 earthquake took place in Peru. The depth of this earthquake is 109 km to 130 km. It was felt up to 1700 km from its epicentre. This magnitude and depth might change over the next few days to weeks as the earthquake data is studied in more details. USGS information about this earthquake is here. EMSC information about this earthquake is here.


The earthquake as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar, Iceland.


The webicorder trance of the earthquake in Böðvarshólar, Iceland.


The webicorder trace of the earthquake as it appeared in Dellukot, Iceland. I do not have access to this station due to technical difficulties.

This earthquake resulted in a damage in Peru even if it was at depth of 109 km to 130 km. The general rule is that an aftershock of one magnitude lower can be expected in next few days to weeks. This means a magnitude 6,5 to 7,5 aftershock might happen in northern part of Peru in next few days to weeks.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

If you donate by bank please update your information here. Since I am moving back to Denmark from September (I hope). I have switched the bank back to Denmark. Information can be found here. The Icelandic bank account that I was using has been closed.

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Earthquake swarm north of Kolbeinsey island

Yesterday (22-May-2019) at 15:47 UTC a magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place around 12 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. This earthquake was part of a small swarm in this area yesterday. It appears to be over but there is a risk of more activity in this area. Due to distance from the coastline and next populated island this earthquake was not felt.


Earthquake north of Kolbeinsey island (green star north of Iceland). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake swarms happen in this area frequently. This is not part of the TFZ but borders it just a little south of this earthquake activity.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. They help me to keep everything going. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Added

If you donate with a bank please update your information. I have changed the bank information again in April and the new information can be found here. The Icelandic bank account that I have been using is going to be closed soon.

Personal note

I have added a personal note on what is going on with me in the comments. It explains why I changed my mind on moving back to Denmark and other issues that I’ve been dealing with in recent months.

Updated at 13:45 UTC. Added updated information about bank donations.
Updated at 14:11 UTC. Added updated information about bank donations.

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Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge

This morning at 10:57 UTC (21-May-2019) a magnitude 3,1 earthquake took place around 7 km west of Geirfugladrangi (a rock). This earthquake was part of a small earthquake swarm in this area. Several magnitude 1,1 to 1,7 earthquakes took place in this location. Since 13:44 UTC the area has been quiet, due to distance from the coastline and the SIL network it is possible that more earthquakes have happened than are being recorded.


Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is most likely rift zone earthquake activity rather than a volcano related earthquake activity. Earthquake activity is common in this area of the Reykjanes ridge.

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Increased activity in Askja volcano

After more than a month of no noticeable earthquake activity in Iceland there is finally something new to report. It remains quiet in Iceland and most earthquake activity today is just small earthquakes in the magnitude range of 0,0 – 2,8.

This is only my view and might not be the same as views of professional scientists that monitor volcanoes as their job.

Askja volcano has started showing clear signs that an eruption might happen in near future. When that might happen is impossible to know, but given recent history this might happen in 18 to 48 months time from writing of this article. It might also be a considerable longer time until a eruption happens. Current sequence of activity started in 2011 so its already been ongoing for a considerable long period of time.


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

In recent months Askja volcano has been showing signs of increased earthquake activity. This is mostly small earthquakes with magnitude from 0,0 to 3,0 in magnitude. Located in small swarms that appear at random location within the volcano. There are quiet time period in this earthquake activity as is normal.

An eruption in Askja volcano is not a major risk to flight in Iceland or Europe. Since if an eruption happens it is going to be lava fissure eruption similar to what erupted in Bárðarbunga volcano in Holuhraun 2014 to 2015. That eruption might also have increased the speed of when Askja volcano is going to erupt. Since the dike intrusion from Bárðarbunga volcano almost started an eruption in Askja volcano, it was only two to three days from happening but stopped in its track before it happened. That might have put Askja volcano on a path of unsuitability that might now be starting to show in increased earthquake activity.

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Earthquake activity continues east of Grímsey island

Today (12-April-2019) an earthquake swarm took place east of Grímsey island. This earthquake swarm is in a place that has been having many earthquake swarms in recent weeks. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,7 and other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. As of writing this article the earthquake swarm seems to have stopped, how long that is going to last is impossible to know.


The earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Current outlook for this area of Tjörnes Fracture Zone is that earthquake activity is going to continue as it has been doing since January when this whole thing started slowly. There is not possible to know when this earthquake sequence ends in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The risk of a large earthquakes continues to be in this area at the writing of this article.

Donations

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Update added on 24-April-2019

If you are donating with a bank. Please update your information again to my Danish bank. Since I am on my way to move back to Denmark in next few months. All the information can be found here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjall) and Þórðarhyrna (Thordarhyrna) volcanoes

Sorry for the late article. I’ve been busy in other project that involves taking a lot picture and putting them up on my Instagram that can be found here.

Two earthquake swarms have appeared that I am now keeping an eye out for. This is earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjöll) volcano and then in Þórðarhyrna volcano (Thordarhyrna). Last time Þórðarhyrna erupted was in the year 1902 and that was at the same time an eruption took place in Grímsvötn volcano. Over the last few months there has been increase in earthquake activity in Þórðarhyrna and Grímsvötn volcanoes. Its not completely symmetrical increase in earthquakes, but close to it as of writing of this article. Last time Þórðarhyrna erupted without an eruption in Grímsvötn volcano was in the year 1887 (15th August) to 1889 (?).


Earthquake activity in Grímsvötn and Þórðarhyrna volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is going to be a serious problem if an eruption happens in Þórðarhyrna volcano because that volcano is completely covered with a glacier that is up to 200 meters thick or thicker. Other risk factor is that Grímsvötn volcano might erupt outside of the caldera resulting in glacier floods and other problems.

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Magnitude 3,3 earthquake east of Grímsey island

I am sorry for the late posting of this earthquake activity.

During the night of 8-April-2019 at 04:44 UTC an earthquake with magnitude 3,3 took place east of Grímsey island. This earthquake is part of a swarm earthquake activity in this area that started few weeks ago and is mostly ongoing as of writing this article.


The earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village continues and there continue to happen several earthquakes each day in that area. There are no clear signs showing that this earthquake activity is about to stop.

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Update on ongoing earthquake swarm west of Kópasker (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

The earthquake swarm that started on 23rd of March 2019 west of Kópasker village is ongoing and hasn’t stopped since that time. Number of earthquakes and magnitude of earthquakes have mostly dropped and in last few days there hasn’t been any earthquake that has reached magnitude 3,0 or larger. This might change without warning since this earthquake activity is ongoing.


The earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

According to recent news articles this is the strongest and longest earthquake swarm on this fault since 1991 (28 years) according to data that scientist at Icelandic Met Office looked at in their records. This is as far back their data possibly go back for this part of Iceland. Over 3000 earthquakes have been recorded in this earthquake swarm since it started.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. I am getting rather broke this month and this is just the start of this month. Thanks for the support. 🙂