Category: Earthquakes

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (south end of Reykjanes peninsula)

Today (6-February-2019) a earthquake swarm started in Reykanes volcano on Reykjanes peninsula. Last documented eruption in this volcano took place in the year 1926 according to Global Volcanism Program. It was most likely out in the ocean far from the coastline and lasted only for five days


Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano system on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude 2,8 and the second largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,6. Other earthquakes in this swarm have been smaller in magnitude.

Moving dedicated hosts

This website is moving again in next few hours. Because of this I have disabled comments until the transfer is complete to the new server.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (week 6)

During the night of 4-February-2019 a earthquake with the magnitude of 2,6 took place in Öræfajökull volcano. This earthquake was the start of an earthquake swarm that is currently ongoing.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is normal pattern for Öræfajökull volcano in recent months. Rate of earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano appears to continue to be going up. This means that injection of magma into Öræfajökull volcano continues at what appears to be at similar rate as before.

Moving website hosting

Because of Brexit I am moving my hosting from UK to US this week. In general people should not notice this if they have their DNS setting set up correctly. But it might take up to 48 hours for them to update on slower DNS servers (that is not common today, but can happen if your router is your DNS).

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Strong earthquake swarm south of Jan Mayen (Norway)

During early morning of 2-January-2019 a strong earthquake swarm took place south of Jan Manyen (Norway) or about 350 km north of Kolbeinsey island. I don’t know if there are any volcanoes in this area, but it is possible. This might also just be tectonic earthquake swarm. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 5,0 (EMSC information here). Second largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 4,6 (EMSC information here). Up to ten earthquakes with magnitude between 4,3 to 5,0 took place in this swarm. Icelandic Met Office has listed ten earthquakes on their map, the magnitude is not correct on their map due to distance from the SIL network.


Earthquake swarm south of Jan Mayen (Norway). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Due to distance from any seismometer network a lot of smaller earthquakes were not recorded in this earthquake swarm. It also makes it impossible to know for sure if this earthquake swarm is currently ongoing or if it has ended.

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Magnitude 3,4 earthquake just off Surtsey island (Vestmannaeyjar volcano)

During the night (31-January-2019) a magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place close to Surtsey island (Vestmannaeyjar volcano). According to Icelandic Met Office this is the largest earthquake in this location since 1992.


The earthquake activity close to Surtsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Few minor earthquakes took place at this location after the largest earthquake. Good detection is difficult due to distance from the SIL network and how remote this location is.

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Earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano

Today (27-January-2019) at 10:01 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Torfajökull volcano, western part of the caldera. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 3,7 and was felt on nearby farms. There are no tourists in this area of Iceland this time of the year (generally).


Earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in last few hours had a magnitude of 2,3. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing and information might change without warning.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

During the night (26-January-2019) a small earthquake swarm took place in Krýsuvík volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,0. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be over and only lasted for less than two hours.

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Two earthquake swarms on Reykjanes ridge

During the week there has been a small earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge, mostly close to the coastline. The first earthquake swarm is closer to the coastline and largest earthquake so far had a magnitude of 3,0 at 14:31 UTC just 7,6 km off Eldey Island (its more of a rock standing up from the ocean). The second earthquake swarm had a magnitude 3,0 earthquake at 04:32 UTC and was 17,5 km away from Geirfugladrangi (also a rock that just stands up from the ocean). All other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.


Two earthquake swarms on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Both earthquake swarms appear to be ongoing when this article is written.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Today (6-January-2019). Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,4. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be ongoing. There are not many earthquakes happening as is normal for Öræfajökull volcano. This activity is in the normal range of what has been happening in Öræfajökull since 2017.

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Magnitude 4,4 earthquake in Hengill volcano (tectonic earthquake)

During the night of 30-December-2018 at 02:54 UTC an magnitude 4,4 earthquake took place in Hengill volcano. This earthquake was felt over a wide area. Largest aftershock had a magnitude of 2,2 so far.


The earthquake (green star) in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The earthquake as it appeared on Heklubyggð geophone station. This image is under Creative commons licence. See CC Licence website for more information.


The earthquake as it appeared in Böðvarshólar geophone station. This image is under Creative commons licence. See CC Licence website for more information.

The earthquake swarm is ongoing as of writing of this article. It is not possible to know what is going to happen in next few hours in this area. Risk of more earthquake is always present. This earthquake activity is tectonic in nature.

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Update for donations

If you donate directly with a bank. Please update your information. From now on all the donations that I get with a bank transfer go to my Icelandic bank. This is not going to change when I move from Iceland. New bank information can be found here on the donation website.

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Magnitude 4,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Last night (28-December-2018) there was a strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake was at 01:16 UTC and had a magnitude of 4,8. Third largest earthquake happened at 01:20 UTC and had a magnitude of 3,5 second largest earthquake happened at 01:38 UTC and had a magnitude of 3,7. Last earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,8 and happened at 01:46 UTC. This earthquake swarm has now ended.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity happens since Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating and has been doing so since April or May 2015. The rate of earthquakes that are larger than 4,5 seems to be increasing (it takes a few more months to know for sure). This is the second or the third earthquake that is larger than 4,5 in Bárðarbunga volcano in 2018. It would not surprise me if an earthquake with magnitude of 5,5 or larger start to happen in few months to years time. There are no signs that this earthquake activity is going to result in a eruption from Bárðarbunga volcano.

Donations

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

Update for donations

If you donate directly with a bank. Please update your information. From now on all the donations that I get with a bank transfer go to my Icelandic bank. This is not going to change when I move from Iceland. New bank information can be found here on the donation website.

Article updated on 29-December-2018. Updated information about direct bank donations.