Category: Earthquakes

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Minor earthquake activity on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

During the night a minor earthquake swarm took place on two parts of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The first earthquake swarm was just 19,9 km north-east of Siglufjörður village. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 3,1.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Largest earthquake is the green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The second earthquake swarm was north-east of Grímsey Island and it was a minor swarm. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 2,8. Other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude.

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Magnitude 3,0 earthquake in Öræfajökull volcano

Today (24-March-2018) at 16:32 UTC a magnitude 3,0 earthquake happened in Öræfajökull volcano. There has been a lot of smaller earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano in recent days and the earthquake activity has been continuous for most of that time.


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

I am unclear at the moment if there is any change happening at this moment. There has been slight increase in earthquakes that have magnitude larger than 1,5 in recent days. Overall there has been no major increase in earthquake activity so far in Öræfajökull volcano. But it has been mostly continuous for last several weeks and that might be a sign of trouble in near future.

The magnitude 3,0 earthquake was felt in Öræfasveit and other nearby areas.

I’ll update this article later if anything major happens.

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Magnitude 4,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (21-March-2018) at 22:56 UTC a magnitude 4,3 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake is at the usual place inside the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera, but this location that had activity now is also the place that has high energy hydrothermal hot springs. This area of hydrothermal activity is high enough to melt trough the 100 meters of glacier at this location.


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

Earthquake activity appears to be ongoing at the moment in Bárðarbunga volcano and nearby SIL station show that more smaller earthquakes are currently happening in Bárðarbunga volcano than are showing up on the map of Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Quiet period in Iceland at the moment

At the moment there isn’t much happening. This is one of the quiet period that regularly happen in Iceland. How long this break is going to last is impossible to know. It might be few more days and maybe several more weeks.

Currently the only notable activity happening is in Öræfajökull volcano but this is the same type of activity that has been happening for weeks now and do not require a new article.

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Earthquake swarm in Askja volcano

Yesterday (14-March-2018) a earthquake swarm started in Askja volcano. The area the earthquake swarm is happening in has been having smaller earthquakes for several weeks already. Currently this earthquake activity is ongoing.


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

This is the strongest earthquake in Askja volcano since August-2014 when a magnitude 4,5 earthquake happened in this area due to activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and the connected dyke intrusion. That also resulted in a deformation in Askja volcano that later did go back to normal. At the moment there is no harmonic tremor being detected and that means no magma movement and no eruption.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (07-March-2018) there has been deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity was in two areas. In the main volcano and south-east of it.


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

The earthquake swarm in the main volcano is normal and is connected to current inflation activity of Bárðarbunga volcano. Earthquake activity happens mostly when magma is pushing the crust upwards when it flows into the volcano from depth. The earthquake swarm to the south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano is more interesting. That is a dyke and it has been in this area for numbers of years already. At the moment this dyke remains at depth of 15 – 23 km but this increase in activity might be increasing the risk of eruption if it does not quiet down. The increased magma activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has increased the earthquake activity in this dyke over the last few months.

There is a high risk of strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano in the next few days to weeks.

What also happened in this earthquake swarm was a high intensity tremor on the mid-band (1-2Hz) during the earthquake swarm. This is highly unusual. What it means is less clear.


The tremor activity (close to the end) on a SIL station close to Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano, fresh earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano

At the moment the earthquake activity that started in Öræfajökull volcano on 25-February-2018 is currently ongoing. Most of the earthquakes happening are small, most are smaller than magnitude 1,0.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Directly north-west of Öræfajökull volcano is a another volcano making earthquakes. That volcano is named Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Most of its earthquake activity is also small earthquakes with magnitude smaller than 1,0. After the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano 2014 – 2015 earthquake activity increased in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Earthquake activity was also high during the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano due to stress changes in the crust. It is likely that current earthquake activity is due to adjustment of tectonic stresses.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Yesterday (24-February-2018) and today (25-February-2018) earthquake activity increased in Öræfajökull volcano after a long quiet time. Largest earthquake recorded had a magnitude of 2,2. Other magnitude where from 0,6 and up to 1,2. All earthquakes are marked as at shallow depth, but that might not be correct.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (south to the right on this image). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is due to magma pushing up into the volcano. This is above background level of activity in Öræfajökull volcano since background level activity is around 1 – 2 earthquake a year (up to 10 earthquakes a year).

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Magnitude 3,2 earthquake in Hengill volcano

Today (22-February-2018) at 09:50 UTC a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Hengill volcano.


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

This earthquake activity doesn’t suggest anything and appears to be just normal tectonic activity in this area.

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Earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village

Early morning today (22-Februar-2018) at 07:34 UTC a magnitude 3,6 earthquake happened west of Kópasker village. This earthquake was felt in Kópasker and in 90 km distance from where it happened.


The earthquake activity west of Kópasker (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Before the main earthquake two fore-shocks took place according to Icelandic Met Office. It is not known if current sequence of event is going to result in a larger earthquake on Tjörnes Fracture Zone.

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