Category: Earthquakes

Posted on

Strong earthquake swarm deep on the Reykjanes ridge

Few days ago an earthquake swarm started deep on the Reykjanes Ridge, this is as far as the Reykjanes ridge extends at the end of it. After that the north Atlantic ridge starts. It is close to impossible to know for sure what is going at this location, however the data suggests that an eruption is taking place there and it appears to be a big one. How big I don’t know and I’m not willing to guess it due to lack of data.

The earthquake activity has been interesting, with the largest earthquake having a magnitude 5,5 (EMSC info). Other earthquake magnitudes are 4,9 (EMSC info), magnitude 5,0 (EMSC Info), magnitude 4,9 (EMSC Info).

This earthquake activity is currently ongoing, since the distance from land is ~1100 km it is impossible to know for sure what is going on. There is also around 4 km deep ocean at this location. If an eruption is taking place at this location, it is not going to show in the surface of the ocean. I’m sure a lot of smaller earthquakes are taking place, they are just not being recorded by any seismic detecting network due to distance.

Posted on

Something is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano

This is little short on details as of yet. There is clearly something going on in Bárðarbunga volcano. I don’t know what at the moment, several earthquakes have appeared, the strongest one with the magnitude of 4,0 so far. I’ll post more updates soon as I know more.

160625_1350
The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

No volcanic harmonic tremor has been seen as of yet. That means no eruption for the moment.

Posted on

Magnitude 3,2 earthquake in Torfajökull volcano

Today (23-June-2016) at 20:36 UTC an magnitude 3,2 earthquake (current data, might change) took place in Torfajökull volcano. The depth was 2,1 km.

160623_2100
Green star in Torfajökull volcano shows the location of the earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

If anyone was close to this earthquake, it would have been felt. No other earthquake have so far followed this earthquake, that might change in few hours. It does happen once in a while that just one magnitude 3,0 earthquake happens and nothing more. I don’t know if there is any hydrothermal activity in the location where this earthquake took place.

Update at 22:24 UTC

According to an announcement from Iceland Met Office. This earthquake was felt in a nearby camping area.

Article updated at 22:24 UTC.

Posted on

Deep earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (23-June-2016) a deep earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. None of the earthquakes that took place where strong, but many of them where deep. The deepest earthquake had the depth of 28 km, at this depth it’s only magma that creates earthquakes.

160623_1415
The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Other interesting feature that showed up is a dyke intrusion in the caldera wall to the south, it is located almost directly north of Vík í Mýrdal village. This dyke intrusion appeared in 2011 after the minor eruption in July that year (this is my view, at the moment it has not been approved by scientists). It is unclear how this dyke intrusion is evolving, but there might be some risk of eruption from it if the pressure increases. Currently there is nothing that suggests an eruption is about to happen.

Posted on

Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula

Today (21-June-2016) a minor earthquake swarm took place on Reykjanes Peninsula, this earthquake swarm was located close to a mountain called Keilir. This was not a large earthquake swarm, around 20 earthquakes took place.

160621_1600
The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. The earthquakes are the red dots. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

None of the earthquakes that took place was strong, with the largest earthquake only having the magnitude of 2,2. Other earthquakes that took place had smaller magnitude. This earthquake activity appears to have died out (for now at least).

Posted on

Increased activity in Öræfajökull volcano noticed

It has been noticed that earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is slowly increasing. At the moment this increase is just in the form of minor earthquakes taking place in the volcano at 5 – 10 km depth (at the moment). This was covered in a Icelandic news two days ago (when this is written), the volcanologist in the news (Páll Einarsson) says this is nothing to worry about at the moment, that I agree with, mostly, he also put forward that idea this process, if it evolves into an eruption might take up to 18 years from start to finish, as was the case with Eyjafjallajökull volcano. This is where I disagree with the professor Páll Einarsson, the reason being that this process already started good 10 years ago, I also suspect that Öræfajökull volcano to be a volcano that erupts suddenly and with a lot of force once it does erupt.

The eruption in the year 1362 had the VEI of 5 and the eruption in 1727 had the explosive force of VEI=4. Both eruptions lasted several months. Öræfajökull volcano only makes ash rich, explosive eruptions, based on latest historical data and studies into the volcano history. The processes that power Öræfajökull volcano might also be different, since there is an slab of old continental crust (study: Continental crust beneath southeast Iceland) under Öræfajökull volcano, that is slowly melting due the nearby hotspot. This means the magma is mostly silica, not far from the magma found in volcanoes found at subduction zones around the world.

There is also a second volcano this same area that has been showing sign of increased activity. That volcano is called Esjufjöll, it has even less understood activity (if any) since people moved to Iceland ~1300 years ago. There is a chance of an unconfirmed eruption in the year 1927, but it didn’t last long, maybe up to five days, it was mostly noted due a glacier flood from the area this volcano is located (small according to historical documents).

Posted on

Earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge

Today (15-June-2016) at 12:51 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of 3,3 took place at Reykjanes ridge.

160615_1515
The earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Only one earthquake happened and no other activity has appeared on the Reykjanes ridge following this event. There is a good chance that no further activity is going to take place in this area for the moment.

Posted on

Earthquake swarm close to Hveravellir (Langjökull north)

I don’t know a lot about this earthquake swarm close to Hveravellir (Langjökull north), due the lack of information. What I do know is that an earthquake swarm is taking place there and the largest earthquakes so far have the magnitude around 2,1. Largest reviewed earthquake had the magnitude of 2,1 at 2,1 km depth. Other than this information I don’t know for sure what is going on in this area.

160609_2035
The few earthquakes that Iceland Met Office has been able to locate with some certainty in Hveravellir. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

ste.svd.09.06.2016.at.21.02.utc
This earthquake swarm is appearing clearly on nearby SIL station and only this one SIL station. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

ste.svd.09.06.2016.at.21.02.utc
The drumplot of that SIL station also shows this earthquake swarm clearly. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

I’m currently guessing that around 50 – 100 earthquakes have taken place so far, but without accurate data its difficult to know. The magnitude in this earthquake swarm is from 0,0 – ~2,1 so far. Larger earthquakes can’t be ruled out, but as the magnitude grows, so improves the SIL network ability to locate the earthquake magnitude and depth properly. For the smaller earthquakes, they are only going to appear on one to two SIL stations and that is not enough data to properly locate them or figure out exact magnitude.

I’m going to post updates to this earthquake swarm as it happens if needed.

Posted on

All quiet in Iceland (at the moment)

Currently everything is quiet in Iceland, from midnight (UTC) there have only been five earthquakes recorded (automatic, the manual number is higher) and I’m not sure if any of them did have the magnitude above 1,0 (so far). It has been quiet in Iceland in the last few days, during a quiet time in the weather (no major wind). How long this quiet is going to last I don’t know. This type of quiet normally ends with a earthquake swarm somewhere in Iceland, sometimes they are big earthquake swarms and sometimes they are small earthquake swarms.

Due to how quiet it is I don’t have anything to report at the moment. What needs to be kept eye on are the normal suspect, Bárðarbunga volcano, Katla volcano and the fracture zones in north and south Iceland. Some activity might be happening deep on the Reykjanes ridge and north of Kolbeinsey Island (north of Grímsey Island).

Posted on

Magnitude 3,4 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano, earthquake swarm on eastern TFZ

This is just a short overview of activity in the last 24 hours (or so) in Iceland.

Bárðarbunga volcano

As usual Bárðarbunga volcano had an magnitude 3,4 earthquake this week. This time it only appears to have been just a one earthquake. Based on the signature of this earthquake, there is a good chance it was created by magma, rather than tectonic processes.

160531_1635
Bárðarbunga volcano earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

I expect this earthquake activity to continue for a while now.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

A small earthquake swarm took place in eastern TFZ this morning. This was not a large earthquake swarm, with the largest earthquake having the magnitude 2,0. Around 40 or so earthquakes took place in this minor swarm.

160531_1735
The earthquake swarm on TFZ, close to the village of Kópasker. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is over and I don’t think it is going to start again. Earthquake swarms like this one are common on TFZ.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon when you shop. Thanks for the support. 🙂