Earthquakes – Page 95 – Iceland geology

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

Earthquake warning for Reykjanes peninsula

Icelandic Meteorological Office and Almannavarnir have issued a warning about possible large earthquake on the Reykjanes peninsula. This warning is triggered by the earthquake swarm in Krísuvík on 30-May-2015 and a second earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge on 11-June-2015.

Largest earthquakes in this earthquake sequence once it starts might reach magnitude of 6,5. There remains a hope that the stress on the Reykjanes peninsula and Reykjanes ridge is going to be released out slowly without large earthquake taking place. The warning only covers the populated part of the Reykjanes, from Kleifarvatn and east to Ölfus. It is my view that chance is small at best, it might work out that, I do think that is unlikely outcome of this. It is impossible to know when this earthquake activity might happen, but since the warning has been issued it might only be few weeks to month until something happens.

Last large earthquake in Bláfjöll mountains (Breinnisteinsfjöll volcano) took place in 1929 and 1968. Due to the area in question being less populated than it is today there was no or little damage. Current warning says the people should prepare to limit damage, since in past few years the populated areas have moved closer earthquake risk areas of the Reykjanes peninsula.

The warning (in Icelandic)

Skjálftavirkni á Reykjanesskaga (vedur.is, Icelandic Meteorological Office, Icelandic)
Fréttatilkynning vegna jarðskjálftavirkni að undanförnu á svæðinu frá Krísuvík austur í Ölfus (vedur.is, pdf, Icelandic)

Icelandic News

Vara við skjálfta til að draga úr slysahættu (Vísir.is, Icelandic, pictures)
Hætta á stórum skjálfta á Reykjavíkursvæðinu (Vísir.is, Icelandic)

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Article updated at 23:52 UTC.

June 12, 2015June 13, 2015

Minor earthquake swarm in SISZ (South Icelandic Seismic Zone)

During the night of 12-June-2015 a minor earthquake swarm took place on the edge of SISZ (South Iceland Seismic Zone). Around 9 earthquakes were detected, largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,9.

Earthquake swarm on the SISZ, it appears as a group of few dots in northern part of SISZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake swarm did appear clearly on my geophone in Heklubyggð.

The spike in this image is the magnitude 2,9 earthquake. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence for more details.

The reason why this magnitude 2,9 earthquake appears so strong on my geophone has normal reasons. The reason is distance, the earthquake was close to geophone and smaller earthquakes appear clearly on my geophone, even if they are small in magnitude.

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June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

Earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge (11-June-2015)

During the night of 11-June-2015 an earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This was a medium sized earthquake swarm, so far 151 earthquake have taken place.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge, green stars are earthquakes larger than magnitude 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,9, second largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,6. Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm appears to be over at the moment, it might resume without warning. Since often large earthquake swarms in this part of the Reykjanes ridge start slowly and last over few days to weeks.

Earthquake swarm appeared clearly on my only geophone in Iceland, in Heklubyggð in south Iceland. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

Any earthquake larger than magnitude 2,5 should appear clearly on my geophone in Heklubyggð, Iceland. Smaller earthquakes won’t appear clearly or not at all.

Donations: Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon. Currently I am having money problem due the fact that everything is extremely expensive in Iceland when it comes to food. Thanks for the support. 🙂

More information can be found here (total living), here (food) and more information can be found here (article). I don’t have any lower price grocery (like Bonus) stores where I am living in Iceland due to small population (around 1400 people live in the multiplicity of Húnaþing Vestra). Denmark is considerable cheaper when it comes to buy food then Iceland, since it is possible to buy cheap food and there are always offers in stores. That is not the case in Iceland.

June 10, 2015

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (10-June-2015) an magnitude 3,3 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake had the depth of 6,3 km.

Magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano is shown with the green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

No other earthquake activity has followed the magnitude 3,3 earthquake so far. This earthquake was a long period earthquake, that means it was magnetic in nature and was created by magma at 6,3 km depth. At the moment it is impossible to know for sure what is going to happen in Bárðarbunga volcano, far as I know there hasn’t been any inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano since the eruption in Holuhraun ended, that might have happened, just not detected due to the size of the area.

Donations: Please remember to support my work with donations. I also run the risk of getting really hungry this month due the fact that Iceland is really expensive and that problem is going to get worse until I move back to Denmark (where prices are slightly higher than in Germany, but a lot lower then in Iceland). Thanks for the support. 🙂

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015

Overview of activity in Iceland in week 23

During Week 23 there hasn’t been a lot of activity taking place. Normal minor-earthquake activity has been taking place all over Iceland, some glacier earthquakes have been seen in Vatnajökull glacier. This spread out earthquake activity is normal for Iceland, it is also easily detected in Iceland due to the dense seismometer network in Iceland. Earthquake activity continues in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Normal earthquake activity in Iceland at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorologist Office.

At the moment the earthquake activity in Iceland is within normal background levels. Minor earthquake activity is almost always taking place in Iceland, there are few days when no earthquakes happen, but those days are rare and it is long between them. At the moment there is nothing to report in terms of the activity in Iceland.

Work schedule

This summer I am working Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 16:00. This means if anything happens I won’t me aware of it until I get back from work.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. They help me work on this website and keep my alive. I have found out that food is expensive in Iceland and over the past two years that price has only gone up and it continues to do so. This means the budget I used in Denmark for food is not enough in Iceland (I have adjusted the plans, that type of living is going to be a challenge for the next 9 – 11 months when I am going to be living in Hvammstangi, Iceland). I am now close to getting completely broke. Most of my working income is going to pay up my debt (what I get of it, since I pay full tax [37,30%] of it in Iceland). I hope to be finished paying up all my debt in October. Thanks for the support.

Article updated at 20:48 UTC.
Article updated at 23:04 UTC.

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015

Strong earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

Yesterday (29-May-2015) there was a strong earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,0, a smaller magnitude 3,1 earthquake also took place.

Green star shows the location of the magnitude 3,1 and 4,0 earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller, total of 97 earthquakes where recorded. Earthquakes swarms in this area are common, since the volcano has been inflating and deflating for the past few years. I don’t know if this earthquake swarm was related to such movements, since tectonic forces often create strong earthquake swarms in this area and along the Reykjanes peninsula and Reykjanes ridge.

The earthquakes as they appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

On the geophone shut-down

There has been some discussion about me turning off the geophone network in Iceland. There is one station renaming in Heklubyggð and that station is going to continue to run for some time now (it doesn’t use the 3G network in Iceland). When it turns off I do not know. Besides 3G connection costs that have been going up in Iceland for the past few years, it has also become more expensive for me to fix the computers if they fail, along with 3G signal leak and other issues. It is also time consuming to run a remote network. I do help people if asked on what to buy in terms of hardware if they want to start there own geophone or seismometer. I don’t plan on stop recording earthquakes, I just plan on doing that just from my home once I am back in Denmark.

As for sensitivity of such hardware, it depends on what type of hardware is being used. Geophones are good for local earthquakes but more sensitive hardware is needed to record earthquakes at longer distance, like the magnitude 6,8 earthquake in Alaska this morning. It can be viewed here for the next few hours on long period seismometer (the top one and few others).

May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

New swarm of deep earthquakes in Katla volcano

This morning (20-May-2015) a swarm of deep earthquakes took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake activity was at depth and it means that magma was moving or dyke intrusion taking place at depth.

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano this morning. The earthquake swarm took place close to 1918 eruption site. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Deepest earthquake in this swarm had the depth of 28,9 km. Shallowest depth was 17,3 km. At this depth there is only magma that can create earthquakes, since crust at this depth in Iceland almost never has earthquakes (it might happen, but is rare event) that is not related to magma movements. This activity is something that needs to be monitored since it might suggest that conditions inside Katla volcano might be changing. There is no way to confirm at this point that to be the case. At the moment there is nothing to suggest that eruption is imminent in Katla volcano at this point. This deep earthquake activity appears to be over for now.

May 20, 2015

Warning of man made earthquakes in Hengill volcano

Almannavarnir put out a warning yesterday (19-May-2015) about increased risk of man made earthquakes in Hengill volcano. This happens when a water is pumped down into the ground it changes the pressure in the rock and creating earthquakes as a consequence. There is a risk of earthquakes with magnitudes up to 4,5 or larger. The first pumping down of this leftover water is expected to end by 19-June-2015.

Icelandic News about this

Vara við jarðskjálftum á Hengilssvæðinu (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Niðurdæling vegna hitamengunar að hefjast (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

May 2, 2015May 2, 2015

Earthquake activity in Askja volcano

During the week there has been a swarm of minor earthquakes in Askja volcano. All of the earthquakes have been small and none have reached magnitude 2,0 far as I know.

Askja volcano is the volcano most south on this image (the volcano on the end). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is nothing suggesting that current earthquake swarms are due to magma movements at shallow depths. This is rather hydrothermal activity changes in the volcano due the it being warmed up by new magma entering it and warming up groundwater inside the volcano. That has happened before in earlier eruptions and is documented, the time scale of such changes is not documented far as I know.

Askja volcano started for prepare for an eruption phase in 2010, so far nothing suggest that an eruption is imminent, but it remains a question if the push from Bárðarbunga volcano has changed anything in Askja volcano.

Article updated at 18:56 UTC.

May 2, 2015

New dyke intrusion in Katla volcano

Yesterday (01-May-2015) a minor dyke intrusion took place in Katla volcano. This dyke had depth down to 26,9 km and up to 18,5 km. This is the second dyke intrusion in this are in short space of time. Largest earthquake in the following earthquake swarm had the magnitude of 2,0.

Dyke intrusion in Katla volcano (dense cluster of earthquakes). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

While this doesn’t signal imminent eruption in Katla volcano this activity does have me concerned due to past experience with activity in Katla volcano. This might die out, but there is no way to know for sure. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens next in Katla volcano.

Notice on Grímsfjall volcano

There has been a slight increase in earthquakes in Grímsfjall volcano. This suggest that the volcano is about to be ready for its next eruption. Earlier eruptions took place 2011, 2004, 1998 … etc. It is impossible to know when or how big next eruption in Grímsfjall volcano is going to be.

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