Category: Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Posted on

Nafir volcano update (TFZ) at 21:50 UTC

Information in this article are going go outdated quickly.

Here are the latest magnitude updates from the earthquakes this morning as reported by Icelandic Met Office and USGS.

Magnitude 4,9 at 05:34 UTC. USGS reports this as mb4,8.
Magnitude 5,2 at 05:38 UTC. USGS reports this as mb5,0.
Magnitude 4,0 at 06:32 UTC. USGS reports this as mb4,5.

In the last 48 hours 68 earthquakes larger than magnitude 3,0 have happened in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island. In total 1497 earthquakes have been detected in the last 48 hours.


Current earthquake activity in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island (TFZ). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The current earthquake activity seems to be dropping a little for the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently the weather forecast in Iceland is really bad and that is going to prevent any proper detection of smaller earthquakes. Larger earthquakes are going to go above the wind noise threshold (possibly) and be properly detected. Large enough earthquakes are going be detected by monitoring networks outside of Iceland where weather is not a factor.

Next update is going to be tomorrow about this earthquake swarm. Unless something major happens in Nafir volcano.

Posted on

Update at 12:03 UTC on earthquake swarm in Nafir volcano, TFZ, 19-February-2018

Information in this article is going to go outdated quickly.

Uncertainty level has been declared in Grímsey island and nearby area due to the strong earthquake activity in the night. Largest earthquake during the night was a magnitude 5,2 the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,5 at the moment. Based on how it appeared on my geophone it possibly close to being a magnitude 5,0 earthquake. Revision takes time when a large earthquake swarm like this happens. The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area in north, north-east and north-west Iceland according to reports by Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake swarm in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island in the TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake activity is high at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is currently no end in sight for this earthquake swarm. It remains unclear if this is due to a possible volcano event in the making or just tectonic activity. Currently there is no eruption happening at this location. Unlike what appears on the live updated maps all of the earthquake activity is located east of Grímsey island. The SIL network has problems properly locating the earthquakes automagically when a large earthquake swarm like this happens.

Posted on

Earthquake swarm on TFZ continues

The earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone that started on 28-January-2018 continues and on Sunday 4-February-2018 a magnitude 3,1 earthquake took place. Currently the earthquake activity is ongoing.


The earthquake activity in TFZ during the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know for how long this earthquake swarm is going to continue. It might be several more days and up to few weeks more.

Posted on

Ongoing earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Yesterday (31-January-2018) an earthquake swarm continued in Tjörnes Fracture Zone east of Grímsey Island. More than 100 earthquakes happened in the main earthquake swarm yesterday but none of them reached magnitude above 3,0. Strongest magnitude recorded was 2,6 (at 03:46 UTC). Largest earthquake recorded yesterday had a magnitude of 3,2 (at 20:20 UTC) in the earlier earthquake swarm that happened on 28-January-2018. This earthquake is possibly not connected to the earthquake swarm south of it.


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

This earthquake swarm might signal that a large earthquake might happen in this area in coming months. Since earthquakes with magnitudes above Mw5,0 happen regularly in this part of TFZ. Last ones happened 2-April-2013. I wrote about that earthquake here and here (with images). It is not possible to know such a earthquake might happen.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. February-2018 is going to really difficult for me due to bills and tax bills from the Danish tax. This month is going to be like most of the months in 2017 and I sadly have to repeat that for the next 9 months (mostly). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Moving back to Iceland

Due to the endless tax problems for me in Denmark I have made the chose to move back to Iceland in October-2018. I plan on going to school from January-2019 and be in it until I get an apartment in Hvammstangi, Iceland. I just hope that the wait isn’t too long for an apartment for me. What I plan for living in a other country is that I will be doing part time living in a other country in the future. My chose of country for that is Germany rather than Spain. When that happens I do not know, it is at least not going to happen for several years after I move back to Iceland.

Posted on

Strong earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Yesterday (28-January-2018) a earthquake swarm started in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). This earthquake swarm is ongoing and current numbers might change and magnitudes of earthquakes from what they currently are. At the moment largest earthquake that has been recorded happened yesterday and had a magnitude of 4,1 (at 07:49 UTC) and the second strongest earthquake so far had the magnitude of 3,4 (at 08:11 UTC). The stronger earthquake woke people up from their sleep and was felt over a wide area. That was not reported with the second earthquake.


The earthquake swarm in TFZ. Strongest earthquakes are marked by green stars. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

All other earthquakes so far have been smaller than magnitude 3,0 at the moment. Over 130 earthquakes have happened so far. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing. This earthquake swarm is only tectonic in nature and at the moment there is nothing suggesting that this activity is connected to magma movements.

Donations

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

Posted on

Small earthquake swarm in western Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

During the night of 6-December-2017 there was a small earthquake swarm on western part of Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). Few earthquakes happened and the largest one had a magnitude of 3,1 and was felt in Siglufjörður village and Ólafsvík village.


The earthquake swarm area is where the green star is. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Second largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,8. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. This area is a fault area and more earthquake activity can be expected.

Donations

To support my work on this website it is possible to donate money with the PayPal button or directly (if you are in Europe) with bank transfer (details under Donations website). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Magnitude 3,4 earthquake in Tjörnes Fracture Zone during the night

At 01:01 UTC on 18-November-2017 there was a magnitude 3,4 earthquake in western part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. A foreshock of magnitude 2,2 occurred at 00:30 UTC. Only this two earthquakes happened at this location north of Siglufjörður village.


The earthquake activity in TFZ during the night. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The larger earthquake was felt in Siglufjörður village.

Posted on

Strong earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone this morning (19-October-2017)

Today (18-October-2017) at 06:00 UTC (Icelandic time) people of Grímsey Island got a rude awaking when a magnitude 3,8 to 3,9 earthquake took place. At 05:01 UTC a magnitude 2,9 earthquake had taken place. For the past 48 hours total of 105 earthquakes have taken place in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The largest earthquake took place in what seems to be north part of Grímsey Island, there is no population in that part of Grímsey Island but the population lives only few hundred meters away.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone in Grímsey Island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity started in this part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone on 05-October-2017 as I wrote about here. Since then it is has been continuously ongoing, for a time it looked it was slowly stopping but the earthquake this morning increased the activity again. Since around 19:00 UTC this earthquake swarm seems to have slowed down a bit again, but the earthquake swarm is still ongoing as of writing of this article. More strong earthquakes in this area cannot be ruled out.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. Donations are my main source of income from my work here, along with small advertisement revenue and income from what people buy from Amazon with the banners I have on my websites. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Ongoing earthquake swarm in Tjörnes fracture zone (TFZ)

Currently there is an ongoing earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake swarm has been going on since 05-October-2017. Over 120 earthquakes have happened so far. Largest earthquakes have had the magnitude of 3,9 (05-October), 3,5 (06-October), 3,0 (06-October). There is a good chance that in recent hours a new magnitude 3,0 earthquake has happened or is going to happen.


The earthquake swarm in TFZ as of 23:15 UTC on 06-October-2017. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The largest earthquake are felt by the local population in Grímsey Island and the magnitude 3,5 earthquake woke up the population last night (night of 06-October). No damage has happened so far in this earthquake swarm. I don’t know how far away from the population centre this earthquake swarm is happening but the distance is not that great. A 1 – 3 km at the most from the looks of it. Any large earthquakes are going to appear clearly on my geophones and they can be viewed here, the geophone station in Böðvarshólar gives the best signal if an earthquake with magnitude above 3,0 happens in TFZ.

Donations

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

Article updated at 23:53 UTC. Minor text fixes.

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (east of Grímsey Island)

Yesterday (01-October-2017) an earthquake swarm took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone east of Grímesy Island. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,6 all other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone yesterday. Copyright of this image belong to Icelandic Met Office.

Around 55 earthquakes happened in this swarm that appears to be over. This part of Tjörnes Fracture Zone is highly active and has several earthquake swarm every year.