Reykjanes Ridge – Page 10 – Iceland geology

December 9, 2016December 9, 2016

Overview of the earthquake activity in Iceland of the last few days

Over the past few days it has been quiet in Iceland. There hasn’t been overall lot happening. Biggest earthquake activity that is currently taking place is happening around 340 km north of Kolbeinsey Island (it’s a tiny Island, with nothing on it, not even birds make use of it).

The earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey Island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake have had the magnitude around 3,3.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Currently there isn’t much happening earthquake wise in Bárðarbunga volcano. Current earthquake activity has however exposed the ring fault in the caldera, suggesting that its moving upward at decent speed (few mm/month). This also means that Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating as is.

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

Deep earthquake activity is also around Trölladyngja (shield volcano). This deep earthquake under Trölladyngja is unusual and that is my view eruption might happen there soon. It is impossible to know when such a event happens.

Katla volcano

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano has been quiet. It is normal that earthquake activity drops in Katla volcano this time of the year. I’m expecting quiet few weeks in Katla volcano.

There is little earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Hekla volcano

Two earthquakes appeared in Hekla volcano on 8-December-2016. No other activity happened after that.

Reykjanes ridge

A minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge on 8-December-2016. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,9.

Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. The earthquake swarm is where the blue dots are. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I think this is most of the earthquake activity that has happened in and around Iceland during the last few days. Due to software problems on my server and on my desktop computer I was unable to write an update about what was happening in earthquake activity for the past few days.

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June 25, 2016

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.

June 15, 2016

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.

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.

January 3, 2016January 3, 2016

Minor earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge and TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

The new year (2016) stars with two minor earthquake swarms in Iceland. Both earthquake swarms are small in both earthquake magnitude and number of earthquakes.

Reykjanes Ridge earthquake swarm

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge started at 09:08 UTC and lasted until 11:24 UTC. The earthquake swarm has stopped for now, I don’t think it’s over at the moment. It’s difficult to know for sure if an earthquake swarm is over or not in this area, since earthquake swarms are complex and a minor earthquake swarm might start a bigger one few hours later.

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

This earthquake swarm was small in magnitude and the largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,1. The earthquake swarm is taking place in a volcano that last erupted in 1926 according to Global Volcanism Program. I however don’t think it is connected to any volcano related activity, this appears to be more like a rift earthquake activity.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

A second earthquake swarm today took place in TFZ. This earthquake swarm was small in magnitude and largest earthquake had the magnitude of 1,9. This earthquake swarm is also rather deep, with deepest earthquake having the depth of 21,9 km (if it was properly located). This might suggest that magma was at work here. This earthquake swarm took place in a volcano that last erupted in the year 1868 (they think) (GVP information). There are two volcanoes in this area and it’s not fully clear what volcano erupted in the year 1868.

The earthquake swarm in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is continuing and has not yet stopped. It remains a question if it is going to grow or start activity in nearby fault, since sometimes activity in one fault on TFZ can trigger earthquake activity in nearby faults. At the moment that has not happened, but it’s difficult to know for sure at the moment.

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I have changed the advertisements a little. Amazon US has a new advertisements that allows me to get paid by view of an advertisements, rather than just sale. This is working out good for me and has increased my income from this website a little from what it used to be. This also means that I don’t have to use Google Adsense to increase my income from this website. I continue to get from 1% to 10% of sales (I get more when it comes to special offers and such deals that Amazon is running all the time).

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October 11, 2015

Overview of week 41 activity in Iceland

Week 41 in Iceland was rather quiet, compared to last two weeks in Iceland. Here is a overview over the highlight in the earthquake activity in Iceland.

South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ)

Constant earthquake activity has been in SISZ over the week and it has been ongoing for the past weeks, none of the earthquakes have been large, with almost all of them being less then magnitude 1,0. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,5.

The earthquake activity on SISZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Bárðarbunga volcano

For most part earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano was normal this week, with regular earthquake swarms taking place in the usual places. The most interesting earthquake this week took place under Trölladyngju, it was only magnitude 0,7, but it was on depth of 26,2 km.

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Herðubreið

Earthquake swarm has been taking place all week in Herðubreið. Earthquake swarms are common in this area and often have magnitude 3,0 earthquakes or larger. The earthquake swarm is ongoing when this is written.

Earthquake activity in Herðubreið/Herðubreiðarfjöll area (north of Askja volcano). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Reykjanes ridge

A magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place deep on the Reykjanes ridge this week. The earthquake was not felt and there might have been more than one earthquake. My geophone in Heklubyggð shows more than one earthquake one hour after the magnitude 3,4 earthquake happens.

Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

A magnitude 3,0 earthquake also took place around 200 km off the coast of Reykjanes peninsula (around 153 km south of Eldeyjarboða). That earthquake location was poor due to the distance from the SIL network.

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September 21, 2015September 21, 2015

Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

Today (21-September-2015) a minor (so far) earthquake swarm has been taking place on the Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake so far had the magnitude of 3,5 so far other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know for sure what happens. Earthquake swarms in this part of the Reykjanes ridge often end quietly, but they can also just pick up as easily, it is impossible to know for sure.

September 11, 2015

Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge

Yesterday (10-September-2015) there was an earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake swarm was small and the largest earthquake only had the magnitude of 3,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

There is a chance of more earthquake activity in this area, since earthquake swarms on the Reykjanes ridge often start slowly.

August 2, 2015

Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

On the 01-August-2015 an earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake swarm was far off the coast line and populated areas and was only seen on instruments (seismometers). The earthquake swarm appears to be over for now, it might start again without a warning. Due to the distance from the coast it might be ongoing without being detected, since only largest earthquakes are being detected by Iceland Met Office.

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

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,3. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. There is a good chance there is a volcano at this location, it just isn’t well known. Any eruption at this location would not be seen on the surface of the ocean due to depth (1 – 3 km).

Böðvarshólar geophone: I have restarted the geophone in Böðvarshólar. Since I won’t be moving back to Denmark.
Sauðárkrókur geophone: I’m going to try getting into school at Sauðárkrókur in August due to the sudden plan changes. If I get in, I am going to be running a temporary geophone where I am going to be living during the years that I going to be in school learning electronics and other things (including, Danish, German and Spanish).

My geophone website can be found here.

Other: My plan on moving back to Denmark has been delayed permanently. The reason for that are law changes, both in EU and Denmark that make it difficult for people on social welfare to move there. At least that is my understanding of the current changes. They have also been creating problem currently and along with other tax related issues that I had to deal with. I decided that it was too much problem for me to move back to Denmark. I am just going to watch DR 1 – 3 instead along with television channels from Germany. I am at least now debt free in Denmark, since I have paid up my tax debt in Denmark that originally forced me to move back to Iceland.

Due to the reason that I am going to be permanently living in Iceland. I am now moving PayPal and other such items to Iceland. I won’t close down my danish paypal account (that is a big no-no). Paypal buttons are going to be moved to my Iceland paypal site in next few days when I have time. Direct donations option is also going to be moved to my Icelandic bank account rather than my danish one. I am going to close down my danish bank account and my danish paypal account in few years.

July 8, 2015July 9, 2015

Earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge yesterday (07-July-2015)

Yesterday (07-July-2015) there was a small earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,3. Other earthquakes where smaller. At the moment it appears that the activity in this part of the Reykjanes ridge is over.

The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge yesterday. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

This activity also suggests that more earthquake swarm activity is going to take place in this or around it soon. When is impossible to know for sure.

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Twitch: I am currently working on this. It won’t be up and running until I am back in Denmark (I am going to do some minor tests in Iceland). I am trying to use my gaming (the little that is) to increase my income or at least I am going try to do so. The channel is going to remain off-line for the time being. While I setting everything up and doing some testing. I also suffer from a lack of time at the moment to do this properly.

July 1, 2015July 1, 2015

Earthquake swarm continues on Reykjanes ridge, small chance of eruption

Today (01-July-2015) earthquake activity continued on the Reykjanes ridge, largest earthquakes so far are magnitude 5,0 (EMSC information here). Second largest earthquake had magnitude 4,8, other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. Total of 35 earthquakes that have taken place are larger than magnitude 3,0 and total number of earthquakes when this is written is 537.

Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. Green stars are earthquakes that are magnitude 3,0 or stronger. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity has dropped but is ongoing at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity now happens in pulses, with low activity for 2 – 4 hours before it increases again. It is not clear why this is taking place. Overall earthquake activity is dropping at the moment, it might increase again without a warning.

Yellow alert for risk of eruption

The alert level for this volcano that is now making earthquake noise has been raised to yellow. The change happened during my working hours so I was unable to write about it right away. This means there is a risk of eruption at this location, last eruption in this location was in the year 1879 according to the information I have collected here.

Current warning for the volcano at Eldey is yellow. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

I don’t know for sure at the moment what the chances are of an eruption at the moment. That should be clearer in next 24 – 48 hours (I hope).

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Article updated at 23:50 UTC.

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