Category: Reykjanes Ridge

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Minor earthquake swarm close to Eldeyjardrangar on Reykjanes ridge

During the night (on 21-March-2015) a minor earthquake swarm took place close to Eldeyjardrangar on Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,2. Total number of earthquakes in this swarm was around 30.

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Earthquake swarm close to Eldeyjardragnar. The green star shows the magnitude 3,2 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake swarms like this are common in this part of the Reykjanes ridge. It is difficult to know if more earthquake activity is going to take place soon.

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Article updated at 20:01 UTC.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

Today (19-March-2015) at 15:24 UTC a minor earthquake swarm started on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake swarm was minor, it however might be clue that more activity might happen soon in this part of the Reykjanes ridge.

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The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge today (19-March-2015). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,5 and other earthquakes where smaller. Last earthquake swarm in this area took place on 3-March-2015 and I did write about it here.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

During the night (3-March-2015) there was a minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,1. Other earthquakes where smaller.

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Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge during the night. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Most of this earthquake activity was deep, with most depth being at 16,0 km. This suggest that this earthquake swarm happened mostly due to magma movement at depth. There is nothing suggesting that eruption is imminent in this area. Depth of the ocean at this location is around 400 – 1000 meters, this means that any signs on the surface are going to be hard to detect or not detected at all.

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Article updated at 18:44 UTC.

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Magnitude 7,1 earthquake (USGS) deep south of the Reykjanes Ridge

At 18:59 UTC today (13-February-2015) a magnitude 7,1 earthquake (USGS) took place deep south of the Reykjanes Ridge. EMSC is reporting this earthquake having the magnitude of 6,8 (link). This earthquake was 1401 km south of Reykjavík, Iceland.

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Location of the magnitude 7,1 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.

Several pre-earthquake took place, with magnitude 5,3 and 4,9 (automatic magnitude). Largest aftershock so far had the magnitude of 5,3 (automatic magnitude). Due to distance from land this earthquake was not felt and it did not create any damage. More earthquake activity should be expected in this area for next few days to weeks.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge

Yesterday (29-January-2015) a minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes Ridge. Total number of earthquakes was something around twenty or close to it.

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

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had magnitude of 3,2 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,0. More earthquakes like this can possibly happen in next few days to weeks. This area often has high amount of earthquake activity.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge

Today (16-December-2014) there was a minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. Only one earthquake had the magnitude of 2,9. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

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

It appears that this earthquake swarm is over for now. It might start again in next few hours to days, such activity is not uncommon on this part of the Reykjanes ridge.

Notice on updates: I had planned on starting regular updates today. That won’t happen due to bad weather preventing me getting a computer table that I need. I don’t know how long the delay is going to be since there is heavy snow in Iceland at the moment.

Article updated at 15:27 UTC.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge yesterday (04-November-2014)

Yesterday (04-November-2014) an minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge. Around four earthquakes where recorded.

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The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge on 04-November-2014. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is the same location that had a minor earthquakes swarm on 27-October-2014 that I wrote about here. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,3, other earthquakes had smaller magnitudes.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

Last night (27-October-2014) a minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes Ridge. Around 10 earthquakes where recorded and the largest one had the magnitude of 3,7.

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

No further earthquake activity has been detected today besides this earthquake activity around midnight. This does not rule out future activity, since earthquake swarms are common on the Reykjanes Ridge and they often can get big and last for few days to week when they happen.

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Powerful earthquake activity deep on the Reykjanes ridge

During the weekend there was an earthquake activity deep on the Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake in the swarm had the magnitude of 5,5 (EMSC information here). Second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 5,4 (EMSC information can be found here), the smallest detected earthquake had the magnitude of 4,6 (EMSC information can be found here).

This activity took place some 1000 km away from Iceland closest point. For that reason it is impossible to know what is happening at this location. It might an eruption that nobody is going to see or notice, or this might just be a earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge, such activity is common along the Reykjanes ridge and happens regularly.

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New study finds signs of new eruptions deep on the Reykjanes Ridge

In the Icelandic news today there is a article about new study on the deep Reykjanes Ridge. According to that that study an eruption took place deep on the Reykjanes Ridge sometimes in the past 20 years. Following this eruption a sharp and strong earthquake activity took place at this same location. No signs of this eruption where visible on the surface of the ocean. At this location the depth is around 2 to 3 km. The unnamed volcano is at around the location at 61N degree north, this makes the location around 400 to 500 km from land. The study did compare scans of the ocean floor at this location taken in the year 1994 to new ones taken in the year 2013. This newer scans clearly showed that eruptions had taken place in the time period between those scans of the ocean floor. It is not known when this eruptions took place or how large they where, or for how long they lasted. There have been earthquakes swarms at this location in the past 20 years. I don’t know if that is a sign of new eruptions at this location. It is also extremely difficult to confirm any new eruptions at this location if such event took place after last scientific study into this area.

More information in Icelandic

Sjá merki um eld­gos á Reykja­nes­hryggn­um (mbl.is, map of volcano, Icelandic)
Áður óþekkt eldgos á Reykjaneshrygg (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

Updated at 14:48 UTC.
Updated at 15:09 UTC.
Updated at 15:11 UTC.