Category: Dyke intrusions

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Earthquake activity along west-east fault on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano

Today (24-October-2020) I noticed that there has been since yesterday (23-October-2020) a swarm of small earthquakes on what appears to be a west to east fault on the Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano. All of this earthquake activity is mostly just small earthquakes that don’t appear on the automatic map on Icelandic Met Office website. This earthquake activity only appears after a manual review that Icelandic Met Office has do. The total length of the fault that is in west to east direction seems to be 20 km to 30 km, it is difficult to be sure at the writing of this article.


The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninusla in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There are more faults at work in this. One or two fault are in mostly north-south direction and one fault is at southwest to northeast direction. There is also some cluster earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano but it doesn’t seem to have formed any fault like direction as of writing of this article. This changes seems to be supported by movement on the automatic GPS data from this area that can be viewed here (GPS time series for Reykjanes). It is difficult to be sure what happens next in this. There is now a storm passing over Iceland and that prevents detection and recording of the smallest earthquakes on the Reykjanes peninsula. The weather forecast for next week doesn’t look so good today (Saturday 24-October-2020).

It is a fact that not every eruption requires a big and strong earthquake swarm to start. I don’t know if that is true for Reykjanes volcano.

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Strong Sulfur dioxide smell from Grænavatn lake and increased activity in hot springs in Krýsuvík

This is a short update.

Reports from yesterday (22-October-2020) on Stöð 2 (Channel 2) report that there is a strong smell of Sulfur dioxide from Grænavatn lake. Some increase in one hots spring in Krýsuvík volcano has been reported. That might because of change in water pathways in the crust because of the earthquake on 20-October-2020. New cracks have also formed and the earthquake caused small landslides on the coastline closest to the earthquake. The cracks in the ground are dangerous and people should not go to the coastline in this area of Iceland now. A new earthquake can happen at any time without warning.

Automatic GPS data is suggesting that in Krýsuvík volcano there has been a fast inflation of magma. I don’t think this is displacement because of the earthquake based on other nearby GPS stations.

Icelandic News

Brún Krýsuvíkurbjargs sprungin og varasöm eftir jarðskjálftana (Stöð 2/Vísir.is, pictures, video)

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Earthquake activity slowly reducing since Mw5,6 earthquake yesterday (20-October-2020)

Since yesterday (20-October-2020) the earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula in the volcano Reykjanes or Krýsuvík volcano has been slowly getting down after the Mw5,6 earthquake. There have been at the writing of this article 30 earthquakes with magnitude that are larger than Mw3,0 in this area, some of those earthquakes have been felt in nearby populated areas.


The earthquake activity slightly more than 1 day later on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article the number of detected earthquakes in this swarm is getting close to 2000 earthquakes. The risk of stronger earthquake both west and east of the Mw5,6 earthquake that took place yesterday. Strongest possible earthquake in this part of Iceland can reach magnitude Mw6,5 to Mw6,7 depending on location and that is only east of current earthquake activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano area.

According to the news, the first injury because of the Mw5,6 earthquake has been reported along with damage to a viewing place in the mountain close the location of the earthquake yesterday.

Rotaðist þegar jörðin kippt­ist und­an (mbl.is, pictures, Icelandic)

I am going to post updates soon as possible if anything more happens in this activity on Reykjanes peninsula. At the writing of this article there has not been any sign of magma movement or any sign that an eruption has taken place in this area.

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Reports of gas according to Icelandic Met Office close to Grænavatn lake after the earthquake yesterday (20-October-2020)

It was reported by Icelandic Met Office at 22:20 UTC that people had been noticing more gas smell close to a small lake called Grænavatn. This suggest that magma might be on the move in the crust. It is currently difficult to be sure at writing of this article. This would be inside the volcano of Reykjanes.


Grænavatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Google Earth / Google.


Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula at midnight 21-October-2020. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article there has not been any change in harmonic tremor on nearby SIL stations. If magma is about to move that is possibly going to happen without much warning but this difficult to know for sure at the writing of this article.

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Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano Saturday 12th September 2020

On Saturday 12th September 2020 an earthquake swarm started in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake swarm did only go on for few hours before it stopped for now.


Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Image used with permission and copyright of image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had magnitude Mw3,0 and all other earthquakes where smaller. The magnitude Mw3,0 earthquake was felt in Reykjavík.

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Magnitude Mw3,4 earthquake in Reykjanes volcano

Today (3-September-2020) at 10:57 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake is part of the ongoing earthquake activity that started in this area in January 2020 and has been going on since then. This earthquake activity happens in waves and there are quiet period between high activity.


Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Image used with permission and copyright belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There continues to be high risk for stronger earthquake activity in this area because of magma injections into the crust at 3 to 8 km depth in this area. Earthquake activity is ongoing in Reykjanes volcano.

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Ongoing earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík and Reykjanes volcanoes boundaries

Yesterday (29-August-2020) an ongoing earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano or in the Reykjanes volcano increased. I am unclear what volcano system is responsible for this earthquake activity. It might be both volcanoes and if that is case it complicates matter.


The earthquake activity yesterday close to Krýsuvík or in Krýsuvík volcano. Used with permission and copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,6 at 19:06 UTC and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,4 at 16:23 UTC. Two earthquakes with magnitude MW3,0 also took place. The strongest earthquakes where felt in Reykjavík and other nearby towns. This earthquake activity is part of the activity that started in January in Reykjanes volcano and has been ongoing since then. Its has moved a little east in recent months and I am unclear on why that is exactly. There are no clear signs that magma is moving at the writing of this article to the surface.

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Two strong earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano

Yesterday (31-July-2020) two earthquakes with magnitude Mw3,4 and Mw3,0 took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake activity is part of the inflation that is happening north of Grindavík town in the Reykjanes volcano.


Earthquake activity close to Fagradallsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met office.

Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano is now mostly continues but it peaks with earthquake activity swarm like this one every few days to weeks. How much earthquake activity depends on how magma inflow is taking place at 3 to 10 km depth. It seems that flow rate is different between hours to days. Since the earthquake activity is continuous in Reykjanes volcano there is a permanent risk of magnitude Mw5,0 to Mw6,0 earthquake in this area.

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Strong earthquake swarm close to Fagradalsfjall (Reykjanes volcano)

Yesterday (19-July-2020) at 23:36 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw5,1 took place 0,3 km south-west of a mountain called Fagradalsfjall that is inside Reykjanes volcano. This is the same location that I wrote about in earlier article. At the writing of this article 1340 earthquakes have happened over the last 48 hours. Second largest earthquake took place at 06:23 UTC today (20-July-2020) and had a magnitude Mw5,0. At the writing of this article 26 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place. Some rock slides have happened during this earthquake swarm when the largest earthquake took place and more rock slides might happen in this activity.


The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano. A lot of wrong locations are on this map because the SIL network can’t handle all the earthquakes that are happening. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity has been connected to magma injection and inflation in Reykjanes volcano. Currently it is not known if magma has moved into the direction were this earthquake swarm is. At the writing of this article the earthquake swarm has slowed down in activity. How long this slowdown is going to last is difficult to know for sure. There is more risk for strong earthquakes in this area.

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Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano

Over the last few hours there has been an earthquake swarm close to mountain called Fagradalsfjall in or close to the volcano called Reykjanes. At the writing of this article no earthquake with magnitude over Mw2,0 have happened. That might change without a warning.


The earthquake swarm in the volcano Reykjanes or close to it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there isn’t anything suggesting that magma is on the move at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is something to watch out for since this might increase in size and magnitude over the next few hours. Inflation data from GPS measurements from this area are still unclear. There is also ongoing earthquake swarm north of Grindavík town but it has quieted down in last few hours.