Category: Dyke intrusions

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Weekend long earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (both of them)

This is the first article on the Iceland geology new domain and new hosting location. I’ve resolved most problems but few remains that I am working on resolving. Please report any problems in a comment here or send me an email to volcano [at] icelandgeology [dot] net. I have updated the email postlist for those who use it. Please check your spam folders and update your rules for the new addresses that are now being used.
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Over the weekend there has been a earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,6 on Saturday 06-June-2020 at 01:01 UTC. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. Around 220 earthquakes have been recorded at the writing of this article.


The earthquake activity in the volcano called Reykjanes and Svartsengi (Þorbjörn). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The reason for this earthquake swarm is inflation that has been increasing in recent days according to GPS data that is not yet corrected or verified. That GPS data can be found here. This inflation increases the risk of larger earthquake in next few days.

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Earthquake swarm north-east of Grindavík town

Today (30-May-2020) at 01:07 UTC an earthquake swarm started north-east of Grindavík town in the volcano of Reykjanes (Svartsengi part). Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,7 and other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing and this information is going to get outdated quickly. Current activity doesn’t suggest that an eruption is about to happen.


The earthquake swarm north-east of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This signals that the inflation in this part of the volcano has started again at earlier speed possibly but this requires a confirmation from GPS data and such confirmation takes a few days. This is information that I don’t have access to because its from satellites that NASA runs to monitor volcanoes. Only Icelandic Met Office and University of Iceland has access to this type of information.

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Magnitude Mw3,5 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano during the night (30-May-2020)

A single earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano at 01:20 UTC. This earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,5 and no other earthquakes took place following this earthquake. This type of earthquake has been followed by stronger earthquake activity later but this is not always the case. This earthquake activity is due to inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano after the eruption in Holuhraun in August 2014 to February 2015. This earthquake was in its normal place in north-east part of Bárðarbunga volcano.


The green star shows the Mw3,5 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This activity is normal and does not signal any eruption risk because after the eruption of 2014 and 2015 it is going to be a while until next eruption happens in Bárðarbunga volcano, probably.

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Inflation resumes at Þorbjörn mountain on Reykjanes peninsula

According to Icelandic Met Office and news at Rúv.is the inflation at Þorbjörn mountain seems to have started again after few weeks of no inflation being detected. The inflation now seems to be small but that might change without warning. There might not be a lot of earthquake activity connected to this time of inflation because the area already is inflated and there was a lot of earthquake activity earlier in the year when this started. Earthquake activity might be more common on the edges and at those location the risk of magnitude Mw6,0 earthquake is highest, but is impossible to be certain about this due to how many faults there are on the Reykjanes peninsula, both from volcanoes and rift faults due to the rift valley that is there (its just full of lava).


There was a earthquake swarm yesterday (28-May-2020) north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

How this is going to change and evolve over the next few weeks is not something that can be predicted with any certainty for now. Since there have not been any eruption in this area for close to 800 years it is not known how this volcano systems behave in a eruption and inflation phase.

GPS data can be found here.

Icelandic News

Land virðist farið að rísa við Þorbjörn á ný (Rúv.is)
Vísbendingar um að landris sé hafið að nýju við Þorbjörn (Vísir.is)

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Earthquake swarm activity increases in Reykjanes ridge volcano

Since early this morning (18-May-2020) earthquake activity has been increasing in Reykjanes volcano. For the last several weeks there has been a deflation taking place in the volcanoes from Krýsuvík (possibly) and to Reykjanes volcano. Such event is to be expected with a rift volcanoes (see Krafla volcano 1980 – 1984 eruptions).


Current earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano and Þorbjörn mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Other than this minor activity it has been quiet in Iceland for the last month. This happens regularly in Iceland. This quiet time might last a while longer.

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Earthquake warning for Reykjanes/Reykjavík

Today (11-April 2020) an earthquake swarm took place north of Grindavík town. Largest earthquake in today’s swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Icelandic Met Office has issued a earthquake warning for Reykjanes and Reykjavík area. The warning is that magnitude Mw6,3 earthquake might hit this area soon but it is not possible to give any better time frame than this. The reason for this warning is that the magma injection is now changing the stress levels in the crust and is pressuring nearby faults that might break without much warning.

Icelandic News about the earthquake warning

Fólk þarf að búa sig undir skjálfta nærri sex að stærð (Rúv.is)

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Small earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge

Today (4-April 2020) an earthquake swarm took place close to Eldey island. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,3 other earthquakes in this swarm were smaller in magnitude. This earthquake is in the volcano Reykjanes.


Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula today in the volcano Reykjanes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity seems to be part of the inflation that is now happening in this part of the Reykjanes peninsula and now part of the Reykjanes ridge. This is going to continue for a while and I am not going to write about all of this earthquake activity since that would be pointless.

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Over 6000 earthquakes recorded on Reykjanes peninsula since start of January 2020

Latest news from Icelandic Met Office is that more than 6000 earthquakes have been recorded since start of January 2020 in the Reykjanes volcano and this is the most earthquake activity recorded in this area since start of digital earthquake records in 1991. Three dyke intrusion have been identified by Icelandic Met Office and it is my view that the fourth (and fifth?) might be out in the ocean close to Eldey island, due to no GPS measurements being available out in the ocean any dyke intrusion at that location is going to go undetected for a while.


The earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

In recent days there have been two earthquakes with magnitude Mw3,0 and Mw3,1. This earthquake activity is going to continue in this area. Inflation as measured so far has reached 60mm to 70mm. Inflation is taking place over a large area and this has started opening up old fissures and changing the pressure and strain in the crust in this area. Resulting in earthquakes as faults move because of the inflation.

Icelandic Met Office press releases

More research is needed to decipher the on-going activity at the Reykjanes Peninsula as a whole
Vísbendingar um nýtt kvikuinnskot á Reykjanesi (Icelandic, picture)

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Two strong earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano

Today (25-March 2020) two earthquakes happened in Reykjanes volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1 and the second earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,9. Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude but this earthquake swarm seems to be over for now but activity in this area is ongoing and there is no signs that activity is going to stop in this area.


Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula in the volcano Reykjanes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Inflation is ongoing in the area around Grindavík village and even if it is slower than in January it has not stopped. This explains the earthquake activity in this area. Activity happens in swarms and it is quiet between swarms. What is interesting is that time between swarms seems to be getting shorter and magnitude of some of the earthquakes seems to be getting stronger. I am not sure why that is.

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Increase in earthquake in Þorbjörn mountain (Reykjanes volcano)

Yesterday (19-March 2020) an earthquake swarm took place close to Grindavík town (Þorbjörn mountain) in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm was has several hundred earthquakes and many of the earthquakes were at shallow depth and it is not understood why that was. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0, Mw3,2 and Mw3,3. Other earthquakes that took place were smaller in magnitude. The earthquake swarm seems to be over for now but this activity happens in swarms and how long and how strong each swarm is different.


The earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Inflation continues in this area and that is the reason why this earthquake swarm activity happens. What seems to be happening now is that more activity is happening and it is happening over a wider area. At the writing of this article there are no signs that magma is finding a path to the surface.

Geophone website

I have now managed to make my geophone network active again. I had to move the software from (operating system) from Windows to Debian Linux because Windows 10 just doesn’t work for this. In the future I have to move my main computer to Debian Linux but it is going to be a little while until that happens because I need to backup data before I can change operating systems on my main earthquake computer (along with other problems that I need to resolve before this can happen). The geophones that I have up and running can be viewed here.

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