Dyke intrusions – Page 41 – Iceland geology

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Magnitude 3,7 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (16-May-2014) a magnitude 3,7 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The source of this earthquake is not clear, but this appears to be a magma injection into Bárðarbunga volcano. Such events do happen in Bárðarbunga volcano without starting an eruption.

The magnitude 3,7 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. The earthquake took place where the green star is. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The Bárðarbunga volcano earthquake as it appeared at my geophone station in Heklubyggð. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence for more details.

There was around 20 aftershocks following this earthquake. Largest automatic magnitude was 2,6, but strongest reviewed earthquake activity so far had the magnitude of 2,5. More earthquake activity is most likely going to continue in this area. Earthquakes with this or stronger magnitude cannot be ruled out from happening. There is currently nothing suggesting that this is other then just normal earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

Minor earthquake swarm in Kverkfjöll volcano

Today (14-May-2014) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Kverkfjöll volcano. Earthquake activity is not common in Kverkfjöll volcano, but it does happen once in a while. This does not mean the volcano is about to erupt, this was just an earthquake swarm taking place. No earthquake reached the magnitude 2,0 in this earthquake swarm.

The earthquake swarm in Kverkfjöll volcano (red dots at north-east part of Vatnajökull glacier). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There are no clues to why this earthquake swarm took place. This might have been a magma injection in the volcano, or this might just have been a change in the highly active hydrothermal areas in the volcano. There was no change at all in harmonic tremors in the volcano during this earthquake swarm. Kverkfjöll web-camera can be found here, it has however not updated since 1-May-2014. I am not sure if this means anything for Kverkfjöll volcano, as such I am just waiting too see what happens next in Kverkfjöll volcano.

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May 14, 2014

New earthquake swarm in Herðubreið

Yesterday (14-May-2014) an earthquake swarm started in Herðubreið, after an earthquake swarm in Heruðbreiðartögl dropped in activity. Both earthquake swarms are currently active. The earthquake activity however drops between as the swarm activity picks up.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreið and Herðubreiðartögl. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Most of this earthquakes had the magnitude smaller then magnitude 2,0. There was one magnitude 2,4 earthquake in this swarm. Over 100 earthquakes where recorded during this swarm. It remains unclear what is creating this earthquake swarm. It might just be tectonic stresses in Herðubreið and nearby area, or this might be magma injection. So far there is nothing suggesting that an eruption is going to take place at this location.

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May 12, 2014

Update on Herðubreiðartögl earthquake swarm 12-May-2014

This is the last update on the Herðubreiðartögl earthquake swarm for now.

During the weekend the earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl has been dropping in both magnitude and number of earthquakes taking place. No earthquake with magnitude 2,0 or stronger took place during the weekend.

The earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl. Also in this picture, earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity has not stopped at Herðubreiðartögl, it might increase again. For the moment it has slowed down and is now at the levels it is not necessary for me to post regular updates on what is taking place. If any major change happens in Herðubreiðartögl I am going to post information about it.

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May 11, 2014May 12, 2014

Magnitude 3,8 earthquake on the Reykjanes Ridge [Updated]

Today (11-May-2014) at 01:57 UTC a magnitude 3,6 earthquake took place in the Reykjanes volcano on the Reykjanes ridge. Depth of this earthquake was 11,6 km and there have not been any reports that this earthquake was felt.

The magnitude 3,6 earthquake is the green star closest to land on this map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There has been constant earthquake activity in this part of the Reykjanes ridge for the past two weeks (about 17 days so far). This activity has however remained minimal with few earthquakes reaching the magnitude above 2,0. There has been increase and decrease in the during this time as expected. I reported an earthquake swarm in this area on 27-April-2014, on 13-April-2014 an minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge (no earthquakes above 3,0), I wrote about it here.

Other dates of earthquake activity in this area are 4-April-2014 as can be seen here. There seems to have been close to continues earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge during the month of April and May. I am not sure why that it is, but this might be related to magma movements in this area, so far there is nothing to suggest an eruption is going to take place in this area. I expect earthquake activity to continue in this part of the Reykjanes ridge. All larger earthquakes are going to appear clearly on my geophone network, its website can be found here.

Update 1: New magnitude has been issued for the earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge that took place yesterday (11-May-2014). The new magnitude is 3,8 with the depth of 11,5 km. Two magnitude 3,1 earthquake also took place at the same time (01:55 and 01:59 UTC) at the same location.

The green stars show the magnitude 3,8 earthquake, along with the magnitude 3,1 earthquakes at the same location. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

New earthquake activity has taken place at Reykjanes ridge today, so far no earthquake has the magnitude above 3,0 according to automatic results from Icelandic Meteorological Office. I am expecting more earthquake activity to take place at this location. Earthquake activity at this location is not continuous and has short and long breaks in them. Earthquakes larger than magnitude 2,5 appear clearly on my webicorders and can be viewed here.

Updated at 17:19 UTC.

May 9, 2014May 9, 2014

Update on earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl on 9-May-2014

This is a short update for the earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl on the 9-May-2014.

For the past 24 hours there has been drop in activity and no earthquake has been over magnitude 2,0. Activity continues but a lot lower levels then before. It does not look like it is over at this point, but the end of this soon to be seven day earthquake swarm in this area.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl as it was today. It can be seen that earthquake activity was at lot lower levels today then yesterday (08-May-2014) or the days before that. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This can also be seen in the tracer on Icelandic Meteorological Office website. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This drop in activity can also be seen in drop in the harmonic tremor plots in Askja. Fewer earthquakes means less earthquake related noise on the harmonic tremor plot (2-4Hz blue line). Not all of the activity that appears here is from Herðubreiðartögl, some of it is from SISZ and Reykjanes ridge activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The drumplot from Icelandic Meteorological Office also show this drop in activity. Some of the activity that appears is from Reykjanes Ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

None of this earthquake activity is strong enough to appear on my geophones. Since earthquakes at Herðubreiðartögl need to be at least magnitude 3,0 or larger to appear clearly on my geophones. My webicorders website can be found here, it shows all earthquakes that are taking place in Iceland and are large enough to appear on it. Its mostly earthquakes larger then magnitude 3,0 that are currently taking place (when this written).

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Updated at 20:11 UTC.

May 9, 2014

Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge

The earthquake swarm that has been taking place on the Reykjanes Ridge for the past few days did increase today (09-May-2014). The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,6 with the depth of 15,6 km. So far around 70 earthquakes have been recorded in this area. The earthquake swarm is taking place in area considerable distance from land and next populated area, so it might not be felt at all.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. Green star marks the magnitude 3,6 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The magnitude 3,6 earthquake on the Reykjanes Ridge as it did appear on my Heklubyggð geophone. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

It is difficult to know for sure what is taking place on the Reykjanes Ridge. There are clues this might be due to magma movement at depth, possibly dike intrusion. So far there are no signs of eruption taking place at this location at current point in time. It is possible to see any earthquake that takes place (at least large one) here on my webicorder website. It is also possible to see earthquake activity in Iceland at Icelandic Meteorological Office website.

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May 6, 2014May 6, 2014

Herðubreiðartögl earthquake swarm update 6-May-2014

This is an update on the earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl on 6-May-2014. This information might go outdated quickly if the activity in this earthquake swarm changes suddenly.

For the past 24 hours the earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl has been dropping. This means fewer earthquakes overall, the magnitude of earthquakes taking place has also been getting lower, with strongest earthquakes just in the magnitude 2,5 to 2,9 range. In the past 24 hours no magnitude 3,0 or larger earthquake has taken place.

The earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl on 6-May-2014. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake tracer at Icelandic Meteorological Office website clearly shows the drop in activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

My earthquake counter clearly shows this drop in earthquake activity. It is for all of Iceland, but majority of earthquakes over the past days are from Herðubreiðartögl. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

I did discover today that Icelandic Meteorological Office has updated its drumplot website. So its now possible to see the earthquakes directly. The drumplot here above is from Askja SIL station, it clearly shows the earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl. The website with the drumplots can be found here (I have just found this website in Icelandic, there does not appear to be English version available). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It remains difficult to know for sure what is the source of this earthquake swarm. There is a slight chance it might be due to magma injection at depth, but that remains unproven as is. My geophone stations (I only got two running now) are going to show the largest earthquakes and they are going appear clearly. It can be viewed here.

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Article updated at 21:22 UTC on 6-May-2014.
Article updated at 21:37 UTC on 6-May-2014.

May 4, 2014May 4, 2014

Update on ongoing earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl

The earthquake swarm that started yesterday (03-May-2014) in Herðubreiðartöl continues. Information about this earthquake swarm changes quickly so this article about it is going to get obsoleted quickly. The largest earthquake in past 24 hours had the magnitude 3,9. Since around midnight over 370 earthquakes have been recorded. This means the earthquake swarm is more powerful in terms of earthquakes today than it was at the same time yesterday.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðdartögl today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The evolution of the earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl today. As be seen here this earthquake swarm is heavy in number of earthquakes being detected. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartöl at Askja SIL station. As can be seen here this earthquake swarm is close to continuous. There is some minor drop in activity few hours ago before the earthquake activity picks up again. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake swarm seen on the SIL station at Mókollar. It is close to what is seen on Askja SIL stations and other SIL stations around this area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

My earthquake counter today showing all the activity. This gives me good comparison to how many earthquakes where recorded yesterday. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. See CC Licence page for more details.

I am expecting more earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl next hours and even days. Since currently there are no signs of this earthquake swarm slowing down. The largest earthquakes (above magnitude 3,0) appear clearly on my geophone network website.

May 3, 2014May 3, 2014

Ongoing earthquake swarm north of Herðubreiðartögl

Today (03-May-2014) around midnight (00:02 UTC) a earthquake swarm started north of Herðubreiðartöglum (Global Volcanism Program link on Askja volcano can be found here), this area is an small mountain ridge that has built up with regular eruptions over some period of time. The largest earthquake in this swarm took place this morning at 05:49 UTC and had the magnitude of 3,5 with the depth of 7,6 km. After this earthquake took place the swarm increased with many minor earthquakes. So far over 265 earthquakes have been recorded today, this number gets obsoleted quickly since new earthquakes happens ever 1 to 3 minute when I am writing this text.

Tremor plot on nearby SIL stations show that a lot more earthquake activity is taking place than appears on IMO earthquake website. Reason for this is simple, the earthquakes cannot be located since they are only detected at one or two SIL stations, a minimal of three or four SIL station are required for location of each earthquake. The tremor plot in the area also show that no magma is erupting, but that does exclude the possibly that magma injection is responsible for this earthquake swarm. It has not reached the surface and currently there is no eruption taking place at this location. If an eruption takes place in this location, it is going to be Hawaiian eruption with large lava flows.

The earthquake swarm north of Herðubreiðartögl as they appear on Icelandic Meteorological Office maps. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake rate during this earthquake swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The SIL station in Askja volcano. As can be seen the earthquake swarm is dense and highly active. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The SIL station south of Herðubreiðartögl, this SIL station is called Mókollar and the earthquake swarm appears clearly on it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake swarms are common in this area and have been for a long time. Most of that earthquake activity has been contributed to normal tectonic activity in this region (plate tectonic movements). This area also has erupted in the past (last 12,000 years). I don’t think there have been any eruptions in this area in the past 1000 years, at least there are no such signs on the surface (crates, lavas). It is difficult to know what happens in this area for the next few hours to days, all that can be done is to continue monitor the activity that is now taking place. The largest earthquakes appears clearly on my Böðvarshólar geophone (link here), even if the distance is up to 200 km.

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