Volcano – Page 102 – Iceland geology

November 15, 2013November 15, 2013

Magnitude 3,4 earthquake 15 km north of Kolbeinsey island

Today (15-November-2013) at 05:32 UTC an magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place 14,9 km north of Kolbeinsey island. The depth of this earthquake was 3,9 km according to Icelandic Meteorological Office. Due to distance from the SIL network the magnitude and depth might be underestimated.

131115_1620 — The earthquake north of Kolbeinsey island is marked by the green star. *Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office*.

Due to distance from land it is difficult to know for sure what is happening at this location. So far no harmonic tremor has been detected so no eruption is taking place at this location. This earthquake did appear clearly on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. My geophone website can be found here.

November 6, 2013November 11, 2013

Rate of eruptions in Iceland

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There is a common believe that eruptions in Iceland happens in Iceland every 3 to 5 years. According to this believe the next eruption in Iceland should take place around the year 2014 to 2016. The reality of this is far more complex than common believe is in this matters. It is true that eruptions are common in Iceland, but it is not the same to say that eruption happens at regular intervals. For instance the longest break in 20th century since proper documentation of eruptions started was 7 years (Krafla 1984 and then Hekla in 1991). Then there are shorter time periods between eruptions as happened in the year 2011 when no more than three eruptions took place in that year. Two minor ones and one large one. The minor eruptions took place in Grímsfjall volcano (largest eruption in 140 years) and smaller eruptions in Katla volcano (lasted for ~10 hours) and in Hamarinn volcano (~16 hours). Then we had a minor explosion (no eruption) in Kverkfjöll volcano during the summer of 2013 [coverage link on it here and here].

It is not uncommon in Iceland to have several eruption from several volcanoes at the same time or over few month period during the year. It has happened in the history of Iceland and can happen again. It is also not uncommon not to have any eruption in Iceland for a long time and quiet scene last for several years. Currently it is quiet in Iceland but the history has shown that it is not always so. For more details on eruptions in Iceland I reccomend this blog post (jonfr.com) and this overview from Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Blog post updated at 22:10 UTC.
Blog post updated on 10-November-2013 at 23:40 UTC.

October 25, 2013

Two minor earthquakes in Hekla volcano

I am sorry being late with this blog post.

On Wednesday (23-October-2013) two earthquakes took place in Hekla volcano. One earthquake took place outside the main volcano, but inside the Hekla volcano system. All earthquakes were small with the largest one having the magnitude of 1,6 km. The two earthquakes in the main Hekla volcano are shallow earthquakes, the largest one (magnitude 1,6) just having the depth of 1,3 km. What is creating this earthquake activity remains unclear at present time.

Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

So far there are no signs of an eruption going to take place soon in Hekla volcano. Web cameras of Hekla volcano can be found here (jonfr.com), here (Rúv.is) and here (livefromiceland.is). My webicorder data can be found here (jonfr.com) online. The geophone at Heklubyggð detects earthquakes down to magnitude 0,0 if the weather is good, so if an eruption starts in Hekla volcano all the signs are going to appear clearly on that geophone as the activity starts.

October 19, 2013

Earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Yesterday (18-October-2013) an earthquake swarm started on Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake swarm has not been big, with largest earthquake only having the magnitude 2,5. This earthquake swarm is taking place at the end of an unnamed volcano that is in this area. The earthquakes appear to be only tectonic at this moment.

The earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone yesterday and today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is hard to know for sure if earthquake activity is going to continue in this area of Tjörnes Fractures Zone. Currently the activity remains low to moderate in this area, but no large earthquakes (over magnitude 4,0) have so far taken place in this area.

October 18, 2013October 18, 2013

Possible volcano eruption in the year 2002 off the coast of north Iceland

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Few years ago there was an strong earthquake swarm 45 km north of Grímsey island, the earthquake swarm location was between Grímsey island and Kolbeinsey island. The strongest earthquake in that swarm had the magnitude of 5,5. It’s now considered a possibility that an minor eruption took place at this location when this earthquake swarm took place in the year 2002. This is according to an recent study into the volcano activity in this area. Since this part of the rift zone where volcanic activity continues where the Tjörnes Fracture Zone ends.

Storagrunn volcano. Image from Vísir.is news, copyright belongs to Bryndís Brandsdóttir and other people connected to this work.

This volcano is located at depth at this location so any minor eruption is not going to get noticed on the surface of the ocean.

The earthquake swarm in this area in the year 2002 (vedur.is, Icelandic, images). Earthquakes larger than 3,0 are marked by green dots. Copyright on this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Icelandic News about this. Beware Google Translate.

Við misstum af síðasta eldgosi við Norðurland (Vísir.is, Icelandic)

October 17, 2013

Earthquake activity continues in Eyjafjallajökull volcano

Minor earthquake activity has continued since last week in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. This earthquake activity is so small that none of the earthquake have had the magnitude of 1,0. This earthquake activity is also shallow, less than 5 km depth. So it’s clearly not magma (at least not new one) that is creating this activity. I am not sure what is creating this activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano at this point and I might never know.

Minor earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

At current time there is no risk for an eruption from Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Since there is no new magma flowing into the volcano at present time. If you want to watch Eyjafjallajökull volcano you can do so here (jonfr.com) and here (mila.is) web cameras.

October 15, 2013October 15, 2013

New earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula and Reykjanes ridge

Today (15-October-2013) at 01:43 UTC a new earthquake swarm started on Reykjanes peninsula and Reykjanes ridge. So far the largest earthquake has the magnitude of 2,5. At the moment no larger earthquakes have taken place. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing, but the rate of earthquakes has dropped over the day and is currently low.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. It’s just off the coast. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This area of the Reykjanes has been seeing a lot of activity in recent days and its possible that more earthquake activity is going to take place at this location in next few days to months.

Blog post updated at 21:42 UTC.

October 13, 2013October 13, 2013

Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula

Today at 01:11 UTC (13-October-2013) an earthquake swarm started on the Reykjanes peninsula. Early in this earthquake it was just minor earthquakes until 07:34 UTC an earthquake with magnitude 4,8 took place on the Reykjanes peninsula. Before the strongest earthquake took place, an magnitude 3,4 and 3,5 took place. Several earthquakes with magnitude above 3,0 took place following the main earthquake. The strongest earthquake was felt over an wide area, from Vík í Mýrdal to Hólmavík in north-west Iceland. Far as I know no damage did take place following this earthquake.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. Green stars mark earthquakes with magnitude above 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake did appear clearly on all of my geophone stations in Iceland. They can be viewed here.

The magnitude 4,8 earthquake on the Eyrarbakki geophone station. The earthquake signal is strongest on this geophone station and clearly tops the sensor it self, it can be seen how the signal goes above the maximum line on the geophone image. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details on this licence.

The magnitude 4,8 earthquake at Heklubyggð geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details on this licence.

The magnitude 4,8 earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details on this licence.

The magnitude 4,8 earthquake at Skeiðflöt geophone station. The earthquake did appear clearly even if the noise level is high on that station. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details on this licence.

It is impossible to know for sure if this earthquake swarm is going to increase again. For the past few hours activity has been dropping, there is however nothing that says activity is not going to increase again. Such activity is common in this area, but it’s impossible to know for sure what happens next. At the moment there is nothing to suggest that volcano activity is the source of this activity. That might change but I think it is unlikely to be the case at the moment, regardless of what the future has in store.

October 11, 2013October 12, 2013

Source of the glacier flood in Hofsjökull volcano found

In August-2013 there was an glacier flood from Hofsjökull volcano, this glacier flood was minor and did not cause any damage. The source of this glacier flood has now been found according to Icelandic Meteorological Office. A new glacier cauldron has been found in Hofsjökull glacier, where none was before. The cauldron is around 700 meters long and about 30 – 50 meters deep. The glacier is cracked a lot around the cauldron and it’s dangerous to travel to this area because of that. The hight of this cauldron is around 1700 meters above sea level.

Hofsjökull volcano and glacier. The new glacier cauldron is located at ~64°49,5‘N; 18°52‘W. Click on the image for full resolution. Image from NASA/USGS/Icelandic Meteorological Office/Geological Department of University of Iceland (Jarðvísindastofnun Háskólans).

According to Icelandic Meteorological Office this part of the glacier has not had any glacier cauldrons before that they know of. This cauldron has the volume of 1 million cubic meters (10⁶ m³) according to Icelandic Meteorological Office. This area now has highly active hydro-thermal area and hot-springs. What formed this glacier cauldron is unclear at the moment, it was not an eruption since no such signals have been recorded from Hofsjökull volcano before or after the glacier flood in August-2013. It is also unclear if this glacier cauldron is going to create new glacier flood in the future.

Icelandic Meteorological Office announcement

Hlaup úr Hofsjökli í ágúst 2013 (vedur.is, in Icelandic)

Icelandic News

Fundu sigketil á Hofsjökli (mbl.is, Icelandic)

Blog post updated at 21:02 UTC on 11-October-2013.
Blog post updated at 01:45 UTC on 12-October-2013.

October 10, 2013

Earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano

Today (10-October-2013) there was an minor earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano. The largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude 2,2 and the depth of 0,4 km. Earthquakes like this are common on Torfajökull volcano and have so far not been connected with any other activity.

Earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano (to the north of Mýrdalsjökull glacier). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is possible that more activity is going to take place in this area in the next few days to weeks. It’s unlikely that it is going to be larger than what took place today.

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