Category: Volcano

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Two earthquake swarms in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Over the last few days there has been small earthquake swarm activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The activity has been in two locations, west of Kópasker village and east of Grímsey island (ongoing swarm). Both earthquake swarms are small for now and only few earthquakes larger than magnitude 2,0 have happened. Total number of earthquakes is around 146 for the whole Tjörnes Fracture Zone when this article is written.


Current earthquake activity on the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island is not over as it has not yet peaked based on what I am seeing. It is more difficult to know about the earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village. As of writing of this article both earthquake swarms are ongoing.

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Update on the earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island in Nafir volcano

This is a short update on the earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island in the Nafir volcano (no Global Volcanism Program profile). Yesterday (19-March-2019) a magnitude 3,2 earthquake happened. Other earthquakes both before and after it are smaller in magnitude. In total over 200 earthquakes appear to have taken place in this earthquake swarm.


Earthquake activity yesterday (19-March-2019) in Nafir volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity has currently stopped. Based on the pattern in the earthquake swarm last year this might not be over and this might be going on for weeks until a peak is reached in earthquake swarm activity. It is impossible to know for sure what happens next in this earthquake activity in this area.

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Earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

During the night of 18-March-2019 an earthquake swarm started east of Grímsey island in a volcano called Nafir (no Global Volcanism Program profile). The only GVP profile that exists is about the volcano south of this one (GVP profile can be found here). The volcano in this area doesn’t have any documented eruption history in recent 10.000+ years. This might be wrong due to lack of research. In 2018 there was a strong earthquake swarm in this area. Articles connected to that earthquake swarm can be read here. Top of the earthquake activity on 19th of February 2018 looked like this as I wrote in a article last year. Current earthquake activity suggests a repeat of last year activity, only time is going to show if this does happen, but clues are strong in that direction. Earthquake activity in this area is complex and this is a rift valley it is taking place in.


The earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake so far has the magnitude of 3,3 and other earthquakes are smaller in magnitude. Currently around 55 earthquakes have been recorded. The earthquake swarm is ongoing even if current rate of earthquakes is low.

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Earthquake activity in Presthnjúkar volcano (south Langjökull glacier)

Yesterday (16-March-2019) an earthquake swarm took place in Presthnjúkar volcano (south-Langjökull) or a volcano connected to it (there is a chance this volcano does not have a Global Volcanism Program profile). This earthquake swarm has been slow moving and only around 21 earthquakes have taken place in this earthquake swarm.


The earthquake swarm in Langjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 3,0 and other earthquakes that took place were smaller in magnitude. It is unclear why this earthquake activity is taking place, there is a chance this is just a tectonic movement. Last eruption in this volcano took place more than 5000 years ago. It appears that this earthquake swarm is now over. There is always a possibility that new earthquake swarm is going to start at the same or close to this earthquake swarm location.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano (not high number of earthquakes)

This morning (4-March-2019) a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 4,1 (at 05:52 UTC), second largest had a magnitude of 3,8 (at 05:46 UTC) and the third largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,3 (at 06:03 UTC). Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Total of eight earthquakes where recorded in this swarm. This earthquake swarm is slightly unusual because its only been two weeks since a magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This are inflation related earthquakes, since Bárðarbunga volcano has been inflating since end of the eruption in Holuhraun in February 2015. This process is going to continue until next eruption happens in Bárðarbunga volcano system. This process can be at shortest be 1 year and at the longest this can take 104 years. I base this on Bárðarbunga volcano known eruption history. Details can be found in Global Volcanism Program information website about Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Earthquake with magnitude (Mw) 4,2 in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (23-February-2019) a earthquake with the magnitude Mw 4,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake was in the north-east location of the caldera. This is the location were most earthquakes happen in Bárðarbunga volcano. There appears to have been a foreshock this time with a magnitude of 2,7.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I can’t provide wave image of the earthquake since my main earthquake computer is broken and I can’t afford for the moment getting a new one (+Windows 10 Pro licence). I hope to get a new computer this summer for this task along with switching to Raspberry Shake seismometer.

EMSC/USGS show the magnitude as 4,5 this happens due to difference method used for calculate the magnitude of this earthquake.

Update

I did manage to get the earthquake trace data from the remote station that handles it.


The earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. This image is under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

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Article updated on 25-February-2019. Image of the earthquake added.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Today (20-February-2019) there has been a minor earthquake swarm in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 1,2 and other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. Total of five earthquakes were detected.


The earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano (north-east of Bárðarbunga volcano). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear why this earthquake activity is happening. There is possible that some dyke intrusion is happening in the volcano but evidence remain unclear. This might also be crustal adjustment after Bárðarbunga volcano eruption in 2014 to 2015. I don’t think anything more is going to happen besides earthquake activity. Last eruptions happened sometimes 10.000 to 12.000 years ago and those are uncertain.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Yesterday (18-February-2019) a earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. This is the first earthquake swarm in Katla volcano for a long time and it is unusual how early this activity starts.


Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 3,0 and other earthquakes in this swarm were smaller in magnitude. Total of ten earthquakes took place in this swarm. This earthquake activity now seems to be over.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (south end of Reykjanes peninsula)

Today (6-February-2019) a earthquake swarm started in Reykanes volcano on Reykjanes peninsula. Last documented eruption in this volcano took place in the year 1926 according to Global Volcanism Program. It was most likely out in the ocean far from the coastline and lasted only for five days


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

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude 2,8 and the second largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,6. Other earthquakes in this swarm have been smaller in magnitude.

Moving dedicated hosts

This website is moving again in next few hours. Because of this I have disabled comments until the transfer is complete to the new server.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (week 6)

During the night of 4-February-2019 a earthquake with the magnitude of 2,6 took place in Öræfajökull volcano. This earthquake was the start of an earthquake swarm that is currently ongoing.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is normal pattern for Öræfajökull volcano in recent months. Rate of earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano appears to continue to be going up. This means that injection of magma into Öræfajökull volcano continues at what appears to be at similar rate as before.

Moving website hosting

Because of Brexit I am moving my hosting from UK to US this week. In general people should not notice this if they have their DNS setting set up correctly. But it might take up to 48 hours for them to update on slower DNS servers (that is not common today, but can happen if your router is your DNS).

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