Category: Volcano

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Kolbeinsey island

Yesterday (24-May-2017) and today (during the night of 25-May-2017) there was an earthquake swarm in Kolbeinsey island. Largest earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,6 (x2) and one magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. No harmonic tremor where detected during this activity, that does not rule out that this activity is due to dyke intrusion taking place in Kolbeinsey island. It just didn’t reach the surface this time. Kolbeinsey island is far away from the SIL network, with the closest station being in Grímsey island (~25 km) with other SIL station at ~60 km distance. If an eruption starts in Kolbeinsey Island, a harmonic tremor signal is going to appear in Grímsey island SIL station.


Green star mark the area where the earthquake swarm took place in Kolbeinsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last eruption in this area took place in the year 1755, but that eruption might not actually have been in Kolbeinsey Island, but in a other unnamed volcano north of it (where is not known). Last confirmed eruption in Kolbeinsey island took place in the year 1372, it was closer to land somewhere north-west of Grímsey island (suggesting that fissure swarm of Kolbeinsey island comes close to Grímsey island).

At the moment the activity has quieted down and no earthquakes are being detected by the SIL network.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano yesterday (20-May-2017)

Yesterday there was a strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (GVP has new information about Bárðarbunga volcano). Two of the largest earthquakes had the magnitude of Mw3,9 and Mw3,8 other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude and around 10 earthquakes happened in Bárðarbunga volcano. This activity is also different from historical activity from 1970’s and towards 1994 (Gjálp eruption), when a magnitude 5 earthquake would happen in Bárðarbunga volcano once to twice a year. Current activity suggests that magma is inflating Bárðarbunga volcano faster than in the period between 1970’s and 1994. Why that is is not known to me.


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

Current change is that in recent weeks there are fewer earthquakes taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano, but when they happen they are often larger in magnitude and more than one large earthquake happens during the earthquake swarm.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.

According to reports on Global Volcanism Program the most magma collection is happening at the depth of 10 km (or around that depth), no clear or oblivious signs are that magma is collecting at shallower depth at the moment. If that is required for a eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano is not know at the moment, there is a possibility that magma might collect at 10 km depth and then pump out with a dike as was seen in the Holuhraun eruption (2014 – 2015). What has been confirmed is that magma is collecting under Bárðarbunga volcano and the volcano is inflating. This inflation is either going to stop or its going to continue until a new eruption happens.

Donations

Please remember to support my work here. While it is quiet in Iceland some days to weeks that can change without warning. I mostly update when something is happening in Iceland since I write mostly about current events. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Magnitude 4,3 earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge today (19.04.2017)

Today (19.04.2017) at 12:34 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of 4,3 took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake was felt in Keflavík town and nearby areas. A swarm of aftershocks followed, none of them was above magnitude 3,0. Largest aftershock had the magnitude of 2,9.


The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. Green star is the location of the magnitude 4,3 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity appears to be normal rifting activity in line with earlier earthquakes like this that have been happening deeper on the Reykjanes ridge over the past few weeks. There is a good chance that new earthquake activity is going to happen in this same area or nearby area in next days to months.


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

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano today (19.04.2017)

Today (19.04.2017) a strong earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had magnitude of 3,0 and 3,1 other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude. This is the strongest earthquake activity in Katla volcano since January 2017 when a magnitude 4,3 earthquake happened. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Green stars show the magnitude 3,0 and 3,1 earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquakes that I detected on my geophone in Heklubyggð show that the largest earthquakes was a mixed type of volcano earthquakes. This means that magma was responsible for today’s earthquake swarm. It was reported today in the news that this earthquake swarm took place away from all major hydrothermal areas inside Katla volcano caldera. The area of activity is close to eruption area of 1755 and a minor eruption close to current earthquake area in 1955 (didn’t break the glacier).


The main earthquake with the magnitude of 3,1 in Katla volcano. The trace is filtered at 4Hz due to high wind in the area. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC licence for more details.

This earthquake activity might just be a early signs of more activity to come. Since current pattern of activity has been going on since August-2016, with minor drop in activity between January to April. How this evolves depends on many factors that cannot be predicted due to lack properly documented earthquake history. Scientists know some details of Katla volcano eruptions behaviour, but those accounts are not fully accurate due to lack of knowledge at the time, currently the best documented eruption in Katla volcano is from 1918.

Article updated at 20:41 UTC. Correction made to the information about strongest earthquake. I recalled that detail wrongly.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (17.04.2017) at 11:58 UTC a magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is the strongest earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano for several weeks now. Following this earthquake a earthquake swarm started and lasted for about one hour in Bárðarbunga volcano.


Green star shows the magnitude 4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest aftershock activity had magnitude of 2,8 as the information is currently on Icelandic Met Office website. That might change tomorrow and it’s possible that I might update this article if any major change happens in earthquake magnitudes. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm. Weather is currently bad in Iceland and that’s going to last for few more hours.

Posted on

Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (6-April-2017) a strong earthquake activity took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity started this morning at 10:46 UTC and has continued during the day at slow phase. The largest earthquake so far took place at 15:08 UTC and had magnitude of 4,1 and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,2. Other earthquakes are smaller and a around dozen or so have taken place today in Bárðarbunga volcano.


The earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is in line with earlier earthquake activity that has been going on in this area since September-2015. What is slightly different now is that I got two different seismic signals on my geophone stations in Böðvarshólar and the one in Heklubyggð on the North-South direction (Heklubyggð is west-south of Bárðarbunga, Böðvarshólar is west-north of Bárðarbunga). This difference seems to suggest that some type of slip movement took place during this earthquake. I don’t know for sure what this change in pattern means at the moment. The best I can do now is to monitor the earthquakes I detect in the future for more such earthquake signal changes like I did just see on my geophone. I’m not fully sure what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment, what is known is that inflation is currently taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano and that process has been ongoing since September-2015.

Update 07.04.2017 – Anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone

This is the anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone. It can be seen on N-S direction. This is not the geophone, its working as expected and that got confirmed today when a minor (magnitude 2,1) earthquake took place not far from the Böðvarshólar geophone.


Böðvarshólar geophone.


Heklubyggð geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake in Heklubyggð geophone.

The difference is appearance of the P-wave and the S-wave. I don’t know why this is or why it happened. I’ve not seen this before.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated at 21:32 UTC on 07.04.2017.

Posted on

Slight increase in earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjall) volcano

Over the past few months there has been a slight increase in earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjall) volcano. This increase in activity strongly suggests that Grímsvötn are now in later stages of getting ready for an eruption.


Earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjall) volcano. Close to centre in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last eruption in Grímsvötn volcano was in 2011 and that was a VEI=4 eruption and the largest one in at least 140 years. I don’t expect next eruption in Grímsvötn to be a big one, but there is no way to know that for sure until an eruption happens. When that happens is impossible to know for sure. When next eruption happens is something that is not possible to know. All that can be estimated that a new eruption in Grímsvötn volcano is not far into the future.


This graph gives a good idea the time interval betweens eruptions (last eruptions since 2000). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Since 2000 the time between eruptions is around 2200 days on average. That number of days is about to happen soon in Grímsvötn volcano.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Everything helps me keeping this website up and running and properly updated. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano 21-March-2017

Yesterday (21-March-2017) there was an earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquakes where magnitude 3,1 and 3,0. Other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude.


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

There isn’t much to say about this earthquake activity (for those how do not know, please check older articles on Bárðarbunga volcano). This activity is happening due to continued inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano since the eruption ended in February-27 in 2015, inflation started in September that same year. Earthquake activity had started to drop in February, it now appears to be increasing again. When or if that results in a eruption soon is impossible to know.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Tungnafellsjökull volcano

A small earthquake swarm took place in Tungnafellsjökull volcano during the night of 18-March-2017. All earthquakes that happened where minor in magnitude with many earthquakes having depth from 3 to 13 km.


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

It is not clear why this earthquake activity happened in Tugnafellsjökull volcano. This might be a dyke intrusion at depth or it might also just be a stress adjustment in the crust due to the inflation happening in Bárðarbunga volcano. It is not known at the moment if this is due to magma or stress adjustment in the crust. This is the first earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano after considerable period of quiet.

Posted on

Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night (13.March-2017) a magnitude 3,7 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake happens just few days after a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga (March 8th). There was no other noticeable earthquake activity following the magnitude 3,7 earthquake. Few minor earthquakes took place after the main earthquake.


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

It seems that magnitudes in the earthquakes that are taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano is increasing. The reason for this is inflation in Bárðarbunga volcano, it remains to be seen if this ends in a eruption.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. At the moment I’m on what I call “scraping by budget” since I don’t have any money to do anything and I just make it. I expect my money situation to get better from July. I had to make few changes due to problems with billing (see earlier articles). Thanks for the support. 🙂