Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

Today (26. February 2024) at 18:27 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake was felt, but I don’t know over how wide area.

Green star in Krýsuvík volcano, just south of Kleifarvatn lake. Along with few red dots showing smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano, shown as green star. Copyright of of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity might be connected to the inflation that is happening in Svartsengi volcano, as it changes the stress values in the crust over a large area. More earthquake activity is possible in this area.

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano

Today (03. January 2024) at 10:50 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,3 took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. A second earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,5 took place at 10:54 UTC. Both earthquakes where felt in Reykjavík and up to Akranes and along the south Iceland (Selfoss, Hveragerði). A small earthquake swarm took place following the larger earthquakes.

Two green stars west of Kleifarvatn lake. Along with few red dots at almost the same location showing smaller earthquakes.
The earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be somewhat ongoing, but has slowed down or almost stopped otherwise.

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Earthquake swarm west of Kleifarvatn lake

During the night of 25. November 2023 at 03:42 UTC an earthquake swarm took place just west of Kleifarvatn lake. Largest of this earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,0. This earthquake swarm is a tension breaking earthquake swarm connected to the inflation in Svartsengi and the formation of the dyke under Grindavík. There’s going to be a lot of this type of earthquakes all over Reykjanes peninsula and on Reykjanes ridge in next few months.

Green star just west of Kleifarvatn lake. Few yellow dots nearby.
The earthquake activity west of Kleifarvatn lake and other nearby areas. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There are no reports of this earthquake having been felt in Reykjavík.

Update on Grindavík on 19. November 2023

This is a short update on the activity in Grindavík on 19. November 2023. Information here might go out of date without warning. This article is written at 22:28 UTC.

Krýsuvík earthquake

This morning an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,7 took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík area. This earthquake happens because of all the displacement that is now happening next to Grindavík town.

Green star west of Kleifarvatn lake. The dyke appears as a red line with a lot of smaller earthquakes.
The earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladynga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Daily update

This is also an update for 18. November 2023. I was trying to get a little time off from writing.

  • Little has changed in last two days. Parts of Grindavík town continue to sink or rise depending on location. Most measured movements is around 25 cm last I did see. If that is correct today I am not sure.
  • Inflation in Svartsengi is around 130mm since Friday 10. November 2023 according to GPS measurements and satellite measurements.
  • Inflow of magma into Svartsengi is estimated to be around 50m3/sec when this article is written according to the news. Inflow of magma into the dyke was 75m3/sec or more few days ago. That has possibly changed to a lower number in last few days.
  • Earthquake activity remains about the same in the dyke. Around 800 to 2000 earthquakes a day along the 15 km long dyke.
Image that shows inflation in Svartsengi area on Reykjanes peninsula. This is a red area that has been lifting up 30mm/day. The image shows also colour blue and green. With blue showing area lowering and green and yellow area uplifting.
Inflation on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is impossible to know when this area is going to erupt. It can take up to three to four weeks to happen. It might be a shorter time period, it is impossible to know what happens when it comes to volcanoes and dyke activity.

If anything happens. I’ll post an update quickly as I can.

Two earthquakes connected to Fagradalsfjall volcano

Today (5. October 2023) two earthquakes took place that are connected to Fagradalsfjall volcano inflation. The first one was a magnitude Mw3,3 in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This was a tectonic earthquake because of inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano. The second earthquake was north of Grindavík town and had a magnitude of Mw3,2. That earthquake was part of an earthquake swarm and dyke intrusion in that area. That area north of Grindavík town has been seeing a lot of earthquake activity in recent weeks, all connected to dyke intrusion activity.

Two green stars on Reykjanes peninsula that are connected to inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano.
Two green stars on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The increase in activity in recent weeks strongly suggests that an eruption is going to happen soon. When is impossible to know and earthquake activity is too low at the writing of this article for an eruption to be happening today. This might change without warning, as has happened in the last two eruptions. There is a possibility that something has changed after the last eruption, but the answer to that question won’t happen until next eruption. All that can be done now is to wait and see what happens.

Earthquake in Kleifarvatn lake

Yesterday (26. September 2023) at 18:42 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,3 took place in Kleifarvatn lake. Few smaller earthquakes followed this earthquake, both before and after.

Green star in Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. A lot of other earthquakes activity is also happening on Reykjanes peninsula at the moment.
Earthquake activity in Kleifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake is possibly because of an inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano that is to the west of this location. There is no sign that an eruption is about to start at this location in Kleifarvatn lake.

Increased hydrothermal activity between Keilir mountain and Trölladyngja mountain

Rúv News is reporting today (10. September 2023) that there has been noticeable increase in hydrothermal activity east of Keilir mountain since end of least eruption close to Litli-Hrútur mountain. According to the news, this shows that magma is now close to the surface without erupting currently. This area is rather large, it is between Keilir mountain and Trölladyngja mountain (part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano). There have been reports of increased SO2 vents that is killing moss in this area, along with new steam vents that have been appearing in the last few weeks.

According to Þorvaldur Þórðarson volcanologist, there is a magma shadow in the area around Trölladyngja and that appeared around the time the eruption close to Litli-Hrútur started. This area was noticed by Thomas Fisher earthquake expert from Czech Republic did notice this area having almost no earthquakes at all. Showing that magma has pushed it self into the crust at this location at shallow depth.

The result of this is that next eruption might have more eruption vents, it might erupt at more than one fissure at the same time in parallel. What happens next is unclear, but this large area has gotten really warm and seems to be continuing to expand.

Rúv news

Fylgjast vel með auknum jarðhita austan við Keili (Rúv.is, has map of the area)

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano

During the night of 9. September 2023 an earthquake swarm started at 03:24 UTC with a magnitude Mw3,8 earthquake. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík area and other nearby areas.

Green star and red dots in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula. There are also many other dots over the Reykjanes peninsula showing earthquake activity in other volcanoes.
Green star in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met office.

Its unclear if this earthquake swarm is ongoing. There is a lot of earthquake activity in this area because of inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano.

Stress related earthquake in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system

Today (8. July 2023) at 17:57 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,5 took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. This is a stress realted earthquake because of the inflation between Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountain.

Difficult to see in all the activity, on the right there is a green star and a lot of red dots below it. That is where the earthquake took place. There's a lot of activity on this map because of Fagradalfjall mountain.
The earthquake activity in Krýsuvík is on the right on this map. A green star with a lot of red dots under it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

More of this earthquakes are going to happen both east and west of the dyke between Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountains. Both before an eruption and after it ends. This type of earthquakes can have magnitude above Mw5,0 and they can happen in areas that have been quiet so far.

Magma detected deep under Reykjanes peninsula

According to a news on Rúv News there has been detection of magma at considerable depth on Reykjanes peninsula. This magma is actively trying to reach the surface, but has not been successful for now. This has resulted in a lot of dyke intrusions on the Reykjanes peninsula in recent months. Earthquake activity seems to follow each inflation period on the Reykjanes peninsula according to the news.

The magma in the deep crust and in the mantle is going to increase in volume until it can break up the surface. How long that is going to take is something I don’t know. Next eruption cycle is going to start with a large earthquake, just like the last one. Based on all current data that I have.

Rúv news in Icelandic

Jarðskjálftavirkni aukist síðustu daga og vikur (Rúv.is)