During the night 4-April-2021 at 02:04 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,0 at 5,7 km depth took place 1,5 km south-west of Keilir mountain. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík area and outside of it. Based on the earthquake location it looks like it is located in the dyke or close to it. This is part of the Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Along the magma dyke there seems to be forming focused points of earthquake activity. Currently I am seeing two location. The first location is around the eruption in Geldingadalir valley (former) and the second location that seems to be forming is just south of Keilir mountain. It has been my experience during the eruptions over the last few years that this type of earthquake activity might suggests that new location where eruptions might take place based on this earthquake activity. It is impossible to know if anything is going to happen. There is no change in GPS data since the eruption started. The GPS data can be viewed here.
This is not a update on the eruption. There has not been any major change in the eruption at the writing of this article.
University of Iceland has released a report that can be read here (pdf) showing that the magma that is now erupting comes from the depth of 17 to 20 km. Crust at this location on the Reykjanes peninsula is around 17 km deep. A 3D map can be found here of the eruption. I think it is going to updated regularly by ÍSOR. The lava that is now erupting is part of Tholeiitic magma (Wikipedia). The lava is 1180C when it erupts from the ground.
What seems to be now happening is that a shield volcano is forming. It is a question if this is going to result in a formation of new magma chambers along the dyke where it formed. There is continued risk that new vents and fissures eruptions opens in this change can happen without warning. Based on earthquake activity it seems that the dyke continues to be active rather than having turned into rock by cooling.
It is now estimated that the Geldingadalir valley is going to overflow in 8 to 18 days and currently a lava pond is forming at this location. Once that happens the lava is going to flow into nearby valley (I can’t find the name of it). One of the valley the lava is in the end going to flow into Nátthagi valley if the eruption lasts long enough.
This information is going to get outdated quickly. This article covers Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This article is written on 21-March-2021 at at 00:40 UTC.
This eruption is tiny. The amount of magma erupted is now around 0.02km3 but this number might not be fully accurate since I’ve not seen any published number about of volume of lava erupted so far.
This is unconfirmed but it is possible that an new fissure opened up under the lava field next to the hill side (seen on the web camera, this is on the left side).
The current erupting fissure is now about 200 meters long and might be getting shorter.
Earthquake activity has almost stopped at the writing of this article.
This eruption might only last 1 to 3 days before it stops.
There is no sign of deflation in the GPS data at the writing of this article.
There are no other reports about this eruption at current time. This might change without warning.
Beint vefstreymi af eldgosinu – Vogastapi (Rúv.is) – Added 22-March-2021. View from a distance. Should show a red glow from the eruption if the weather isn’t too bad. – This web camera is no longer active!
Update at 15:28 UTC – One side of the main crater collapses
Here is a video of the main crater collapse on one side and give lava a new path for short period of time. At the writing of this update that path for the lava has closed down again.
Kvikustreymið braut sér nýja leið (Rúv.is) – This is a new video of the crater collapse that took place at 14:20 today (21-March-2021).
Article updated at 15:29 UTC. New information added. Article updated at 21:21 UTC. New information added. Article updated at 03:06 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera added.
em>Article updated at 16:34 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera has been removed by Rúv – comment added to that web camera.
This is a short overview of the eruption that is now ongoing in Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall mountain area. This is part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system according to latest information. This information might change as the time and more information is collected. This article is written on 20-March-2021 at 02:58 UTC.
This is the first eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system since the year 1340.
The eruption started at 20:45 UTC according to Icelandic Met Office. The harmonic tremor from the eruption is almost invisible.
The fissure is at the writing of this article estimated about to be 1 km long with the direction south-west and north-east.
Currently the eruption is small and there is no risk of damage to any infrastructure. Next road (currently closed because of earthquake damage) that might get damaged is 2,5 km distance from the eruption site.
This eruption suggests that more eruption might start in different fissures once this eruption is over.
The valley that the lava is flowing into might get filled with lava if the eruption lasts long enough. The valley next to it is equally deep so there is no danger of this lava flow.
The eruption is in a area that is difficult to access even by a car.
The earthquake activity in the dyke. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The eruption might only last for two to three days as it currently looks but that might change without warning since it is impossible to know for sure what is going to happen next with this eruption.
There are no good web cameras of this eruption since it is remote and started late on Friday night and the weather on Reykjanes peninsula is not good for today (20-March) or tomorrow (21-March).
Updated at 04:49 UTC. Web cameras added to this article.
Article updated at 03:49 UTC. Information added. Spell check fixes. Article updated at 04:52 UTC. Web cameras added. Article updated at 14:44 UTC. New web camera added from Rúv.
This is a short article that because the situation can change without warning and article is written on 19-March-2021 at 21:07 UTC. There have been updates to names used and now Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja name is used by Global Volcanism Program and Icelandic Met Office. Suggesting that the magma that is about to erupt has its origin in Krýsuvík volcano system eat of current centre of activity. This sometimes happens in Iceland when magma travels long distances deep underground.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Today at 15:01 an earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw3,1. This earthquake has in my view clear signs of magma movement close to the surface as the depth of this earthquake was just 0,1 km (100 meter).
A magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake that took place today at 15:01 UTC.
This earthquake strongly suggests that magma created it at shallow depth. It has not yet resulted in an eruption but it is a question if this the final sign before an eruption happens. The current quiet time might last up to 2 months but it is impossible to know for sure.
This is a short article because the situation is always changing. This article is written on 15-March-2021 at 21:23 UTC. This article is about Fagradalsfjall volcano but Icelandic Met Office updates go to Krýsuvík volcano so I link to that volcano also.
Between Friday and Monday the activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano was really strong. Several earthquakes with magnitude above Mw4,0 took place and the second largest earthquake took place on Sunday 14-March at 14:15 UTC with the magnitude of Mw5,4. Earlier that day at 12:34 UTC an magnitude Mw5,2 earthquake had taken place. According to the news (Icelandic) over 50.000 earthquakes have taken place since 24-February-2021 when this earthquake activity started (20 days ago). Of those six have been larger than magnitude 5, earthquakes with magnitude between 4 to 5 have been 53 and total of 524 earthquakes with magnitude between 3 to 4. Inflation is now reported to be 20 cm or 10 cm on both sides of the dyke. Eruption is expected to happen close to or in Nátthagi valley soon. When that happens is impossible to know but the magma inflow into the dyke doesn’t show any signs of slowing down or stopping.
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall mountain and nearby area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It has also been reported that the magma dyke managed to push it self a little more south in the line it had been then compared to Friday according to newest data that scientists have access to. Today (15-March-2021) earthquake activity has been small and slow but after 16:30 UTC it started to increase again but at the writing of this article no major earthquake has happened. It has mostly been small earthquakes taking place.
If anything major happens I’ll post update soon as possible.
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This article is short because the situation is always changing. This is about the volcano Fagradalsfjall but I have also added Krýsuvík because that volcano is being updated at Global Volcanism Program website. I am not sure currently what volcano is considered active in this make injection. This article is written at 20:39 UTC.
Today (12-March-2021) at 07:43 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,0 at 3,7 km depth took place close to Nátthagi valley just south of Fagradalsfjall mountain. Over the last 48 hours 72 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have taken place. This earthquake activity is happening at the south end of the magma dyke that has now stopped moving south but continues to expand based on the earthquake activity that is now happening. This is also the location where an eruption might happen without any warning or strong earthquake activity. Eruption out on the ocean is no longer considered a possibility because the magma dyke stopped moving south.
The dense earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall or Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
GPS data shows that inflation remains heavy and has moved some GPS stations up to 120mm over a time period of two weeks. There are no signs of this inflation stopping or slowing down.
Next article is going to be on Monday 15-March-2021 if an eruption doesn’t happen or something else major doesn’t happen. I am hoping to get weekend break this weekend. If that is going to be successful is currently unclear.
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Fagradalsfjall volcano has not erupted since Pleistocene. When last eruption took place is not listed or not known. This the first magma movement in Fagradalsfjall volcano in 11700 years.
*This might also be a different volcano known as Svartsengi (no Global Volcanism Profile). There is no agreements between maps on this detail for now. Reykjanes volcano might only extend into Reykjanestá and then is mostly under ocean and might not extend into Reykjanes peninsula as sometimes is shown on maps.
Krýsuvík volcano has quieted down a little in the last 24 hours. Eruption risk is lower for now in that volcano.
Largest number of earthquakes detected in one day was over 3000 earthquakes.
In the last 24 hours 12 earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 have happened. Most of them are felt in nearby populated areas.
No harmonic tremor has been detected since it ended during the night on 4-March-2021.
During the last 48 hours over 3300 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office.
New! Magma is now estimated to be at 5 to 6 km depth but might be as shallow as 2 km depth.
Heavy earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in three volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Maps of possible eruption areas has been made by Earth science department of University of Iceland and can be found here. University of Iceland Earth science department also made a lava flow prediction can that map can be found here. Both maps are updated daily on Facebook.
Cameras and links might go offline without warning.
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It is possible to support my work with donations. It helps me in current financial situation that has remained rather bad. You should only donate if you can. Other ways to support my website is to let people know about it if they are interested in earthquakes, volcanoes and geology in Iceland. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Article updated at 16:53 UTC. Article updated at 21:13 UTC.
Fagradalsfjall volcano has no document eruption history over the last 10.000 years and the main volcano location is unknown if it exists.
Updates from the last few hours
Small rift valley has started to form between Keili mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. This is part of the rift zone that is Reykjanes peninsula.
Harmonic tremor stopped this morning and as Icelandic Met Office has been telling the news the origins of this harmonic tremor was earthquake activity that was so dense it created this harmonic activity. In the morning the activity dropped a little.
Magma continues to move in the Fagradalsfjall volcano system.
Earthquake activity is now between the volcanoes Reykjanes, Fagradalsfjalls and Krýsuvík. Why that is unclear but magma movement for now is only in Fagrdalsfjall volcano system.
Largest earthquake in last 24 hours had a magnitude of Mw4,5. Over the last 48 hours total of 72 earthquakes with magnitude over Mw3,0 have taken place. There is no sign of activity slowing down.
Heavy earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in several volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is currently impossible to know for sure what happens next since this situation is extremely complicated because of all the volcanoes interactions and earthquake activity.
This is a short update since this situation is developing quickly.
No eruption has started at the writing of this article. Harmonic tremor is slightly lower compared to when it started at 14:20 UTC in Krýsuvík volcano. This drop in harmonic tremor started around 16:00 UTC. This harmonic tremor is ongoing as for writing of this article. There are no signs of the rift valley formation on the surface yet, but it does show up on measurements, both GPS and satellite measurements. Earthquake activity is high at the writing of this article but most earthquakes are small in magnitude but there are few earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,0.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.Earthquake activity trace of the earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Most earthquakes are in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Web cameras of the possible eruption area can be found in this locations.
I am going to add more streams as I find them online.
I’ll update soon as possible if anything happens. This situation is changing quickly.
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