Category: Monitoring

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On the 20-November-2013 an minor earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano, it started at 06:21 UTC and was over by 08:54 UTC. This earthquake swarm was minor one, with the largest earthquake having the magnitude of 1,2. The deepest earthquake had the depth of 26,1 km. That means this earthquake swarm was due to magma changes in Katla volcano at depth.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. This was a minor earthquake swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

No further activity has taken place in Katla volcano following this earthquake swarm since it took place. Future activity cannot be ruled out since Katla volcano is highly active when it comes to earthquake activity.

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Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes

On Saturday (16-November-2013) an earthquake swarm started on the Reykjanes. This earthquake swarm started slowly with only few unnoticeable earthquakes for most of the time. There was also a second earthquake swarm taking place due to water being pumped back into the ground. That did hide the current earthquake swarm to start with. This earthquake swarm is taking place in Brennisteinsfjöll / Bláfjöll volcano area.

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

Largest earthquakes in the current earthquake swarm have so far just had the magnitude of 2,9. Stronger earthquakes cannot be ruled out at current time. At the moment there is nothing to suggest this activity is related to any magma movement at present time. Currently the earthquake swarm is ongoing and it is impossible to know if it is going to continue or just die out slowly. The strongest earthquakes appear clearly on my geophone website here.

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Minor earthquake swarm in south-east of Katla volcano

Today (17-November-2013) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano at 06:21 UTC and it lasted to 07:09 UTC. The largest earthquake has the automatic magnitude of 1,8 with the depth of 18 km. This earthquake swarm took place under an former island in the area called Hjörleifshöfði (in Deutsch, English is not available). It is possible that this former island has it’s origin is in an volcano activity in the area, while I do not have it confirmed it is at least an idea. The deepest earthquake in this area had the depth around 22 km according to automatic results from Icelandic Meteorological Office.

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The earthquake activity in the east part of Katla volcano system. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Based on the depth of this earthquake swarm, the origin of this earthquake swarm was in magma movement or dike intrusion. It is not a tectonic activity, since such earthquakes are not so common in this part of Iceland, but they do happen. I am not sure what this means for activity in Katla volcano since I have not seen this before as it appeared now. This area of Iceland can be viewed in Google Maps and with Street View here.

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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.

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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.

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Minor earthquake swarm on Reykjanes Ridge

Today (04-November-2013) at 04:03 UTC an minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge. The largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,2 and the depth of 12,2 km.

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Earthquakes on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquakes are no uncommon in this area and there have been several earthquake swarm in past few weeks. Currently there are no signs of volcano activity taking place at this location and there are no clues or suggestions that such event is about to take place at present time. The largest earthquake did appear clearly on my geophone network and it can be viewed here on my geophone website.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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New earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge

Today (19-October-2013) new earthquake swarm started on the Reykjanes ridge. So far this earthquake swarm has been small, with only 16 earthquakes recorded. Largest earthquake in this swarm had magnitude 3,3 at the depth of 6,1 km.

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The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. The green star marks earthquakes with magnitude over 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I am expecting more earthquake activity in this area of the Reykjanes ridge over the next few days and weeks. It is impossible to know when an new earthquakes swarm starts. The best way is to monitor current activity at Icelandic Metorlogical Office website and on my webicorder website.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.