Category: Monitoring

Posted on

Magma inflow results in earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

On Friday 6th of January 2017 it was noted by one of my readers that a deep earthquake activity had happen in Bárðarbunga volcano, the earthquake in question was a magnitude 1,6 at depth of 25 km. At that depth the only earthquakes that happen are due to magma movement, at that depth the pressure is such tectonic (as explained by Icelandic geologists) earthquakes do not commonly happen at this depth. Today, 8th of January 2017 a magnitude 3,3 earthquake happened in Bárðarbunga volcano at the depth of 7,3 km and the earthquake had the magnitude of 3,5.


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

The inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano is now at considerable levels, it is not known if or when an next eruption happens. It appears, based on historical data that eruption cycles in Bárðarbunga volcano last for up to 20 years (depending), during such time there is an eruption every few years. At the moment there is also a rifting taking place in this area, making already a complex situation a lot more complex and harder to figure out. Since besides the main volcano, a volcano named Hamarinn can also erupt during this cycles. It has already erupted and did so in July-2011 when it had a 8 – 12 hour long eruption resulting a massive glacier flood, but it did not break the surface of the glacier (Vatnajökull).

Good example of this cycle and repeated eruption pattern can be found in historical data on Global Volcanism Program website (link above).

The last eruption cycle took place in the late 19th century and ended in early 20th century. The following eruptions happened (documented, there is a good chance that some eruption might have been missed due to how remote Bárðarbunga volcano is),

1862 June 30 – 1864 October 15 (error margin +- 45 days). Area of eruption was Tröllagígar.
1872 – Date not know nor eruption site, Dyngjuhals suspected.
1902 December – 1903 June. Eruption site not known, Dyngjuhals also suspected.
1910 June 18 – 1910 October, Loki-Fögrufjöll (East loki Cauldron). This is also known as Hamarinn volcano.

Donations

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

Posted on

Earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano

On the 4th and 6th of January 2017 earthquakes took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The earthquake on 4th of January had the magnitude of 3,3 (I think) and the earthquake on the 6th of January had the magnitude of 3,5. Both earthquakes where inside the crater of Bárðarbunga volcano, along the fault rims. The reason for this earthquake activity is the inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano, that appears to be rather rapid and mostly steady process. Influx of magma happens in pulses and those pulses are in different size and how long they last.


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

This type of earthquake activity is a regular feature of Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment. I don’t expect that to change any time soon. What might change is the magnitude of the earthquakes happening, I suspect that with time they are going to get more rare but larger in magnitude instead.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon to buy stuff that you need. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquakes in Katla volcano

On the 5th of January 2017 a magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake happening in January is extremely rare thing, since Katla volcano is normally quiet this time of the year. That seems to be over for now.


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

This earthquake was the strong earthquake in a minor swarm that took place in Katla volcano during that day. Since then the activity has been mostly quiet. Bad weather is however interfering with detection of the earthquakes in most of Iceland, a storm is happening 1 to 2 days at the moment.

Donations

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

Posted on

The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

On the 4th of January 2017 a earthquake swarm took place in Hengill volcano. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,7 and the second earthquake had the magnitude of 2,8. The largest earthquakes where felt in Reykjavík, Hveragerði and Selfoss towns (mostly). In total of 150 earthquakes took place in this earthquake swarm.


The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano from 4th of January 2017. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm was due to a process called rifting, this means that where the earthquake swarm is happening the ground is dropping and cracking at the same time. This over time forms a rift valley (like Þingvellir). The area from Hveravellir and south into the ocean of the Reykjanes ridge is all just one big rift valley. Far as I know a period of high earthquake activity can happen in this area, last time this happened sometimes around the middle of 19th century with possible activity sometimes in the 20th (early) century. Since then it has been mostly quiet.

In the year 1789 (source in Icelandic, 1973) the area around Þingvallavatn lake dropped around 63 cm (that estimate is not accurate and it is estimated that it was far more) in a earthquake swarm. When this is going to happen next time is impossible to know.

Donations

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

Posted on

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

In 2016 Bárðarbunga volcano kept busy all year with inflating and preparing for the next eruption.

On 31-December-2016 a swarm of earthquake happened in Bárðarbunga volcano, largest earthquake in that swarm had the magnitude of 3,6 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,3. On 02-January-2017 few earthquake happened, the largest one having the magnitude of 2,8.


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

At the moment, the Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at what seems to be a rather fast rate. When that might lead to an eruption is difficult to know. Other more complex factors are also at work here that I don’t know to well and are impossible to figure out.

Donations

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

Posted on

Earthquake activity in Katla caldera

On Monday 26-December-2016 (second day of Christmas) a magnitude 3,3 earthquake happened in Katla volcano. This was the largest earthquake that day. Following this earthquake a few dozen smaller earthquakes have been taking place, the last ones in the past few hours on 27-December-2016. The largest of those earthquakes had a magnitude of 1,6.


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

There has been some fluctuation in the conductivity of Múlakvísl for the last few days. Not all of it might be due to magma related matter getting into the glacier river (at least not new material). The bad weather is moving old volcano ash and sand and some of it is falling into the nearby glacier rivers and increasing conductivity. Along with old material melting off the glacier in the sudden heat that has been going on in Iceland for the past few hours.

Storm warning

Please be aware that if you are in Iceland that a storm is about to hit Iceland and it appears to be rather bad. It is going to start to get colder in the next few hours and start to snow again after the sudden heatwave that happened in Iceland for the last 24 hours. This means closed roads, impassible roads, heavy snow falling down and other problems that come with this type of weather. This storm is not expected to end until 29-December and then a new storm might happen. Good weather is not expected until 30-December-2016 or 31-December.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations or by using the Amazon advertisement that I have here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Minor earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

This morning a earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm started at 03:31 UTC and lasted until 03:35 UTC when a small break happened, the earthquake swarm resumed at 09:35 UTC with two earthquakes. Those two earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,0 and 3,1.


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

On Monday (19-December-2016) a swarm of deep earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Suggesting that new magma got injected into the volcano from deep within the mantle (~100 – 200 km depth). This type of pattern has appeared before and it can be expected to happen again.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. That allows me to keep working on this website and continue to write about earthquakes and volcanoes in Iceland. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake activity close to Grenivík (TFZ/Dalvík Fault-line area)

At 09:41 UTC on 19-December-2016 a small earthquake swarm started on the Dalvík fault-line, that fault-line is part of TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone area). The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area, including Akureyri and other nearby towns. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,5 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 1,6. The largest earthquake depth was 12,3 km.


The green star show the active area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

When this text is written it seem that the earthquake activity has dropped down, just one earthquake has happened since the activity stopped at 09:49 UTC. Current level of activity is low and that might remain like that.

Donation

Please remember to support my work with donations. Please see also article that I wrote on 14-December on my problems regarding buying a new laptop so I can write new articles when I’m travelling. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Short earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On 17-December-2016 a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Only few earthquakes took place and the largest had the magnitude of 3,3 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The green star shows the magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm only lasted for ~30 minutes. It was also slightly south-west of 15-December earthquake swarm, this is the most activity I have seen in Katla volcano in December since I started watching the volcano in 2001 (around that year). All that can be done for the moment is to continue to watch the activity in Katla volcano. Since it’s not possible to know when a eruption is going to take place.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. As I explained in the article on the 16-December I bought a new laptop so that I can work while I’m travelling. I was unable to get a loan for it in Iceland (and Denmark) so I bought it outright without having a good plan on how to pay it fully (working on that problem with a help from my bank). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (15-December-2016) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,0. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. Due to bad weather in Iceland at the moment the sensitivity of the SIL network is less than on a quiet wind day.


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

This earthquake started around 12 hours after the magnitude 3,4 earthquake that took place in Katla volcano yesterday. It is difficult to know for sure if those events are connected, that might be, but without some study into this swarm its a question that I don’t have an answer to. This earthquake swarm is located almost directly in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano caldera (SIL station with the same name is close to this location). This earthquake swarm was not strong in magnitude of earthquakes, but it was considerable in number of earthquakes that happened in Katla volcano today.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations and deal with the issue of buying new laptop so I can work while I’m on the move. Details can be found in yesterday article here. Thanks for the support. 🙂