Category: TFZ

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Overview of week 44 activity in Iceland

This is a short overview of activity in week 44 in Iceland.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Earthquake swarm took place in TFZ in week 44. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,5 and other earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

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Earthquake swarm on the TFZ. Largest earthquake swarm took place where the green stars are. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

A second smaller earthquake swarm took place south of Grímsey. It is not connected to the stronger earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island.

Bárðarbunga volcano

A magnitude 3,0 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This suggests increased pressure inside Bárðarbunga volcano. I forgot to save image of last week activity in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Earthquake activity continues in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. As before all of the earthquakes taking place are small in magnitude. At the moment the earthquake swarm activity appears to be centered around the top of the volcano, one of the main craters. Earthquake activity is steady in Tungafellsjökull volcano at the moment. It sometimes drop down, as is to be expected when magma moves inside volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Skaftárkatlar cauldrons in Vatnajökull glacier

Recent survey of Skaftárkatlar cauldrons in Vatnajökull glacier has shown that the eastern cauldron has grown considerable in size. This is now thought to be the main reason why the glacier flood from eastern skaftárkatlar cauldron was the largest in recorded history. The cauldron is now 2,5 sq/km in size and 150 meters deep. Video of the overflight can be found here (Facebook). Measurements and other details can be found here at University of Iceland Earth science website (Icelandic). This are early results from recent survey.

Other things

Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon. Due to problems with the Danish tax authorities I did not get my social welfare paid out this month in Iceland. Reason being that I have not got my copy of the tax statement for the year 2014, that I have . I hope this is resolved in November as has been promised to me. This however means that I have to use the salary for last months work to survive this month, money that I was saving in order to pay for moving cost when I move back to Denmark. If this is not resolved by December, I have to go on emergency income from my municipality. I won’t move to Denmark until this issue with the Danish tax is resolved. The temporary work that I was in is over so I’m going to be updating now when things happen in Iceland or close to it.

Once I’m back in Denmark I can start uploading detailed images of earthquakes and keep a real time watch about what is going on in Iceland. Its difficult for me to do that at the moment.

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Overview of the small earthquake swarms in Iceland

Over the past few days there have been few minor earthquake swarms taking place in Iceland. None of the earthquake swarms have been large, all of them have been minor and no earthquake did reach the magnitude of 3,0 or larger.

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The earthquake swarms in TFZ, Reykjanes peninsula and Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Most of the earthquake activity that has been taking place has been happening in Bárðarbunga volcano, minor earthquake activity has been ongoing in the volcano and fissure since end of the eruption in February-2015. A swarm of small earthquakes took place on TFZ, none of those earthquakes reached magnitude 2,0. Most depth in this swarm was around 22 km, so magma might have been involved, this area is a rift valley. I don’t know of any documented eruption at this location, that does not mean it might not have happened. Minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes peninsula, one earthquake reached magnitude 2,8 with other earthquakes having smaller magnitude . The earthquake swarm took place in the volcano system of Krýsuvík. This earthquake swarm appears tectonic in nature rather then volcanic.

There has also been a minor earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano, it has been on the none-volcanic area between Torfajökull and Katla volcano. It’s unclear why this is happening, there is a chance this is a earthquake swarm in Katla volcano on the edge of the volcano system, or this is a earthquake swarm on the edge of the Torfajökull volcano system. I don’t have my maps so I can’t check for it.

Other then this it has been quiet in Iceland this week and for the past few weeks, this quiet might continue for the next few weeks to months.

Article updated at 23:45 UTC.

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Earthquake swarm on TFZ (Tjörnes fracture zone)

Earthquake swarm started on TFZ on 27-July-2015. At the moment this earthquake swarm is minor with no earthquake reaching the magnitude of 3,0. That might change without warning.

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The earthquake swarm on Tjörnes fracture zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Largest earthquakes so far have reached the magnitude of 2,7, depth is typical of fracture zone earthquake swarm. I expect this earthquake swarm to continue for the next few days at least. There is a risk of larger earthquake in this area, since it does happen that one earthquake swarm starts a new one on a nearby faults. TFZ is the fastest moving fracture zone in Iceland (see picture here).

Sudden plan changes: Due to rather unfortunate results of reality I won’t be moving back to Denmark next year. That is a great disappointment to me. There is however nothing that I can do while I am just on social welfare in Iceland. I don’t know for how long I am going to be living in Iceland, this might take few more years until I manage to move back to Denmark. The reason for this is the tax system and how it treats people on social welfare that move between the Nordic countries. This is due to complex treaties between Iceland and Denmark this did happen. There is nothing I can do about it while I am on social welfare. This means that my next mission is to stop being on social welfare and then move back to Denmark.

Böðvarshólar geophone station: Since I am not moving to Denmark in nearby future. I am going to restart the geophone station in Böðvarshólar. It should go on-line sometimes next weekend I hope. This means that I am going to be able to see earthquakes on TFZ mostly clearly and other nearby activity.

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Earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Since yesterday (27-April-2015) at least there has been earthquake swarm taking place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). This earthquake swarm had a peak in activity during the night. Total of 64 earthquakes have been recorded so far, it is unclear of this earthquake swarm is over at this moment.

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

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,8 and 2,9. Depth of the earthquakes in this swarm was around 13 km. This does look like a tectonic activity and there is nothing suggesting this is a earthquake swarm of volcanic origin. Earthquake activity in this part of Iceland is common.

Article updated at 13:58 UTC.
Article updated at 16:12 UTC.
Article updated at 16:15 UTC.

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Minor earthquake swarms in TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

During the night and today there has been a minor earthquake swarm activity on the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,1, so far 59 earthquakes have happened.

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The earthquake swarm in TFZ for the last 48 hours. Green star shows the location of the magnitude 3,1 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

TFZ is highly active area of Iceland in terms of earthquake activity. It has now been a while since major earthquake swarm took place in TFZ. Earthquakes in TFZ can go up to Mw7,0*.

* This is just a historical note that I am making here.

Donations: Please remember to support my work by donations. It is also possible to support my work by shopping through the Amazon links that I have there. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Minor earthquake swarm in TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

Today (02-Octorber-2014) there was an minor earthquake swarm in TFZ. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,3. This activity is only tectonic in nature, this earthquake activity is not connected to any volcanism activity.

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Earthquake activity today in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The activity is far the right on this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity is common in this part of Iceland. Since there is a fracture zone at this location and it’s highly active at times. I don’t know if there is going to be any more earthquake activity at this location.

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Minor earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Yesterday (26-April-2014) and today (27-April-2014) an minor earthquake swarm took place on TFZ not far from an island named Flatey. This was a small earthquake swarm and largest earthquakes had an magnitude around 2,0.

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The minor earthquake swarm on TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is difficult to know if this earthquake activity is going to continue. Earthquake activity at this location is only tectonic based, this area of Iceland is volcano free.

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Two magnitude 3,4 earthquakes in TFZ

Today (26-February-2014) at 08:06 and 08:12 UTC two earthquakes with the magnitude of 3,4 took place in TFZ. This earthquakes where felt in Ólafsfirði. This earthquake activity started on Monday and is continuing.

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The two 3,4 magnitude earthquakes on TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

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Historical and newest earthquake activity in this area of TFZ.Image is from here (Icelandic). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake activity in TFZ is ongoing. I am expecting more earthquakes in this area as is. When they might take place is impossible to know as of now. It is possible to monitor for earthquake activity in TFZ here (and here, Icelandic Meteorologist Office website). Any earthquake larger then magnitude 2,0 is going to appear on here. The larger the earthquake, more clearly it is going to appear on my webicorders.

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Earthquake swarm on TFZ

Today (24-February-2014) at 06:49 UTC an earthquake swarm started on TFZ. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,0. No other earthquake has so far been larger.

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The earthquake swarm in TFZ. It is aligned in north-south direction. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is possible to monitor for earthquakes here with 5 minute delay. The activity appears most clearly on Böðvarshólar and Bjarghús geophone stations. This appears to be an continued activity from the earthquake swarm that started back in October 2012. I am expecting more earthquakes in the area since I don’t expect this activity to be over yet. Quiet times between earthquake activity should be expected. For some unknown reason that is how this area behaves and it is not known why that is.

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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.