Minor earthquake activity in Hekla volcano

Today (8-October-2019) there has been a minor earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Largest earthquake has a magnitude of Mw1,2.


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

At the writing of this article there is no change in harmonic tremor on SIL stations around Hekla volcano. Icelandic Met Office and Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management are both monitoring the situation in Hekla volcano.

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Earthquake swarm close to Eldeyjarboða on Reykjanes ridge

During the night (29-September-2019) a small swarm of earthquake took place not far from Eldeyjarboði on Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquakes had the magnitude of Mw3,1 and Mw3,3. This earthquake swarm is far from Iceland and recording of this earthquake swarm is poor because due to distance from the SIL network.


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

This earthquake swarm seems to be over and no earthquakes have been recorded for the last few hours. Detection is smaller earthquakes is limited and that might be giving the wrong impressions about this activity.

Minor earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

Today (11-September-2019) at 09:42 UTC a magnitude 3,0 earthquake took place in Hengill volcano. The largest earthquake was felt in Hveragerði village. They also felt a minor magnitude Mw1,7 that happened at 05:22 UTC. The reason why that earthquake was felt is because it took place inside the town under some person house (or close to someone house).


The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano today (11-September-2019). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity is a regular feature in this area.

Small earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula

A small earthquake swarm took place this morning (11-September-2019) just north of Grindavík village this morning. A magnitude Mw3,4 earthquake took place at 06:06 UTC and was felt in Grindvík village.


Earthquake activity north of Grindvík (green star on the left). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal tectonic earthquake activity.

Magnitude Mw4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (8-September-2019) at 02:00 UTC earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano. From 02:00 to 02:03 UTC total of five earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest of them had a magnitude of Mw4,2 and second largest had a magnitude of Mw3,2. Other earthquakes that took place had a smaller magnitude.


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

Earthquake activity like this in Bárðarbunga volcano is common. This type of earthquake activity happens once every month after the end of the eruption in Holuhraun (2015).

Small earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge

During the night of 30-August-2019 an earthquake swarm took place on Reykjanes ridge. Close to 69 earthquakes took place and largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,0. Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude.


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

Earthquake swarms are common in this area. This might result in a bigger earthquake swarm later or a new one at nearby location, that is also happens sometimes in this part of the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake activity doesn’t appear to be connected to any volcano activity.

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

At 01:27 UTC on 24-August-2019 an magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake was felt in Hafnafjörður, Garðabæ and Kópavogi. This earthquake started a minor earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano.


Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be over when this article is written. Earthquake swarms like this are regular at this location.

Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

A minor earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano today (21-august-2019). Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,5 and other earthquakes that happened are smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake was in the north-east part of the caldera. In last few months earthquake activity has been increasing in that part of the caldera. Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is due to magma inflating the volcano.

Increase in earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano (Bárðarbunga volcano)

Over the last few days there has been increase in earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano (Bárðarbunga volcano). In Global Volcanism Program record this area is known as Loki-Fögrufjöll. Largest earthquakes today (12-August-2019) had a magnitude of 2,8 and 2,5 and other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano (red/blue dots at the edge of the glacier). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last time Hamarinn volcano had this type of earthquake activity it erupted for few months after it had started. That was on 12th July 2011. I wrote about those events here and here (glacier flood that followed, July 13th 2011). There were minor additional eruptions in August and November in 2011 according to the tremor data, those eruptions only lasted for ~4 hours at most. Since then this area has mostly been quiet and did drop down in activity after the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano in 2014 to 2015.

It is unclear what is going on in Hamarinn volcano, for now there is no eruption taking place and any eruption is going to appear clearly on harmonic tremor data on the SIL network. It seems that eruptions in Hamarinn volcano start without any earthquake activity, I don’t know why that is. Last major eruption in Hamarinn volcano took place in the year 1910 from June 18 to October.

New earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Early this morning (27-July-2019) a new earthquake swarm started north of Siglufjörður village. This earthquake swarm is in a different location than the magnitude Mw4,3 earthquake took place on 24-July-2019. This earthquake swarm is slightly more north of that location. That means this is a different fault that is creating this earthquake swarm. It is unclear if this is connected to the magnitude Mw4,3 earthquake that happened on 24-July-2019.


The earthquake swarm (green star) on Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The largest earthquakes at the writing of this article have the magnitude of Mw3,2. There is a lot suggesting that this earthquake swarm is ongoing as of writing of this article. Last earthquake to happen was at 20:07 UTC and had a magnitude of Mw2,7 (automatic). The risk of new earthquake swarms happening without warning and being bigger than what has happened so far remains high. The location of those earthquake swarm is going to be random and might be on land or out in the ocean. There is not any way to know were the next earthquake swarm is going to happen next.

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