Category: Swarm

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Earthquakes north of Kolbeinsey Island

Today (16-March-2016) there was an earthquake swarm around 110 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. At this location there are no registered or known volcanoes, there however might be one, but it is difficult to confirm. This earthquake activity however appears to be related to an rift valley that is at this location, rather then any volcano activity.

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The earthquake activity around 110 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. Green star shows the location of the largest earthquake. One magnitude 3,0 earthquake was deep on the Reykjanes Ridge (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,1. That magnitude is possibly an underestimate of magnitude due to distance from the SIL network. Other earthquakes have been smaller, but one earthquake had the magnitude of 2,9. That earthquake might have had a magnitude above 3,0 in reality. I suspect more earthquake activity has taken place without being detected by the SIL network.

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Deep earthquakes in Askja volcano (15-March-2016)

Yesterday (15-March-2016) an earthquake swarm took place in Askja volcano. This was an deep earthquake swarm, with deepest earthquake having the depth of 18,7 km and the shallowest earthquake with the depth of 14,9 km. The earthquake swarm took place inside the volcano and there are clues that suggest it has it’s origin. This has been happening regularly since 2010 and after the Bárðarbunga volcano dyke getting close to the main magma chamber in Askja volcano the activity has slowly been increasing. This activity is not above background levels and nothing suggests that an eruption is about to happen any time soon.

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Askja volcano is located to the north-east of Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

For the moment the progress and the change in Askja volcano is slow, but that might change if the magma inside the system finds a pathway to the surface. If an eruption does happen I’m not expecting anything big, just a lava eruption that is going to go on for few days to weeks. Unless the magma gets into contact with water, creating a short term explosions. This is only a speculation, but Askja volcano is an active system and as such anything should be expected from it.

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Still mostly quiet in Iceland

Today (10-March-2016) an magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The location of the earthquake swarm was in the caldera, with the location of the 3,2 magnitude earthquake being in the North-east part of the caldera.

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

The depth of this earthquake swarm was shallowest at 0,1 km, but most depth was 8,6 km. No other change has been observed in Bárðarbunga volcano so far. Other than this minor activity today in Bárðarbunga volcano activity remains low in Iceland. Currently there are storms passing over Iceland, that reduces the sensitivity of the SIL network.

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Earthquake swarm far north of Kolbeinsey Island

Today (5-March-2016) an earthquake swarm place took place around 190 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. Two largest earthquakes detected had the magnitude of 3,3. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. Due to distance exact location is difficult to confirm, along with exact magnitude. This earthquake activity did not appear on EMSC seismic network.

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Green stars show the location of this activity. Its only a best estimate by Icelandic Met Office. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At this location there might be a volcano, it is unconfirmed at the moment. Last eruption is suspected to have taken place between 1997 or 1998. This volcano doesn’t have any name that I know of.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 09)

Bárðarbunga volcano continues it earthquake activity and it has now been a year since the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano ended in Holuhraun (article I wrote about it can be found here). This activity (image) took place on 2-March-2016.

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The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green stars are earthquake with magnitude above 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,1, 3,3 and 3,6. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. The reason for this earthquake swarm seems to be a developing weakness in the north and western part of the caldera. Activity in south part of the caldera seems to be crust adjustment to this weakness (stress changes). The weakest area is long one (I didn’t find information on how large the caldera is, but it is large). This weakness is going to continue to develop until an eruption happens or the magma finds it self a new path and that is more likely than an eruption taking place in the caldera rim, however I cannot rule out an eruption in the caldera at this point. This is all just wait and see situation at the moment. Interesting earthquake also took place in Hamarinn volcano, it had the depth of 13 km and magnitude of 0,7.

Deep earthquakes also took place in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. That earthquake had the magnitude of 0,8 but depth of 17,9 km. Suggesting that some stress changes at depth are taking place. In this case I doubt magma created the earthquake.

If an ash eruptions takes place in Bárðarbunga volcano, the resulting ash fall would be devastating (besides the following glacier flood). Last time larger eruption took place in 1477 half of Iceland got covered in volcano ash (that’s 50% of land), the volcano ash eruption in 1711 covered north Iceland and large parts of east Iceland. In 1711 to 1729 total of nine glacier floods took place and the source of them is believed to be Bárðarbunga volcano. Glacier floods from other volcanoes (Grímsfjall, Kverkfjöll, Þórðarhyrna, Hamarinn) are also highly dangerous. The volcano ash had thickness up to 100 meters next to the eruption area in 1477 (see map in link 1).

Source 1: Hvaða tjón gæti mögulega hlotist af gosi í Bárðarbungu? (Icelandic)
Source 2: Hvað eru mörg gos þekkt í Bárðarbungu og hefur orðið mikið tjón af þeim? (has gravity map of Vatnajökull glacier, Icelandic)

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Short overview of earthquake activity in Iceland

This is a short update of earthquake activity in Iceland on 28-February-2016.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Over the past 48 hours there has been earthquake activity and dyke activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Some of this earthquake activity has been on around 15km depth. Suggesting magma movements within Bárðarbunga volcano system. Earthquake activity always seems to increase few hours to days after a swarm of deep earthquakes appear in Bárðarbunga volcano.

A dyke activity has appeared on the edge of Bárðarbunga volcano, it is located south-east in the volcano. In a area that has seen this type of dyke activity before. It is interesting that this activity seems to persist at this location.

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Over the past few days few earthquakes have appeared in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Some of those earthquakes have had the depth around 15 km. This suggest some type of magma movements inside the volcano, but nothing that suggests that its going to reach the surface any time soon.

Askja volcano

Earlier this week (Week 08) an deep earthquake swarm took place in Askja volcano. With earthquakes having the depth down to around 22 km. Suggesting that magma is flowing into Askja volcano magma chamber at depth. This has been happening at regular basis since 2010. At the moment there is nothing suggesting that eruption is going to happen any time soon in Askja volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga, Tungnafellsjökull and Askja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Katla volcano

There was some minor earthquake activity in Goðabunga in Katla volcano. This appears to be normal activity for this region of Katla volcano. No other interesting activity took place this week (Week 08) in Katla volcano.

Hekla volcano

Two earthquake where detected in Hekla volcano. Nothing else happened following this earthquake activity. Why this earthquake activity happens remains unclear.

Torfajökull volcano

A minor earthquake activity took place in Torfajökull volcano during the weekend. This activity is possibly due to changes in hyrdrothermal areas in Torfajökull volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Katla, Torfajökull and Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Other than this activity things remain quiet in Iceland. There are few minor earthquake swarms on Reykjanes peninsula and Tjörnes Fracture Zone. But they are too small at the moment to write about.

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Move to Denmark

It is now official. I’m moving back to Denmark on 14. April, with just few minor details left to work out (getting a loan for the apartment insurance and few other things). I’ll move into my new apartment on the 15th April. More details later next weeks when I know about the apartment loan.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 06/2016 #2)

On Saturday 13-February-2016 at 19:32 UTC an magnitude 3,6 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Depth of this earthquake is registered 1,1 km. Swarm of smaller earthquakes followed the main earthquake, deepest earthquakes had the depth around 12 km.

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

Tungafellsjökull volcano

On Sunday 14-February-2016 an earthquake swarm started in Tungafellsjökull volcano. It’s still not known what is creating the earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. The most popular idea (among geologists) is that stress changes from Bárðarbunga volcano is resulting in earthquake activity in Tungafellsjökull volcano. I don’t know if that is true or not, since earthquake activity in Tungafellsjökull volcano started several years before the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano in August-2014.

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Minor earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula

Yesterday (11-February-2016) at 08:47 UTC an earthquake swarm started on the Reykjanes peninsula. This has so far been a small earthquake swarm and largest earthquake so far had the magnitude of 2,7 other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.

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The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. This is at the moment a small earthquake swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This is classic earthquake swarm pattern on the Reykjanes peninsula at the moment. It does appear that this earthquake swarm is over, but it might start again without warning. This earthquake swarm is not connected to a volcano activity in the area, but it is forming a rift valley in the area.

Article updated at 00:53 UTC.

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Magnitude 3,1 earthquake in Tjörnes fracture Zone (TFZ)

Today (04-February-2016) an magnitude 3,1 earthquake took place in south Tjörnes Fracture Zone. I don’t know if this earthquake was felt in nearby village of Kópasker.

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The earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone, the green star is the magnitude 3,1 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake swarm has now been going on for almost a month now and there doesn’t seems to be any sign of this earthquake swarm stopping any time soon. The activity drops at times, but always continues, even at low levels. Activity did increase after the magnitude 3,1 earthquake, but it has since dropped again into the same low it was before. I do expect this earthquake activity to continue.

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Magnitude 3,9 earthquake in Reykjanes peninsula

Tonight at 19:50 UTC a magnitude 3,9 earthquake took place in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake is not volcano related, this is a tectonic earthquake and has started a minor earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík area. Other earthquakes so far have been small, with largest aftershock having the magnitude of 1,6. The magnitude 3,9 earthquake was felt in Hafnarfjörður and in the Reykjavík area (and nearby towns).

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The earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano tonight. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing, but it doesn’t appear to be a strong or a highly active earthquake swarm at the moment. It’s unclear if that is going to change since it’s impossible to predict how this earthquake swarms behave.