Swarm – Page 93 – Iceland geology

June 3, 2014

Earthquake activity in Þórðarhyrna, Bárðarbunga and Kverkfjöll volcanoes

Today (03-June-2014) there was a lot of minor earthquake activity in several volcanoes in Vatnajökull glacier. This is normal earthquake activity and so far nothing to worry about. This appears to be normal micro-earthquake activity in this volcanoes and I don’t see anything suggesting that volcano eruption is going to happen soon.

Earthquake activity today in volcanoes in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Þórðarhyrna volcano

Þórðarhyrna volcano (No GVP link. It is under Grímsfjall volcano GVP information) has been having interesting activity for the past few days. It might have been ongoing longer without being noticed until now. This earthquake activity is interesting since there is normally no earthquake activity in this volcano. Last eruption in Þórðarhyrna volcano took place in the year 1902. Activity in Þórðarhyrna volcano is often connected to eruptions in Grímsfjall volcano.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Some minor earthquake activity has been taking place in the area around dike intrusion location in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is just a minor activity and nothing to worry about.

Kverkfjöll volcano

Some minor earthquake activity is taking place in Kverkfjöll volcano. This earthquake activity is just minor. It is unusual to have earthquake activity in Kverkfjöll volcano. This earthquake activity is clearly a signal of increase of activity in Kverkfjöll volcano, it however does not signal that an eruption is imminent in Kverkfjöll volcano. So far everything remains quiet and might be so for a good while longer. Last eruption in Kverkfjöll volcano was in the year 1968.

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June 3, 2014

Magnitude 2,5 earthquake south of Hekla volcano

Today (3-June-2014) a magnitude 2,5 earthquake took place south of Hekla volcano. Depth of this earthquake was 9,6 km. It did appear clearly on my geophone in Heklubyggð, it can be viewed on-line here.

The earthquakes south of Hekla volcano. Some minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano also appears on this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There was no signs of harmonic tremor or anything suggesting that volcano eruption was about to start following this earthquake. Everything is quiet for now. Some minor aftershock activity took place following the main earthquake. I am expecting minor earthquake activity to continue to take place at this location. Earthquake activity at this location has happened before in similar way as it did today. When eruption do starts in Hekla volcano, there is going to be a lot more earthquake activity then took place today. Until that happens, there is no reason to worry about this. If you are going to hike on Hekla volcano then please do go safe route, since Hekla volcano is well known for sudden eruptions with no warning at all, besides the earthquake swarm in the hour or two before a start of an eruption.

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May 22, 2014May 22, 2014

New earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

On 20-May-2014 an earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano or a continuum of an earthquake swarm that started on 16-May-2014 as I wrote about here. This earthquake swarm was rather small, with the largest earthquake only having the magnitude of 2,8 according to reviewed results from Icelandic Meteorological Office.

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

This earthquake swarm activity seems to be due to minor dike intrusion into Bárðarbunga volcano at this location. It does not mean an eruption is about to take place. More earthquake activity might take place this location in next days to weeks.

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Magnitude 3,7 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (16-May-2014) a magnitude 3,7 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The source of this earthquake is not clear, but this appears to be a magma injection into Bárðarbunga volcano. Such events do happen in Bárðarbunga volcano without starting an eruption.

The magnitude 3,7 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. The earthquake took place where the green star is. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The Bárðarbunga volcano earthquake as it appeared at my geophone station in Heklubyggð. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence for more details.

There was around 20 aftershocks following this earthquake. Largest automatic magnitude was 2,6, but strongest reviewed earthquake activity so far had the magnitude of 2,5. More earthquake activity is most likely going to continue in this area. Earthquakes with this or stronger magnitude cannot be ruled out from happening. There is currently nothing suggesting that this is other then just normal earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

Minor earthquake swarm in Kverkfjöll volcano

Today (14-May-2014) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Kverkfjöll volcano. Earthquake activity is not common in Kverkfjöll volcano, but it does happen once in a while. This does not mean the volcano is about to erupt, this was just an earthquake swarm taking place. No earthquake reached the magnitude 2,0 in this earthquake swarm.

The earthquake swarm in Kverkfjöll volcano (red dots at north-east part of Vatnajökull glacier). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There are no clues to why this earthquake swarm took place. This might have been a magma injection in the volcano, or this might just have been a change in the highly active hydrothermal areas in the volcano. There was no change at all in harmonic tremors in the volcano during this earthquake swarm. Kverkfjöll web-camera can be found here, it has however not updated since 1-May-2014. I am not sure if this means anything for Kverkfjöll volcano, as such I am just waiting too see what happens next in Kverkfjöll volcano.

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May 14, 2014

New earthquake swarm in Herðubreið

Yesterday (14-May-2014) an earthquake swarm started in Herðubreið, after an earthquake swarm in Heruðbreiðartögl dropped in activity. Both earthquake swarms are currently active. The earthquake activity however drops between as the swarm activity picks up.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreið and Herðubreiðartögl. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Most of this earthquakes had the magnitude smaller then magnitude 2,0. There was one magnitude 2,4 earthquake in this swarm. Over 100 earthquakes where recorded during this swarm. It remains unclear what is creating this earthquake swarm. It might just be tectonic stresses in Herðubreið and nearby area, or this might be magma injection. So far there is nothing suggesting that an eruption is going to take place at this location.

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May 12, 2014

Update on Herðubreiðartögl earthquake swarm 12-May-2014

This is the last update on the Herðubreiðartögl earthquake swarm for now.

During the weekend the earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl has been dropping in both magnitude and number of earthquakes taking place. No earthquake with magnitude 2,0 or stronger took place during the weekend.

The earthquake activity in Herðubreiðartögl. Also in this picture, earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity has not stopped at Herðubreiðartögl, it might increase again. For the moment it has slowed down and is now at the levels it is not necessary for me to post regular updates on what is taking place. If any major change happens in Herðubreiðartögl I am going to post information about it.

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May 11, 2014May 12, 2014

Magnitude 3,8 earthquake on the Reykjanes Ridge [Updated]

Today (11-May-2014) at 01:57 UTC a magnitude 3,6 earthquake took place in the Reykjanes volcano on the Reykjanes ridge. Depth of this earthquake was 11,6 km and there have not been any reports that this earthquake was felt.

The magnitude 3,6 earthquake is the green star closest to land on this map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There has been constant earthquake activity in this part of the Reykjanes ridge for the past two weeks (about 17 days so far). This activity has however remained minimal with few earthquakes reaching the magnitude above 2,0. There has been increase and decrease in the during this time as expected. I reported an earthquake swarm in this area on 27-April-2014, on 13-April-2014 an minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge (no earthquakes above 3,0), I wrote about it here.

Other dates of earthquake activity in this area are 4-April-2014 as can be seen here. There seems to have been close to continues earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge during the month of April and May. I am not sure why that it is, but this might be related to magma movements in this area, so far there is nothing to suggest an eruption is going to take place in this area. I expect earthquake activity to continue in this part of the Reykjanes ridge. All larger earthquakes are going to appear clearly on my geophone network, its website can be found here.

Update 1: New magnitude has been issued for the earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge that took place yesterday (11-May-2014). The new magnitude is 3,8 with the depth of 11,5 km. Two magnitude 3,1 earthquake also took place at the same time (01:55 and 01:59 UTC) at the same location.

The green stars show the magnitude 3,8 earthquake, along with the magnitude 3,1 earthquakes at the same location. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

New earthquake activity has taken place at Reykjanes ridge today, so far no earthquake has the magnitude above 3,0 according to automatic results from Icelandic Meteorological Office. I am expecting more earthquake activity to take place at this location. Earthquake activity at this location is not continuous and has short and long breaks in them. Earthquakes larger than magnitude 2,5 appear clearly on my webicorders and can be viewed here.

Updated at 17:19 UTC.

May 9, 2014May 9, 2014

Update on earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl on 9-May-2014

This is a short update for the earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl on the 9-May-2014.

For the past 24 hours there has been drop in activity and no earthquake has been over magnitude 2,0. Activity continues but a lot lower levels then before. It does not look like it is over at this point, but the end of this soon to be seven day earthquake swarm in this area.

The earthquake swarm in Herðubreiðartögl as it was today. It can be seen that earthquake activity was at lot lower levels today then yesterday (08-May-2014) or the days before that. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This can also be seen in the tracer on Icelandic Meteorological Office website. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This drop in activity can also be seen in drop in the harmonic tremor plots in Askja. Fewer earthquakes means less earthquake related noise on the harmonic tremor plot (2-4Hz blue line). Not all of the activity that appears here is from Herðubreiðartögl, some of it is from SISZ and Reykjanes ridge activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The drumplot from Icelandic Meteorological Office also show this drop in activity. Some of the activity that appears is from Reykjanes Ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

None of this earthquake activity is strong enough to appear on my geophones. Since earthquakes at Herðubreiðartögl need to be at least magnitude 3,0 or larger to appear clearly on my geophones. My webicorders website can be found here, it shows all earthquakes that are taking place in Iceland and are large enough to appear on it. Its mostly earthquakes larger then magnitude 3,0 that are currently taking place (when this written).

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Updated at 20:11 UTC.

May 9, 2014

Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge

The earthquake swarm that has been taking place on the Reykjanes Ridge for the past few days did increase today (09-May-2014). The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,6 with the depth of 15,6 km. So far around 70 earthquakes have been recorded in this area. The earthquake swarm is taking place in area considerable distance from land and next populated area, so it might not be felt at all.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. Green star marks the magnitude 3,6 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The magnitude 3,6 earthquake on the Reykjanes Ridge as it did appear on my Heklubyggð geophone. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

It is difficult to know for sure what is taking place on the Reykjanes Ridge. There are clues this might be due to magma movement at depth, possibly dike intrusion. So far there are no signs of eruption taking place at this location at current point in time. It is possible to see any earthquake that takes place (at least large one) here on my webicorder website. It is also possible to see earthquake activity in Iceland at Icelandic Meteorological Office website.

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