Category: Magma

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Earthquake activity in Vestmannaeyjar island volcano (off the coast)

For the past two days there has been a minor earthquake activity in Vestmannaeyjar island volcano. This is the first time since 2015 an earthquake activity appears in Vestmanneyjar island volcano. This earthquake activity was minor, with largest earthquake only having magnitude of 1,5. Depth was around 17 km with only one earthquake at 14,2 km depth. The earthquakes formed a straight line going from NE-SW direction.


The earthquake activity in Vestmanneyjar island volcano. This activity is out in the ocean. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Total of four earthquakes took place and since Wednesday 30-August-2017 everything has been quiet. There is no reason to assume that this going to result in anything at this time. Last eruption in Vestmannaeyjar island volcano system was in 1973. The problem however is that this volcano eruption history is not well document as it is under the ocean.

Notable eruptions have taken place in the following years according to Global Volcanism Program.

1637 October – 1638 February 28 +- 60 days (documentation error margin). Possibly South West of Heimaey island.
1896 September – Unknown. South or South east of Hellisey island.
1963 November 8 – 1967 June 5, Surtsey island formed.
1973 January 23 – 1973 June 28, Heimaey island (Eldfell).

Smaller eruptions might have happened without being detected in earlier times (or even big ones). The depth suggests magma movements but at the moment this magma is currently deep and doesn’t show any signs of reaching the surface. I don’t expect any eruption to happen but I don’t know this system activity well due to lack of it.

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Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano during the night

During the night of 27-August-2017 two strong earthquakes took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The two earthquakes had magnitude 3,8 at 01:42 UTC and magnitude 4,2 at 01:45 UTC. The second earthquake is the largest earthquake to happen since 02-August-2017 when a magnitude 4,5 earthquake took place.


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

Over the past few months there has been a considerable decrease in earthquakes happening in Bárðarbunga volcano. Now earthquakes don’t appear weekly or every 14 days as was the case for a long time. Now a strong earthquake with magnitude above 3,5 or above 4,0 happens once a month or twice a month as is the case for August-2017. This brings up the question of Bárðarbunga volcano is getting close to being fully inflated again since the eruption in Holuhraun ended in February-2015.

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Minor earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge close to Geirfuglasker island

Yesterday (22-August-2017) a minor earthquake swarm took place not far from Geirfulgasker island on the Reykjanes ridge (no GVP profile). This was a minor earthquake swarm as it was detected by Icelandic Met Office SIL network. There is a chance that more earthquakes happened then where detected. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,4 and other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude.


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

This earthquake swarm looks like it was mostly due to tectonic movements in this area. It is difficult to know for sure if a magma was at work here due to unclear earthquake signal. It can’t be ruled out. I don’t know when this area last erupted. I think it was sometimes in the time period between 13th and 15th century.

Update 1 on 24-August-2017

According to Rúv News the Geirfluglasker Island collapsed in 1972 but for some reason was still being used by Icelandic Met Office as a point in their system. It has now been updated to Eldeyjarboða area slightly more to the south. I will write about this are in accordance with this new information in the future.

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Amazon US/Canada changes

Due to changes in Iceland bank system it is possible that I won’t be able to use Amazon US and Amazon Canada for a while. The change is that my Icelandic bank is going to stop processing checks from 1-January-2018 (along with stop issuing them). I can keep using Amazon US and Amazon Canada advertisements until October (paid by November). I have contacted Amazon US and Canada about this and the word is that Amazon US is working on this. It doesn’t seems to be the case with Amazon Canada but I don’t get much income on it anyway.

What this means at once this change takes place I will go back to getting paid only when people buy something from Amazon UK/DE/ES since with those accounts I use direct bank deposit. This means a drop in income for me since the Amazon CPM advertisement pay considerable more than the advertisement that only pay once people buy something with the Amazon UK/DE/ES banners. I just have to hope that Amazon Europe adds CPM advertisements to Amazon UK/DE/ES so I can switch to it completely. I will start switching advertisement to Amazon UK/DE/ES by November if Amazon US has not resolved the issue by then. It is going to take me few days in November to move everything advertisement from CPM to regular advertisements that only pay when something is bought trough the banners.

Update to Amazon US/Canada payment problem (after 31-December-2017)

Amazon US is looking for a solution to this problem for international associates. Since this issue is not just hitting me. Europe has in general been making checks outdated, this applies not just in Iceland and Denmark. EU even makes a special note on this on their payment information website. What I am going to do is simple. I’ll just keep collecting payments on my Amazon US and Amazon Canada accounts until a new payment system is put in place by Amazon US/Canada. I don’t know how long this is going to take, but it might take a long while until Amazon US/Canada has a new payment system in place.

Article updated at 24-August-2017 at 18:35 UTC.
Article updated at 26-August-2017 at 14:15 UTC.

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Medium sized earthquake swarm in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

Today (21-August-2017) during the night an earthquake swarm took place just east of Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. The area in question is in part inside Brennisteinsfjöll volcano fissure swarm. Part of the area is outside any known volcano. The last night earthquake swarm had some magma signature but was mostly tectonic in nature as to be expected.


The earthquake swarm as it currently appears on Icelandic Met Office earthquake map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,9 and other earthquakes are smaller in magnitude. Not every earthquake has been reviewed so far due to how many earthquakes happened. Around 210 earthquakes happened in this swarm. Around 07:00 UTC the earthquake activity mostly stopped and it has been like this for several hours. It is difficult to know for sure if a new earthquake swarm is going to start in this area soon. There is nothing suggesting that an eruption is imminent, even if magma is pushing around in the ground at the moment.

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Earthquake activity in Breinnisteinsfjöll volcano

Since the weekend there has been a earthquake swarm ongoing in Breinnisteinsfjöll volcano (Wikipedia link). This earthquake swarm has not been strong in magnitude of the earthquakes happening, with largest magnitude just at 2,8 and all other earthquakes being smaller in magnitude. Close to 130 earthquakes have happened so far.


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

The signal from this earthquake swarm shows that some of the earthquakes happening are hybrid earthquakes. That means magma is creating some of them. While tectonic process is creating others. Last eruption in this volcano was in the year 1341 and I don’t have a lot of information about it. I don’t know if this is only magma that erupts or a mix eruption (magma and ash cloud). The earthquake swam is highly localized but has moved slightly to the south from the area where it started during the weekend. The earthquake swarm appears to be ongoing as is, there are however quiet period in it and currently that is what is happening.

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Short analyse of events of Katla volcano 28th and 29th of July-2017

Icelandic Met Office released interesting graphs of the activity in Katla volcano during the 28th and 29th of July-2017. It gives clues to what might happen just before an eruption in Katla volcano.

Harmonic tremor pulses

On the 28th of July small and short harmonic tremor pulses appeared on SIL stations around Katla volcano. When 29th of July did come the harmonic tremor intensified considerably from what it had been the day before. The harmonic tremor pluses on 28th of July is close to impossible to see on the harmonic tremor plot on Icelandic Met Office website.


Harmonic tremor pluses as they appear on Icelandic Met Office tremor software on 28th of July-2017. Each frequency has it’s own line. Time is horizontal and intensity is vertical. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The harmonic tremor as it is by 29th of July-2017. After midnight the activity intensifies considerably from earlier levels. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This data suggests that before an eruption happens some type of boiling or increase in hydrothermal vents takes place in Katla volcano. This is also connected to the glacier flood that followed into Múlakvísl glacier river.

Glacier flood and harmonic tremor


Blue: Water level. Red: Conductivity. Green: Tremor activity. Values are at 10 minute central value. This data is from the SIL station at Lágu Hvolar. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There seems to be some connection between the harmonic tremor change and the changes in the glacier flood. That suggest in my view that a minor eruption took place in Katla volcano during 28th and 29th of July. How long the eruption did last is a good question. Harmonic tremor data suggests it was only for few hours before it ended. New cracks have been seen around Cauldron 10 in Mýrdalsjökull glacier according to reports. Locations of cauldrons in Mýrdalsjökull glacier can be found here on University of Iceland Earth Science map.

That would be the end of the story in most normal years. Minor eruption and then nothing more. That does not seem to be the case this time around. Small pulses of harmonic tremor have been taking place during the week (Week 31) and that seems to be ongoing process. Most of the tremor pulses are hard to see on the SIL stations and most don’t even appear on more then one or two SIL stations. At the moment Katla volcano is quiet and that might go on for a considerable amount of time due to this minor eruption (my view) and connected glacier flood.

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This financial situation is slowly getting better and is going to be fully or mostly resolved by July-2018 I hope.

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Magnitude 4,5 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (02-August-2017) a magnitude 4,5 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. An earlier earthquake with the magnitude of 3,8 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano just moments before the larger earthquake.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano today (02-August-2017). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm only lasted for 30 minutes and since after that it has been quiet in Bárðarbunga volcano. Since then there has been little earthquake activity happening in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Future plan changes ahead (for me)

As many may know (or not) is that currently I am in financial problems. The worst of the problem I’m currently having are going to last until 2018 when I’m going to make small changes and slightly improve the situation for me. That is however not good enough for me in my own view. Due to that I’m going to take a little risk and make a plan change. After examining the situation for some time I’ve decided the following thing as my long run plan.

This might result in minor interference of update of this website when I move to Iceland from Denmark. Nothing major.

Next year I’ll temporary move back to Iceland. I plan on going back to school to finish learning electronic so that I can build my own electronic hardware and repair. Along with computer repairs. I don’t plan on staying in Iceland forever. For simplification what I’m going to do is the following.

1. July-2018. Move back to Iceland. Start in school in August-2018.
2. Start saving up to buy a house in Portugal. Where is not known at the moment. Finding the right place is going to take some time.
3. Finish school in Iceland (2023?).
4. Finish saving up for a house to buy in Portugal (2024?).
5. Buy house in Portugal (2024?).
6. Move from Iceland to Portugal (2024?).

This is going to take me 4 – 6 years from start to finish and in that time I’m going to stay in Iceland. I don’t have any way to do this while in Denmark for many reasons. It is better for me to do so in Iceland, even if Iceland is ~140% more expensive then Portugal as an example (Denmark is only ~51% more expensive then Portugal).

This ties into a new project that I’m planning once I’m in Portugal. Since I don’t agree with SETI method of searching for Alien life I’m just simply planning on doing it my self. With a group or people or alone doesn’t matter to me. How and where is not know at the moment since this plan is just in draft stage as is.

I’ll continue to update this website as always, even after I start searching for aliens (since it is mostly just a bot work anyway). I also plan on getting me a decent telescopes so I can take pictures of space, stars and galaxies and so on.

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Katla volcano update article of 29-July-2017

This article is going to be updated as activity continues in Katla volcano today on 29-July-2017. If an eruption starts (big one) a new article is going to be written for that event.

Overview of the activity during the night and today

It seems that during the night a minor eruption took place (this is just my view). This based on harmonic tremor pulse that appeared in Katla volcano after midnight, the source of the activity seems to be north-west part of the caldera. Possibly where a magnitude 3,0 earthquake had taken place at 00:48 UTC. Harmonic tremor remains unstable and above background levels, at the moment however it seems that current harmonic tremor when this is written is due to glacier flood pushing it self from under the glacier. The water that is moving under the glacier is few hours away from (at best) from appearing in glacier rivers that come from Katla volcano.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano at 12:09 UTC. It clearly shows the minor eruption and ongoing harmonic tremor pulse. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano at 13:04 UTC. This image shows ongoing activity in the tremor. This is mostly high frequency tremor and that is interesting. What that is not known. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Goðabunga at 12:09 UTC. It clearly shows the night minor eruption and ongoing harmonic tremor. The harmonic tremor is however a lot less visible now on Goðabunga. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor as it appears on Rjúpnafell (SIL station). This station is at more distance from the source of the harmonic tremor pulse and shows a weaker signal as a result. The night minor eruption is also clear on this SIL station but current harmonic tremor is less visible, it does appear but at much lower level. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Katla volcano has been moved to yellow alert. It is now possible to watch the glacier flood live from here (Rúv.is). Currently the glacier flood is getting smaller, but that might only be a temporarily thing if more water is on its way from Mýrdalsjökull glacier. There has also been a drop in conductivity for now in Múlavísk glacier river.

Announcement in English on Rúv

People advised to stay away from Múlakvísl (Rúv.is)

This article is going to be updated as needed today.

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Update on Reykjanes peninsula earthquake swarm (Fagradalsfjall mountain)

Since 26-July-2017 there has been a earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula close to a mountain called Fagradalsfjall. This earthquake swarm has been one of the larger ones in the area in recent years. Total number of earthquakes that have been detected so far is well over 600 at the writing of this article. There is some magma involved in this earthquake swarm, it has stayed deep in the crust and there are currently no signs of it moving upwards more then it already has at this point. This makes an eruption extremely unlikely, unlike what some news reports about this earthquake swarm might suggest an eruption is not imminent in this area of Iceland.


Earthquake activity close to Fagradalsfjall mountain for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake during the last 24 hours is a magnitude 3,2 earthquake that took place at 05:56 UTC. In 1968 a magnitude 6,0 earthquake took place in this same area. I don’t know if that is going to happen now, what is a risk is this earthquake swarm increasing again from current drop in activity. This area is in part a rift valley and plate interaction can get complicated and last for a long time. With quiet period between high periods of activity. At this moment the earthquake activity in this area is decreasing, that does not mean it is over yet, just that a decreasing in activity is currently happening.

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Magnitude 4,5 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today at 22:18 UTC (26-July-2017) a earthquake with the magnitude of 4,5 took place in Katla volcano. A earlier earthquake happened at 22:15 UTC and it had the magnitude of 3,2. The magnitude 4,5 earthquake was felt in Vík í Mýrdal and nearby area.


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

A considerable number of smaller earthquakes have been happening in the last hour. There is nothing at the moment that suggest an eruption is about to happen. There is no magma signature on the tremor plot at the moment. With total of 55 earthquakes having happened in Katla volcano over the last 48 hours.

Update 28-July-2017

Current 24 hours have been quiet in Katla volcano with no major earthquake activity taking place at the moment. This is normal and was also observed last year when a sudden increase in earthquake activity took place.

Here is a over-view of that activity, from earliest earthquakes on 29-August-2016 until 29-September-2016. More articles can be found on Katla volcano activity during that time period just by searching. This are the articles when the most activity took place.

Katla volcano earthquake activity update (29-August-2016)
Magnitude 3,9 earthquake in Katla volcano (25-September-2016)
Heavy earthquake activity in Katla volcano, high conductivity in glacier rivers (29-September-2016)
Katla volcano update at 10:48 UTC (30-September-2016)

This article is going to be updated as needed.

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Article updated on 28-July-2016 at 00:26 UTC.