Category: Magma

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Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano yesterday (20-May-2017)

Yesterday there was a strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (GVP has new information about Bárðarbunga volcano). Two of the largest earthquakes had the magnitude of Mw3,9 and Mw3,8 other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude and around 10 earthquakes happened in Bárðarbunga volcano. This activity is also different from historical activity from 1970’s and towards 1994 (Gjálp eruption), when a magnitude 5 earthquake would happen in Bárðarbunga volcano once to twice a year. Current activity suggests that magma is inflating Bárðarbunga volcano faster than in the period between 1970’s and 1994. Why that is is not known to me.


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

Current change is that in recent weeks there are fewer earthquakes taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano, but when they happen they are often larger in magnitude and more than one large earthquake happens during the earthquake swarm.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.

According to reports on Global Volcanism Program the most magma collection is happening at the depth of 10 km (or around that depth), no clear or oblivious signs are that magma is collecting at shallower depth at the moment. If that is required for a eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano is not know at the moment, there is a possibility that magma might collect at 10 km depth and then pump out with a dike as was seen in the Holuhraun eruption (2014 – 2015). What has been confirmed is that magma is collecting under Bárðarbunga volcano and the volcano is inflating. This inflation is either going to stop or its going to continue until a new eruption happens.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano today (19.04.2017)

Today (19.04.2017) a strong earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had magnitude of 3,0 and 3,1 other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude. This is the strongest earthquake activity in Katla volcano since January 2017 when a magnitude 4,3 earthquake happened. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Green stars show the magnitude 3,0 and 3,1 earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquakes that I detected on my geophone in Heklubyggð show that the largest earthquakes was a mixed type of volcano earthquakes. This means that magma was responsible for today’s earthquake swarm. It was reported today in the news that this earthquake swarm took place away from all major hydrothermal areas inside Katla volcano caldera. The area of activity is close to eruption area of 1755 and a minor eruption close to current earthquake area in 1955 (didn’t break the glacier).


The main earthquake with the magnitude of 3,1 in Katla volcano. The trace is filtered at 4Hz due to high wind in the area. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC licence for more details.

This earthquake activity might just be a early signs of more activity to come. Since current pattern of activity has been going on since August-2016, with minor drop in activity between January to April. How this evolves depends on many factors that cannot be predicted due to lack properly documented earthquake history. Scientists know some details of Katla volcano eruptions behaviour, but those accounts are not fully accurate due to lack of knowledge at the time, currently the best documented eruption in Katla volcano is from 1918.

Article updated at 20:41 UTC. Correction made to the information about strongest earthquake. I recalled that detail wrongly.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (17.04.2017) at 11:58 UTC a magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is the strongest earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano for several weeks now. Following this earthquake a earthquake swarm started and lasted for about one hour in Bárðarbunga volcano.


Green star shows the magnitude 4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest aftershock activity had magnitude of 2,8 as the information is currently on Icelandic Met Office website. That might change tomorrow and it’s possible that I might update this article if any major change happens in earthquake magnitudes. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm. Weather is currently bad in Iceland and that’s going to last for few more hours.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (6-April-2017) a strong earthquake activity took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity started this morning at 10:46 UTC and has continued during the day at slow phase. The largest earthquake so far took place at 15:08 UTC and had magnitude of 4,1 and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,2. Other earthquakes are smaller and a around dozen or so have taken place today in Bárðarbunga volcano.


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

This earthquake activity is in line with earlier earthquake activity that has been going on in this area since September-2015. What is slightly different now is that I got two different seismic signals on my geophone stations in Böðvarshólar and the one in Heklubyggð on the North-South direction (Heklubyggð is west-south of Bárðarbunga, Böðvarshólar is west-north of Bárðarbunga). This difference seems to suggest that some type of slip movement took place during this earthquake. I don’t know for sure what this change in pattern means at the moment. The best I can do now is to monitor the earthquakes I detect in the future for more such earthquake signal changes like I did just see on my geophone. I’m not fully sure what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment, what is known is that inflation is currently taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano and that process has been ongoing since September-2015.

Update 07.04.2017 – Anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone

This is the anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone. It can be seen on N-S direction. This is not the geophone, its working as expected and that got confirmed today when a minor (magnitude 2,1) earthquake took place not far from the Böðvarshólar geophone.


Böðvarshólar geophone.


Heklubyggð geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake in Heklubyggð geophone.

The difference is appearance of the P-wave and the S-wave. I don’t know why this is or why it happened. I’ve not seen this before.

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Article updated at 21:32 UTC on 07.04.2017.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano 21-March-2017

Yesterday (21-March-2017) there was an earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquakes where magnitude 3,1 and 3,0. Other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude.


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

There isn’t much to say about this earthquake activity (for those how do not know, please check older articles on Bárðarbunga volcano). This activity is happening due to continued inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano since the eruption ended in February-27 in 2015, inflation started in September that same year. Earthquake activity had started to drop in February, it now appears to be increasing again. When or if that results in a eruption soon is impossible to know.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night (13.March-2017) a magnitude 3,7 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake happens just few days after a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga (March 8th). There was no other noticeable earthquake activity following the magnitude 3,7 earthquake. Few minor earthquakes took place after the main earthquake.


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

It seems that magnitudes in the earthquakes that are taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano is increasing. The reason for this is inflation in Bárðarbunga volcano, it remains to be seen if this ends in a eruption.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano during the night

During the night of 08-March-2017 a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 4,1 and the second largest earthquake swarm had the magnitude of 3,9. Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity happens in Bárðarbunga volcano mainly due to magma being injected into the main volcano at depth. This goes into magma chambers somewhere in the volcano, current data suggests that the magma chamber that erupted in in August 2014 to February 2015 is currently inflating. The rate of this type of earthquake activity has gone down in Bárðarbunga volcano, this used to be a weekly activity but now only happens every 2 to 4 weeks at the moment. This slowdown in activity is likely to continue if nothing else happens (new eruption or dyke activity).

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Possible dyke intrusion in Þórðarhyrna volcano

Tonight (05.03.2017) an possible dyke intrusion has taken place in Þórðarhyrna volcano. It’s a small volcano south-west of Grímsfjall volcano and on Global Volcanism Program website it is counted with Grímsfjall volcano eruptions. Last eruption in Þórðarhyrna took place in 1902 at the same time there was an eruption in Grímsfjall volcano (size VEI=4). Before that eruption, the earlier eruption in Þórðarhyrna took place in the year (August 15th) 1887 and lasted for two years (ended in 1889).


Possible dyke intrusion in Þórðarhyrna volcano (south-west of Grímsfjall volcano). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,5 and the second largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,4. Other earthquakes where smaller. It is not possible to know how this is going to evolve since there is a lack of data on Þórðarhyrna volcano due the fact no eruption has happened since the year 1902. That means for now, it is just more wait and see what happens next.

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RSS feed

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano this morning

This morning (01.03.2017) there was an strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Strongest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 4,1 and other earthquakes where smaller. Total of 5 earthquake happened with magnitude above 3,0.


The earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green stars are the earthquakes with magnitude above 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is how the largest earthquake with the magnitude of 4,1 appeared on my geophones.


The magnitude 4,1 earthquake at Heklubyggð geophone. Shows strong surface wave activity. Filtered at 1Hz. This image is under Creative Commons Licence. See CC Licence site for more details.


The magnitude 4,1 earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone. Filtered at 4Hz. This image is under Creative Commons Licence. See CC Licence site for more details.

This earthquake activity happens due to magma influx into Bárðarbunga volcano, resulting in a inflation. The last month (February 2017) has been the most quiet since end of the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano in February 2015.

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Earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano (best estimate)

Yesterday (25.02.2017) an earthquake happened in Bárðarbunga volcano. For some unknown reason, Icelandic Met Office has not located this earthquake or given it exact magnitude. I estimate based on what I see on my geophones that the magnitude is in the range of 3,2 – 3,8. Location is somewhere in Bárðarbunga volcano, since I just two geophones running in Iceland at the moment, I cannot give exact location. In order to get exact location I need more than three geophones.


The earthquake as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, please see CC Licence for more details.


The earthquake as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, please see CC Licence for more details.

I’ll update this article once I get the exact location and magnitude from Icelandic Met Office website.

Update

The weekly earthquake list has this earthquake at magnitude 2,58Mw and ML3,03.

227 20170225 143125.453 64.64607 -17.35535 0.065 2.58 3.03

Article updated at 20:56 UTC on 27.02.2017.