Category: Magma

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Minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (03-June-2017) there has been a minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano. This was a minor earthquake activity and no earthquake did reach magnitude 2,0. Based on location and depth this activity suggests that magma was on the move inside Katla volcano. Most depth in this earthquake activity was 16,1 km.


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

It seems that for now the activity has quieted down. June is the start of earthquake season in Katla volcano and until December there is going to be increased earthquake activity taking place.

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Weekly earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (1-June-2017)

Today (01-June-2017) a earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm was in the regular location at north-east part of the caldera. Two earthquakes with magnitude 3,2 took place and one magnitude 3,6 earthquake happened. Other earthquakes in this activity where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano today (01-June-2017). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is now getting close to weekly again. This suggest that magma inflow into the volcano is increasing again. What that means in the long term is unclear at this moment. Sometimes there is just one earthquake, but in most earthquake events there are now more than one earthquake with magnitude above 3,0.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano (27-May-2017)

Today (27-May-2017) at 09:36 UTC a magnitude 3,9 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Depth of this earthquake activity is now around 7 km. Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green star shows the magnitude 3,9 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Recent reports from Iceland Civil Disaster Management (Almannavarnir) and Icelandic Met Office there is considerable hydrothermal activity in the caldera and on its rim. Suggesting that Bárðarbunga volcano has not started to cool down after Holuhraun eruption. In the long run this means that there is a good chance that current eruption cycle is far from being over.

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Earthquake swarm in Kolbeinsey island

Yesterday (24-May-2017) and today (during the night of 25-May-2017) there was an earthquake swarm in Kolbeinsey island. Largest earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,6 (x2) and one magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. No harmonic tremor where detected during this activity, that does not rule out that this activity is due to dyke intrusion taking place in Kolbeinsey island. It just didn’t reach the surface this time. Kolbeinsey island is far away from the SIL network, with the closest station being in GrĂ­msey island (~25 km) with other SIL station at ~60 km distance. If an eruption starts in Kolbeinsey Island, a harmonic tremor signal is going to appear in GrĂ­msey island SIL station.


Green star mark the area where the earthquake swarm took place in Kolbeinsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last eruption in this area took place in the year 1755, but that eruption might not actually have been in Kolbeinsey Island, but in a other unnamed volcano north of it (where is not known). Last confirmed eruption in Kolbeinsey island took place in the year 1372, it was closer to land somewhere north-west of GrĂ­msey island (suggesting that fissure swarm of Kolbeinsey island comes close to GrĂ­msey island).

At the moment the activity has quieted down and no earthquakes are being detected by the SIL network.

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

Yesterday there was a strong earthquake activity in BárĂ°arbunga volcano (GVP has new information about BárĂ°arbunga 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 BárĂ°arbunga 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 BárĂ°arbunga volcano once to twice a year. Current activity suggests that magma is inflating BárĂ°arbunga 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 BárĂ°arbunga 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 BárĂ°arbunga 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 HeklubyggĂ° 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 BöðvarshĂłlar and the one in HeklubyggĂ° on the North-South direction (HeklubyggĂ° is west-south of BárĂ°arbunga, BöðvarshĂłlar is west-north of BárĂ°arbunga). 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 BárĂ°arbunga volcano at the moment, what is known is that inflation is currently taking place in BárĂ°arbunga volcano and that process has been ongoing since September-2015.

Update 07.04.2017 – Anomaly detected on my BöðvarshĂłlar 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.


HeklubyggĂ° geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake in HeklubyggĂ° 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 BárĂ°arbunga volcano). This activity is happening due to continued inflation of BárĂ°arbunga 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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