Category: Magma

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Earthquakes in Katla volcano

On the 5th of January 2017 a magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake happening in January is extremely rare thing, since Katla volcano is normally quiet this time of the year. That seems to be over for now.


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

This earthquake was the strong earthquake in a minor swarm that took place in Katla volcano during that day. Since then the activity has been mostly quiet. Bad weather is however interfering with detection of the earthquakes in most of Iceland, a storm is happening 1 to 2 days at the moment.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

In 2016 Bárðarbunga volcano kept busy all year with inflating and preparing for the next eruption.

On 31-December-2016 a swarm of earthquake happened in Bárðarbunga volcano, largest earthquake in that swarm had the magnitude of 3,6 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,3. On 02-January-2017 few earthquake happened, the largest one having the magnitude of 2,8.


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

At the moment, the BárĂ°arbunga volcano continues to inflate at what seems to be a rather fast rate. When that might lead to an eruption is difficult to know. Other more complex factors are also at work here that I don’t know to well and are impossible to figure out.

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Earthquake activity in Katla caldera

On Monday 26-December-2016 (second day of Christmas) a magnitude 3,3 earthquake happened in Katla volcano. This was the largest earthquake that day. Following this earthquake a few dozen smaller earthquakes have been taking place, the last ones in the past few hours on 27-December-2016. The largest of those earthquakes had a magnitude of 1,6.


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

There has been some fluctuation in the conductivity of MĂşlakvĂ­sl for the last few days. Not all of it might be due to magma related matter getting into the glacier river (at least not new material). The bad weather is moving old volcano ash and sand and some of it is falling into the nearby glacier rivers and increasing conductivity. Along with old material melting off the glacier in the sudden heat that has been going on in Iceland for the past few hours.

Storm warning

Please be aware that if you are in Iceland that a storm is about to hit Iceland and it appears to be rather bad. It is going to start to get colder in the next few hours and start to snow again after the sudden heatwave that happened in Iceland for the last 24 hours. This means closed roads, impassible roads, heavy snow falling down and other problems that come with this type of weather. This storm is not expected to end until 29-December and then a new storm might happen. Good weather is not expected until 30-December-2016 or 31-December.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

This morning a earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm started at 03:31 UTC and lasted until 03:35 UTC when a small break happened, the earthquake swarm resumed at 09:35 UTC with two earthquakes. Those two earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,0 and 3,1.


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

On Monday (19-December-2016) a swarm of deep earthquake took place in BárĂ°arbunga volcano. Suggesting that new magma got injected into the volcano from deep within the mantle (~100 – 200 km depth). This type of pattern has appeared before and it can be expected to happen again.

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Short earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On 17-December-2016 a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Only few earthquakes took place and the largest had the magnitude of 3,3 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The green star shows the magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm only lasted for ~30 minutes. It was also slightly south-west of 15-December earthquake swarm, this is the most activity I have seen in Katla volcano in December since I started watching the volcano in 2001 (around that year). All that can be done for the moment is to continue to watch the activity in Katla volcano. Since it’s not possible to know when a eruption is going to take place.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (15-December-2016) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,0. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. Due to bad weather in Iceland at the moment the sensitivity of the SIL network is less than on a quiet wind day.


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

This earthquake started around 12 hours after the magnitude 3,4 earthquake that took place in Katla volcano yesterday. It is difficult to know for sure if those events are connected, that might be, but without some study into this swarm its a question that I don’t have an answer to. This earthquake swarm is located almost directly in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano caldera (SIL station with the same name is close to this location). This earthquake swarm was not strong in magnitude of earthquakes, but it was considerable in number of earthquakes that happened in Katla volcano today.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night of 12-December-2016 a earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity happens because the volcano is inflating currently after period of deflation during the eruption from August-2014 to Februar-2015. As before, most of earthquake activity happens in the north-east part of the caldera. Why that is the case is not known to me at the moment.


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

The earthquake swarm lasted for about ~1 hour this time around. Slower and smaller earthquake swarm has been going on for the past ~10 days in BárĂ°arbunga volcano. I call those “slow earthquake swarm” [not a scientific term], they are more difficult to detect, but they often happen (but I have not yet seen them mentioned in any science papers yet, so this is just my personal view). Largest magnitudes in this earthquake swarm where 3,9 (04:10), 3,8 (04:24), 4,2 (04:29). Other earthquakes where smaller in this swarm.

This earthquake activity is due to the fact that magma is flowing into BárĂ°arbunga volcano magma chamber at depth (~10 km) and inflating the volcano after it collapsed during the eruption 2014 – 2015. This inflation is faster then anyone expected I suspect, since after the eruption ended in February-2015 it was expected that BárĂ°arbunga volcano would be quiet for a long time after such large eruption. That has not happened, even if no new eruption has happened so far.

It is not possible to know when next eruption happens or where it is going to happen. Deep earthquakes have been happening under Trölladyngja, suggesting magma movements under that area. Last two eruptions in Trölladyngja took place in the year 5000 BCE and 7100 BCE (GVP information), that means eruption can happen again in this shield volcano (inside BárĂ°arbunga volcano fissure swarm). There are many other locations that eruptions can happened, at the moment it is expected that possible next eruptions continue to happen north east of BárĂ°arbunga volcano, close to Holuhraun lava field or in that direction. It is good to remember that if the magma cannot go to the sides, its either going to stay in its place or if the pressure is high enough, it is going to go straight up along the caldera fault line. Hydrothermal activity on the rims of BárĂ°arbunga volcano caldera suggests that this has already happened and magma now sits at ~1 km depth already. It just didn’t erupt during the last eruption sequence in 2014 – 2015 (it at least has not yet been confirmed).

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Magnitude 3,2 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today (29-November-2016) at 19:55 UTC a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. The strongest aftershock so far had the magnitude of 2,7. No other activity has appeared in Katla volcano following this earthquake at the moment.

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The green star shows where the magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquakes in Katla volcano happen due to magma changes, mostly pressure changes in the magma chambers that have inflated the volcano over a long period of time. Recent increase in earthquake activity suggests that new magma is flowing into the magma chambers at shallow depth inside the caldera. That is increasing the pressure levels and the earthquake activity at the same time.

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Deep earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano

Over the past few hours a sequence of deep earthquakes has been taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The depth of those earthquakes is from 19 km and up to 11 km, how they spread out suggesting a dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano fissure swarm or on the edge of the volcano.

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The deep earthquakes taking place almost south of the main caldera in Bárðarbunga volcano (few blue/yellow dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Deep earthquake activity suggests that fresh magma is pushing into the volcano at more pressure than in past few days. The clues about this happening have been the stronger earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano over the past few weeks. New dykes can also form without warning and start an eruption if the pressure is enough in them, such eruption might not last long, not even a whole day in some cases.

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Increase in earthquakes in Katla volcano

During the past few days there has been a slight increase in earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Largest earthquakes in the past few days have reached magnitude 2,8. At the moment larger earthquakes have not happened in Katla volcano.

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The earthquake activity in Katla volcano over the past few days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Interestingly there seems to be a concentration of earthquakes on the east side of the caldera, close to the area that erupted in the year 1918. This might be a clue to where in the caldera next eruption is going to happen, since magma seems to “bore” its way trough the crust and in many occasions that leads to a swarm of small earthquakes [note: This is not confirmed in any scientific way or by a study, this is just my observation of this phenomena]. Currently the earthquake activity in Katla volcano is small, compared to how much activity was taken place between end of August and mid-October. I suspect that current level of earthquake activity is going to continue until next spring.

Conductivity in few glacier rivers around Mýrdalsjökull glacier continue to be high, suggesting that new hydrothermal vents have opened up under the glacier inside the caldera. This type of warm-up in a volcano is not a good sign and is a clear sign that magma is now shallow in the caldera. For magma to warm ground water up to this levels, it needs to be less than 1 km up in the crust. This is a shallow depth for magma in a volcano.

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