Magma – Page 59 – Iceland geology

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

Update on Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 06/2016)

Short update on Bárðarbunga volcano.

Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at the depth of 15 – 10 km. Making it hard to observe it on the surface. Earthquake activity continues to increase, with regular earthquake swarms with magnitude of 3,0 – 3,5 at the moment. The reason for this earthquake activity is the inflation currently taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano at depth of 10 – 15 km and at shallower depth. I expect that hydrothermal activity is going to continue to increase in Bárðarbunga volcano for the next few weeks and months as magma pushes up to shallower depths inside the volcano.

Magnitude 3,1 earthquake (if my memory is correct) in Bárðarbunga volcano on Monday 8-February-2016. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Today (11-February-2016) magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

No other changes have been observed in Bárðarbunga volcano. Current pattern of activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to continue for a really long time. There is at the moment no need for to write about all of it. Unless something changes in Bárðarbunga volcano. Rift episodes like the one that has started in eastern rift zone in Iceland take a long time, the longest one can go for up to 20 years and they happen slowly most of the time. The biggest risk now is a new dyke intrusion and eruption (or both). That might start without warning and only last for few hours to days at most.

Icelandic News about Bárðarbunga volcano

Hæg atburðarás undir Bárðarbungu (mbl.is, Icelandic) – Attempt Google Translate at own risk. It might bring trolls and elves into existence.

Noise on SIL stations

I did have a conversation about Icelandic Met Office about the strange tremor spikes I’ve been seeing on SIL stations around Bárðarbunga volcano over the past few weeks. It turns out that is connected to 3G (900Mhz) interference. It has two factors in it, the 3G stations loosing signal, creating a dropout in the data stream to Iceland Met Office and what I suspect a signal leak into the hardware that Iceland Met Office has (in the same was as I’m seeing on my Böðvarshólar geophone) when the quality of the 3G signal is poor due to ice and snow on the transmitters antenna, that forces the 3G hardware to boost it’s transmitter power up to 2W. This issue won’t go away until they move to 4G (maybe) or something else.

Other

I’ve decided that I’m first going to move to Denmark and then maybe I’m going to move to Germany. To the village of Andernach. The time frame on this plan is 10 to 15 years at the shortest. I don’t know if this plan is going to happen, it might do so and then it might not do so. I plan on to save up for a house in Germany, the reason for long preparation time is that I need to learn German and learn on the system in Germany. The town I’ve chosen is close to the West Eifel Volcanic Field. This is not the first time I’ve planned to move there (to Koblenz, but that town is too big I think), but those plans are now gone, replaced with this one. I don’t know yet if this plan is going to happen, it might do so in about 10 to 15 years if everything works out.

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

Short update on Bárðarbunga volcano activity (Week 05/2016)

The activity in Bárðarbunga volcano continues to slowly increase, at the moment there seems to be a small lowdown in the activity but that might change without warning. There has been some change in the activity inside the caldera and that is important. There appears that two spots are forming inside the south part of the caldera, suggesting that magma has found a weak spot in the crust plug. The space between them is not big, at most 800 meters to 2 km. The weak spots might not erupt, the magma that is pushing up at this location might fail breaking trough the crust if the pressure is high enough to break trough the crust.

The green star marks the second weak spot in the caldera of Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Yesterday (02-Februar-2016) signal appeared on the SIL stations around Bárðarbunga volcano. This signal was seen good distance from Bárðarbunga volcano, this does not appear to any type of failure in the SIL network, I’ve been looking for such and not found any. What this signal means is unclear and why it happens is unknown.

The strange signal starts around midnight at 02-February-2016 and continues until at least 05:00 UTC. It is not known why it happens. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The largest earthquake in past 48 hours had a magnitude 3,0 and was in the newly formed weak spot in the north-east part of the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. Both weak spots in the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera have been having earthquakes this week and past week, in most of the caldera there has been some earthquake activity taking place. In late August-2014 the north-east caldera rim did leak some magma, creating a row of cauldrons above it. Both above the dyke and on the cauldron rim. I did try to find pictures of the cauldron in question, but I didn’t have any luck doing so.

Magma pressure inside Bárðarbunga volcano seems to be increasing faster then I expected. Something might have changed inside the volcano, or deep underneath it allowing for magma going inside the volcano at higher rate then before. It is not possible to know when next eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano happens, the time frame (based on historical data) is from 1 year and up to 10 years when a eruption cycle is going on.

January 20, 2016January 21, 2016

Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 03/2016)

Today (20-January-2016) at 13:05 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm was not a surprise to me, since I had seen clues it would happen on 17 and 18 of January-2016 (more details later in this article). I wasn’t sure if it would happen.

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

The largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,6 and that is a increase in magnitude from last earthquake swarm taking place at this location two weeks ago. This earthquake appears to have been created by a magma breaking rock under pressure (low frequency element present in it).

The harmonic tremor plot from Vonarskarð SIL station, next to Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

I have noticed and I told Icelandic Met Office about this few days ago. There is a change in the harmonic tremor plot at 2-4Hz few days before an earthquake swarm starts in Bárðarbunga volcano. This has happened several times. Last time this happened is on 17 and 18 January-2016. Why this happens I don’t know for sure. One idea is that magma is over-pressuring once it enters the magma chamber and this might be gas release in the magma at the same time. If that is the reality, it is creating a magma foam at the top of the magma chamber that would erupt rather explosively when the pressure breaks the magma chamber currently holding it (see here, I’m not sure what this is called in science). This is only a idea that I have, but I find it the most likely explanation on what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano. This might be wrong, but only time is going to tell what happens in Bárðarbunga volcano.

The time period between earthquake swarms is getting slightly shorter, now it’s around half a week from a whole week as was last month (December-2015). This change of phase suggests that more magma is flowing into the magma chamber and possibly in greater volume. The path the magma flows into the magma chamber is clear of all blockage, that means no earthquakes are created at that location. Current evidence suggest that only one magma chamber is being filled up with magma at the moment, but that magma chamber might be big and with some room left, but that might be quickly running out as is suggested by current earthquake swarms. The earthquake activity would be considerably higher if an eruption was about to start.

If anything more happens in Bárðarbunga volcano this week I’m going to update this article. Unless an eruption starts, then I’ll write a new one.

Update 1

A minor dyke intrusion took place in Bárðarbunga volcano caldera today (21-January-2016). The strongest earthquake in this dyke intrusion had the magnitude of 2,8 and depth of 2,5 km. This was a small and short event that took place.

The dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano took place in SW part of the caldera. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

It’s difficult to know for sure what this means. What is clear is that magma is trying to break a path to the surface and it might have found a weak spot in the crust inside the caldera. If this starts to be a regular feature it means problems. This is the second weak spot to form in the caldera, the first one being in North-east part of the caldera, creating weekly earthquakes since September-2015.

Article updated at 01:52 UTC on 21-January-2016. Error fixed in date (it was not 10 and 11, it was 17 and 18th of January-2016).
Article updated at 20:56 UTC on 21-January-2016.

January 10, 2016January 11, 2016

Bárðarbunga volcano earthquake swarm (Week 01 2016)

Current earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to be a regular feature until next eruption. Due to that I won’t write about all the earthquakes that happens, just when a magnitude 3,0 or larger earthquakes take place. The situation in Bárðarbunga volcano and nearby areas is getting more complex due to increasing magma activity at depth and surprising high number of them are creating pathways to the shallow crust. Since the eruption in Holuhraun ended there has been increase in earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano, this is best seen by almost weekly magnitude 3,0 or stronger earthquakes. What has also been appearing over the past few weeks is deep activity in Trölladyngja, activity that started on 28 km depth and up to 20 km depth currently. That process only took around 1,5 – 2,5 months to happen (short amount of time). The activity in Trölladyngja is troubling in my view, since it’s my opinion that if the magma manages to create a pathway to the surface it is going to start an eruption in that area. Magma below Trölladyngja might also stop in it’s track, if it gets close enough to the surface without eruption it might create a new hill or new hydrothermal area while it’s cooling down. Whatever happens in the end is going to be interesting.

Latest earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The second issue that is now starting to show it self is Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano, also known as Hamarinn. Today a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in it, not far from Skaftárkötlum cauldrons, the depth was 0,7 km. The earthquake today in Bárðarbunga volcano also had the magnitude of 3,2 with the depth of 0,1 km. Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano is a complex volcano with shallow magma chambers. After the last glacier flood it was clear that hydrothermal activity in Skaftárkatlar cauldrons is increasing the hydrothermal areas are growing in size. This means there is more energy flowing into the hydrothermal systems and the only way that happens if new hotter magma into the volcano. This development is troubling, both in short term and long term. This increases the risk of minor eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano considerable in my view. Risk of larger eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano has also gone up. Last eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano that was large took place in the year 1910 and lasted from June to October that year. Last minor eruption in my view took place in July 2011, lasting for few hours. That eruption has not been confirmed by geologists yet, I don’t know why that is. A glacier flood followed that eruption.

Other complexities in all of this are random fissures that might open up under unknown dykes, starting a eruption in areas that might not have seen a eruption in a long time. Along with new magma dykes going somewhere new. Whatever happens it is going to be interesting and this is going to take a long time. It takes Bárðarbunga volcano, since it starts it eruption cycle up to 20 years to finish once it’s started. The eruption cycle that started in 1862 did not end until 1910. A new eruption cycle started in 2014 and it’s ongoing. The longest eruption cycle I see in GVP data is a eruption cycle that started in 1697, it didn’t end until the year 1797.

Hekla volcano

A single earthquake with the magnitude of 1,7 took place in Hekla volcano today. Nothing else happened following this earthquake. This means Hekla volcano remains quiet.

Frost quakes

It’s cold now in Iceland. This means frost quakes have been appearing on Iceland Met Office SIL stations. This has also been increasing the noise levels on some SIL stations (the blue band when seeing harmonic tremor levels).

History of eruptions in Iceland

I’ve added a short link to a post that a made back in 2011 and I continue to update. This post has all of the eruptions in Iceland since the year ~900. This is good for people that want to check for historical eruptions in Iceland.

Article updated at 00:25 UTC on 11-January-2016. Updated for slight increase in clarity of wording.

January 4, 2016January 5, 2016

Fresh earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (04-Januar-2016) a fresh earthquake activity took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,3 and the smaller earthquake had a magnitude of 3,2. Other earthquakes in this earthquake swarm where smaller in magnitude.

The earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green stars show the magnitude 3,3 and 3,2 earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Deepest earthquake yesterday (03-January-2016) had the magnitude of 2,6 and depth of 21,5 km. Current earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has been connected to a inflation that is now taking place where the earthquakes are taking place. According to Kristín Jónsdóttir on Rúv News earlier today. It appears at least one magma chamber on 10 to 15 km depth inside Bárðarbunga volcano is filling up and that might result in an eruption in coming months. Where and when is impossible to know at this point in time.

Icelandic News

Kvikusöfnun skýri skjálftavirkni í Bárðarbungu (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

Update 1

New earthquake with the magnitude of 3,0 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano at 01:24 UTC on 05-January-2016. The earthquakes that have been taking place have been low period earthquakes based on the fact they are not recording properly with the SIL network (tectonic earthquakes almost always have correct magnitude).

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

This is a sharp increase in earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Currently nothing suggests that eruption is about to start, due to lack of continuous earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity however suggests that magma pressure is increasing fast in a magma chamber that is located in north-east part of Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. When it might erupt is a question that does not have any clear answers at the moment. At the moment the only thing that can be done is to wait and see what happens next.

Article updated on 05-January-2016 at 11:41 UTC.

December 26, 2015December 27, 2015

Fresh earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

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Last night (26-December-2015) two magnitude 3,3 earthquakes took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity was followed by a change in activity on 2 – 4Hz band, I’m not sure why that is, it might signal a inflow of magma at depth into shallow parts of the crust. This is however only guess on my part, this change in signal and it’s origin.

The change in the SIL station can be seen between 25 and 26-December-2015 on the blue line. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

It is my view that the risk of eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano is increasing fast and Bárðarbunga volcano might erupt without warning at any time. Iceland Met Office holds a different view and that is there is no major risk of eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment, even if magma continues to flow into Bárðarbunga volcano.

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

The magnitude 3,3 earthquake in north-east part of Bárðarbunga volcano caldera had the depth of 0,1 km. The magnitude 3,3 earthquake in south-east part of the caldera had the depth of 2,5 km. At 08:20 UTC this morning a magnitude 1,0 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano, that earthquake had the dept of 20,3 km and that suggest the magma inflow might be more than current ideas and models suggest (this earthquake is on the edge of the volcano, not far from Tungnafellsjökull volcano). I don’t know what is going to happen next in Bárðarbunga volcano. Since nobody knows for sure what is going to happen next in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Update 1

The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has now created a half-circle of earthquakes in the caldera. Over the past 24 hours there has been slight increase in activity in Bárðarbunga volcano after the magnitude 3,3 earthquakes. There has also been some odd harmonic tremor spikes around Bárðarbunga volcano, the problem is that at the moment there is bad weather taking place at this location in Vatnajökull glacier area. So this might just be wind. I have to wait until the weather gets better in order to see if anything changes.

The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano at 27-December-2015. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

I don’t know if any more activity is going to take place. This might die down, it is difficult to be sure about what happens next.

Article updated on 27-December-2015 at 17:56 UTC.

December 20, 2015December 20, 2015

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Last night (20-December-2015) a earthquake activity took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake in this short earthquake swarm had the magnitude of 3,5 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,1. This earthquake activity is shallow and above above 10 km depth and it appears to be result of magma activity in north-eastern part of Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. The earthquakes that took place appear to be long period volcano earthquakes (details can be found here, under b-type earthquake).

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

There clearly is something going on in Bárðarbunga volcano, it is already known that inflation is taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano after the eruption in Holuhraun ended in February-2015. Along with increase in dyke intrusions this clearly suggest that magma pressure is increasing inside Bárðarbunga volcano. What worries me is not the risk of large eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano. The risk in my view is at the moment risk of small eruption taking place, if a small eruption takes place under a glacier it is going to mean glacier flood. Size depends on the eruption size, duration and other factors. Currently there are no signs of imminent eruption, but that might change without warning. The north-eastern part of the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera is in my view weakened structure due to all the earthquake activity for the past 15 (about) months.

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December 16, 2015

Minor dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano

From 20:10 to 20:14 UTC a minor dyke intrusion took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This dyke intrusion was small, only lasting those few moments and the largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,5. Other earthquakes are smaller. Depth was from 15,6 km to 23,2 km. Based on the location, this is clearly a dyke intrusion into Bárðarbunga volcano. It is too small to start an eruption, but suggest that magma processes in Bárðarbunga volcano are starting to increase again.

The dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

There is also a change in the SIL station Vonarskarð. What is creating remains unknown. This might be a change in hydrothermal systems under the glacier, but is impossible to know for sure at this point in time. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

I don’t know if any more earthquake activity is going to take place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Since it is impossible to know what magma does next inside a volcano. At the moment I’m not expecting a eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano.

November 28, 2015November 28, 2015

Deep earthquakes in Katla volcano – renewed activity

Yesterday (27-November-2015) new earthquake activity took place in Katla volcano. This activity, in part of the Katla volcano caldera is a repeated pattern, this means that this has happened before. Last activity of this type took place in September (from what I remember). This activity suggests that a magma is building up at the east part of the caldera at the depth of 20 – 28 km (in my view). Currently there is no risk of eruption.

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano on 27-November-2015. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

It is difficult to know if there is going to be more activity in Katla volcano. It might happen and it might not. All that can be done is to wait and see.

Changes in Amazon advertisements

Due to agreement changes regarding Amazon advertisement (or associates it’s called in some markets) I have to close down my accounts for Italy and Spain right now. That is due to the fact that I don’t have any income from those accounts. I’ve had little income (one sale) on Amazon France, but if it’s usage does not increase soon I’m also going to close it down soon. The reason for this is that Amazon now takes a “maintenance fee” from accounts that don’t have any income. This is new and I’m not going to support Amazon in this way if I can avoid it. So any Amazon account for advertisements that doesn’t provide income for a long period of time is going to get closed down (this are periods of at least 12 months).

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon advertisements to buy stuff. Thanks for the support.

The move back to Denmark

I’m going to move back to Denmark in March of 2016 (maybe earlier) if everything has been shorted out. I’m not sure if that is going to happen, currently I’m dealing with a large issue with the Danish Tax and I can’t move to Denmark until that has been resolved.

Article updated at 02:18 UTC.

November 19, 2015

Inflation confirmed at Bárðarbunga volcano

Iceland Met Office confirmed today that inflation has started in Bárðarbunga volcano. According to images released by Iceland Met Office this inflation is not huge at the moment, that might change without warning if magma starts flowing into Bárðarbunga volcano magma chamber at faster rate then it currently is doing.

Inflation as recorded by Iceland Met Office. This recording has been corrected for normal tectonic drift, glacier movements and dyke intrusion from Holuhraun eruption. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The inflation as it appears on GPS station on Bárðarbunga volcano. It has been corrected in the same was image above. Arrow show much the inflation is on each GPS station and the direction it is moving. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The problem here is that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to settle into new form after the eruption in Holuhraun, since there was a quiet magma chamber collapse during that eruption. The question remains how much strain the caldera can now take after the collapse and other unknown factor is that it is not known how much magma is needed before an new eruption can start or how long time this process takes. For the moment the only thing that can be done is to continue monitor what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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