Category: Magma

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Magnitude 4.4 earthquake north of Kolbeinsey Island

Today at 17:32 UTC there was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake north of Kolbeinsey Island. I do not know if this earthquake was tectonic or volcanic in nature. I do know that there where several aftershocks following this earthquake. Since I did register them on my geophone in north Iceland. The geophone web site can be viewed here. More information about the earthquake can be found here, on EMSC web page.

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Regional view of the area where the earthquake took place. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.

Icelandic Meteorological Office did also detected many of this earthquakes that took place there. But detection from this location is difficult due to distance from the SIL network.

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The earthquake swarm location according to Icelandic Meteorological Office. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

For now this is just a earthquake swarm and nothing else. Regardless of what happens later. Earthquake activity has been common in this area of the rift zone for several months now. I do not know why that is. The ocean depth in this area is around 3 to 4 km where it is the deepest. So if an eruption takes place there it is not going to be noticed due to the depth of the ocean.

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Deep earthquakes in Askja volcano

Today (26.03.2013) at 08:09 UTC there where three deep earthquakes in Askja volcano. The most depth of this earthquake swarm was 25.5 km. None of the earthquake had the magnitude above 2.5. The strongest earthquake had the magnitude 2.1 with the depth of 20.4 km

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Earthquakes in Askja volcano. Askja is located to the north of Vatnajökull glacier and the lake is round in shape on this map. Marked by the orange dots on it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This activity is part of an progress that started in Askja volcano back in the year 2010. So far this has not lead to any eruption. But it has created some odd changes. Along one was that Askja lake was ice free last year (winter 2012). The reasons for that are still not known to me.

Blog post updated at 16:32 UTC on 26.03.2013.

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Uncertainty level declared on Hekla volcano

Uncertainty level has been declared on Hekla volcano due to strange earthquake activity in it for the past week or so. But in total of seven earthquakes where recorded in Hekla volcano at the depth of 11 to 12 km. This is highly unusual for Hekla volcano. People are advised against going up to Hekla volcano while uncertainty level is in force. It is also dangerous to be too close to Hekla volcano. Since if an eruption starts, it is going to start without any warning at all.

I am going to post updates on Hekla volcano as needed if anything happens. It is possible to watch activity live from Hekla volcano on my geophone page here. But I have a geophone located about 16 km away from Hekla volcano. List of web cameras that I know of are online and focused on Hekla volcano can be found here. Update 1: Web camera that is showing Hekla volcano (pictures) can also be found here.

News about this in English

Seismic activity in Mount Hekla (Rúv.is)

News about this in Icelandic

Ekki mikið um jarðskjálfta við Heklu (Rúv.is)
Óvenjuleg jarðskjálftahrina í Heklu (Rúv.is)
Engin bráðahætta á eldgosi (Rúv.is)
Jarðhræringar í Heklu: Óvissustig í gildi (Rúv.is)

Óvissustig vegna Heklu (mbl.is)
Engin sjáanleg merki um eldgos í aðsigi (mbl.is)
Hægt að fylgjast með Heklu (mbl.is)

Óvissustig vegna hugsanlegs goss í Heklu (Vísir.is)
Ferðamenn varaðir við að vera nærri Heklu (Vísir.is)
Fyrirvarinn yrði einn til tveir tímar (Vísir.is)

Ó­vissu­stig vegna ó­venju­legra hræringa í Heklu (DV.is)
„Hekla gaus með litlum fyrirvara síðast“ (DV.is)
Eftirlitsstig vegna Heklu hækkað úr grænu í gult (DV.is)

Blog post updated at 17:26 UTC on 26.03.2013.

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New earthquake in Hekla volcano

This morning there was an earthquake in Hekla volcano at 08:23 UTC. This earthquake had the magnitude of 1.4 according to the reviewed data from Icelandic Meteorological Office. The depth of this earthquake was 11,2 km. But that is considerable depth for this location. This is most likely not tectonic earthquakes. But it is hard to be sure on that detail as of this moment.

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The earthquake in Hekla volcano is marked by an orange dot on this map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not have a clue what Hekla volcano is up to at the moment. But this is highly unusual activity for this volcano. Since normally there are no earthquakes in Hekla volcano until just before an eruption takes place in it. For the moment. The only thing that can be done now is to monitor what is taking place in Hekla volcano.

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Three earthquakes in Hekla volcano

During the night there where three earthquakes in Hekla volcano. All of the earthquakes where small with the magnitude of 0.6 up to 0.9. Depth of this earthquakes was on the range of 10.7 and down to 11.8 km. No other activity has followed this earthquakes in Hekla volcano since this earthquakes took place.

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The earthquakes in Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Currently there are no signs of volcano eruptions in Hekla volcano. If that changes I am going to write about it. But for now Hekla volcano is as quiet as it has been since the year 2000. When last eruption took place.

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Deep earthquake swarm in Tungafellsjökull volcano

Today (03.03.2013) between 13:19 UTC and to 13:21 UTC a deep earthquake swarm took place in a volcano named Tungnafellsjökull. This was a minor earthquake swarm, with the largest earthquake having magnitude 1.4. But it is the depth that is important here. The depth was most at 28 km, with the shallowest earthquake having the depth 18.7 km. This suggest magma intrusion into the volcano at depth. A pattern that was seen during the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption as an example.

For the past few months. Tungnafellsjökull volcano has been having swarms of earthquakes. All of them small, but many of them above 2.0 in magnitude. But so far none above magnitude 3.0. While earthquake activity has remained low in Tungnafellsjökull volcano I find that events are speeding up there in the past few months. With the terms that more earthquakes are being detected in this volcano and now at more depth. I find this worrying and also interesting. This volcano is far from any populated area, so any damage resulting for an eruption in it should be minimal. It also has no glacier to speak of. There is going to be a bad weather in Iceland until Friday (according to the weather forecast at the moment), so detecting any small earthquakes in this area might be limited by it.

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The red dots show the earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is too early to know what happens in Tungafellsjökull volcano. It is also important to note that Tungnafelljökull volcano has never erupted in historical times. This makes figuring out what happens next in it more difficult then ever. This activity might not mean an eruption is imminent. But at the moment I cannot rule one out just yet. It is clear that more activity is going to be needed before the picture of what is taking place in Tungnafellsjökull volcano gets clearer.

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Magnitude 3.8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night at 04:50 UTC there was an earthquake with the magnitude 3.8 in Bárðarbunga volcano. This appears to be a minor dike intrusions into Bárðarbunga volcano. This happens regularly in Bárðarbunga volcano. Often resulting in a lot larger earthquakes then current earthquake swarm that is taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. The star is the magnitude 3.8 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is impossible to know what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano. But there is no risk for volcano eruption for now. Even if there is possibility of minor dike intrusion taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment. I am not expecting anything more at the moment. But more earthquakes can not be ruled out, as Bárðarbunga volcano is a earthquake active volcano.

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Comparison of volcano eruptions

When there is nothing going on in Iceland. It is good to prepare for the future by checking out what has happened in the past. Here is a comparison of harmonic tremor data from few past eruptions. I only have limited set of data to work with here.

Grímsfjall volcano eruptions 2004 and 2011

Harmonic tremor indicates how strong the eruption is when it is happening. This is clearly visible on the harmonic tremor plots from the Grímsfjall volcano eruptions in the year 2004 and compared to the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano eruption in the year 2011.


Harmonic tremor in Grímsfjall volcano eruption in the year 2004. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This harmonic tremor plot is from the early start of the eruption. It clearly shows when the eruption starts and how it progressed during it’s first few hours.


Here is the volcano eruption start in Grímsfjall volcano on 23. May 2011. This is the start of the eruption. It clearly shows the difference from the eruption that took place in the year 2004. Both is that starts sharper. But is also a lot more powerful then the eruption in the year 2004. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano and Katla volcano

Sometimes it is useful to compare two eruptions of two different volcanoes. This is useful when you really don’t have anything else to compare with.


Harmonic tremor in Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption back in the year 2010. This is from the second phase of the eruption. But I seems to have misplaced or not saved harmonic tremor data from the first phase of the eruption (at least I cannot find them for the moment). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor connected to a minor eruption in Katla volcano in July 2011. This eruption was minor. But created a flood that took out a bridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Diffrent SIL stations from the same minor eruption in Katla volcano in July 2011. This clearly shows that this minor eruption in Katla volcano was possibly larger then eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano year earlier (2010). But it did not manage to break the ice of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Past data show and are useful to learn what happens in a volcano. For this reason I now save important information on what is happening in a volcano. So I can compare it with future activity when it takes place.

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Earthquake swarm north of Kolbeinsey Island

During the night (on 15.12.2012) there was a swarm of earthquakes far north of Kolbeinsey Island. The distance from Kolbeinsey Island is about 100 to 200 km. What exactly is taking place at this location is impossible to know for now. Since this is far from Iceland and the SIL network. Last eruption is believed to have taken place around this area back in the year 1999, or at least there was an large dike intrusion at that time. What did happen exactly is not known.


The earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey Island at midnight (00:00 UTC) 15.12.2012. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Earthquake activity at 09:00 UTC this morning (15.12.2012). More earthquakes have taken place since midnight. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There is a chance of more earthquakes in this area. It can also be expected that not all earthquake activity in this area is being detected by the SIL network. Due to distance, weather and ocean activity.

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Dike intrusion in Askja volcano

Today (14.12.2012) around 12:00 UTC Askja volcano had dike intrusion. This dike intrusion was not in the main volcano it self. But a good distance away from it. But this is in a area that has erupted before in distant past in a fissure style eruption (just lava, no volcano ash). What is the case now I am not sure at the moment. But this dike intrusion was at the depth of 25 to 22 km. So it has long way to go before any eruption takes place. This dike intrusion did also not show any sign of moving upwards according to Rúv News of this event.


Earthquake map from IMO showing the dike intrusion clearly. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

What this means in the long term is impossible to know at this point. But this is one event in a long series of events that started in March 2010. This is going to end with a eruption. Large or small is impossible to know until it happens. What is also impossible to know is when and where such eruption might take place. As is always the case with active volcanoes. There is at least no reason to panic about this. Not now, not ever.

Donations: I am still needing donations to cover my cost of buying 3G hardware for upcoming geophone stations Böðvarshólar (total cost around 1300 DKK, or 29900 ISK). I have got some donations already. But they just cover the cost of UPS and USB card for Skeiðflöt geophone station. But I was fixing technical problems with it. Thanks for the support.

Icelandic News about this

Á annan tug skjálfta austur af Öskju (Rúv.is)

Blog post updated at 23:29 UTC on 14.12.2012