Category: Rift Zone

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano early morning of 19-March-2021

At 04:30 this morning (19-March-2021) an earthquake swarm started just off the coast of Reykjanestá. This activity looks tectonic in nature for now but it is highly focused in one location. This earthquake activity did start on 24-February-2021 when the Mw5,7 earthquake happened. This activity was only going on for short period of time on 24-February-2021 before it stopped until now.

Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá shown by few green stars. A lot of earlier activity is in Fagradalsfjall mountain area.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá in the far left corner of this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,7 but in total of 10 earthquakes with magnitude above 3 took place in this earthquake swarm. Around 100 earthquakes where recorded at the writing of this article but after 06:00 this earthquake swarm slowed down from its peak activity around 05:50. This earthquake swarm might increase again without warning.

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Update on the activity between Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountains

This is a short article written on 17-March-2021 at 17:49 UTC. The situation can change without warning.

It has been less activity in in Fagradalsfjall volcano (Krýsuvík volcano). Current day to day change is not a lot at the writing of this article but it is also possible that bad weather that is now passing over Iceland is masking some of the smaller earthquakes in the dyke between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Inflation continues at what seems to be about the same rate as yesterday (16-March-2021).

Earthquake activity shows but less then in last few days. Most of the red dots are located between mountain Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountain after change in earthquake after the weekend
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano located between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Number of strong earthquakes has dropped after the strong earthquake activity during last weekend (12 to 14 March). What also changed is that the dyke can’t move more south then it already has. It seems that it hit a impasse in the crust that it was unable to break or go around (harder crust is the most common why this happens). The current status is a waiting for the eruption to start and when that happens is impossible to know.

Since there is not a lot of change going on at the writing of this article I am going to slow down the number of updates I am posting. Next update is going to be when something happens or at the latest Monday 22-March 2021.

Web cameras

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Borgarfjall (Rúv.is) If an eruption happens it might be visible here – This web camera no longer works.
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti – This web camera no longer works.
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)
Live from Iceland – Keilir – This web camera is working (I think).

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Article updated on 18-March-2021 at 20:07. Web camera updates.

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Update on Fagradalsfjall volcano activity on 7-March-2021 at 00:21 UTC

This is a short update on activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This is mostly on the activity on 6-March-2021.

Overview of current activity

  • Earthquake activity is mostly limited to small earthquakes.
  • Risk of eruption has not been reduced with current change in activity.
  • The magma dyke is at the shallowest on 2 km but it has an average depth of 5 km to 8 km depth.
  • Most of earthquake activity is closest to Fagradalsfjall mountain (north end?). The dyke is situated between Fagradalsfjall mountain and Keilir mountain.
  • Fagradalsfjall volcano has not erupted in last 12000 years.
  • There has not been any magma activity observed in Krýsuvík volcano and Reykjanes volcano (Svartsengi volcano?). All earthquake activity in those volcanoes are due to crust stress changes due to inflation from Fagradalsfjall volcano.

 

Dotted line showing the Fagradalsfjall volcano
The area of activity according to Icelandic Met Office. This might also be the Fagradalsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There remains a high risk of a strong earthquake with magnitude between Mw6,0 to Mw6,5 because of crustal stress changes that are connected to all the inflation that is now taking place in Fagradalsfjall volcano.

Dense earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano with many green stars showing earthquakes with magnitudes above Mw3,0 and many new red dots showing new smaller earthquakes
Dense earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Harmonic tremor has not been detected again since Wednesday but that might change without warning.

Current web cameras of Keilir mountain and possible eruption area

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Efstaleiti (Rúv.is)
Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu – Vogastapi (Rúv.is)
Keilir í beinni (mbl.is)
Óróasvæðið í beinni útsendingu (Vísir.is)
Live from Iceland
Keilir og skjálftasvæðið (YouTube)
Road camera 1
Road camera 2 (night vision/infrared)

If anything major happens I’ll write a new article soon as I possibly can do so.

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Krýsuvík volcano update at 19:56 UTC

This is a short update since this situation is developing quickly.

No eruption has started at the writing of this article. Harmonic tremor is slightly lower compared to when it started at 14:20 UTC in Krýsuvík volcano. This drop in harmonic tremor started around 16:00 UTC. This harmonic tremor is ongoing as for writing of this article. There are no signs of the rift valley formation on the surface yet, but it does show up on measurements, both GPS and satellite measurements. Earthquake activity is high at the writing of this article but most earthquakes are small in magnitude but there are few earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,0.

Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. A lot of green stars and red dots showing new earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The earthquake trace shows a dense dots of blue, yellow, orange and red dots. All are earthquakes of different magnitude
Earthquake activity trace of the earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Most earthquakes are in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Web cameras of the possible eruption area can be found in this locations.

Beint vefstreymi af skjálftasvæðinu (Rúv.is)
YouTube stream.

I am going to add more streams as I find them online.

I’ll update soon as possible if anything happens. This situation is changing quickly.

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Ongoing earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík and Reykjanes volcanoes boundaries

Yesterday (29-August-2020) an ongoing earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano or in the Reykjanes volcano increased. I am unclear what volcano system is responsible for this earthquake activity. It might be both volcanoes and if that is case it complicates matter.


The earthquake activity yesterday close to Krýsuvík or in Krýsuvík volcano. Used with permission and copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,6 at 19:06 UTC and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,4 at 16:23 UTC. Two earthquakes with magnitude MW3,0 also took place. The strongest earthquakes where felt in Reykjavík and other nearby towns. This earthquake activity is part of the activity that started in January in Reykjanes volcano and has been ongoing since then. Its has moved a little east in recent months and I am unclear on why that is exactly. There are no clear signs that magma is moving at the writing of this article to the surface.

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Earthquake increase in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Today (6-July-2020) was an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,5 at 18:35 UTC in Tjörnes Fracture Zone an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,2 took place at 15:40 UTC. It is possible that this earthquakes was felt. This earthquake swarm started on 19-June-2020 and has been going on for three weeks now.


Ongoing earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There continues to be a risk for a earthquake with magnitude Mw6,0 to Mw7,2. There are no sign that this earthquake swarm is about to stop. It drops every hours to days before increasing again.

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Over 6000 earthquakes recorded on Reykjanes peninsula since start of January 2020

Latest news from Icelandic Met Office is that more than 6000 earthquakes have been recorded since start of January 2020 in the Reykjanes volcano and this is the most earthquake activity recorded in this area since start of digital earthquake records in 1991. Three dyke intrusion have been identified by Icelandic Met Office and it is my view that the fourth (and fifth?) might be out in the ocean close to Eldey island, due to no GPS measurements being available out in the ocean any dyke intrusion at that location is going to go undetected for a while.


The earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

In recent days there have been two earthquakes with magnitude Mw3,0 and Mw3,1. This earthquake activity is going to continue in this area. Inflation as measured so far has reached 60mm to 70mm. Inflation is taking place over a large area and this has started opening up old fissures and changing the pressure and strain in the crust in this area. Resulting in earthquakes as faults move because of the inflation.

Icelandic Met Office press releases

More research is needed to decipher the on-going activity at the Reykjanes Peninsula as a whole
Vísbendingar um nýtt kvikuinnskot á Reykjanesi (Icelandic, picture)

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Update on the earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

The earthquake swarm that started today (16-November-2019) on the Reykjanes ridge in the volcano called Reykjanes [Eldey] continues. At the writing of this article 29 earthquakes larger than magnitude Mw3,0 have happened at this location on the Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake so far had a magnitude of Mw4,5. The earthquake swarm slowed down after 17:00 and has remained in slow activity since then but it is ongoing as of writing of this article.


The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Density of the earthquake swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this area have reached magnitude Mw5,0 and last time that happened was in June and July-2015. I wrote about all those earthquakes swarms.

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Magnitude 4,3 earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge today (19.04.2017)

Today (19.04.2017) at 12:34 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of 4,3 took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake was felt in Keflavík town and nearby areas. A swarm of aftershocks followed, none of them was above magnitude 3,0. Largest aftershock had the magnitude of 2,9.


The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. Green star is the location of the magnitude 4,3 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity appears to be normal rifting activity in line with earlier earthquakes like this that have been happening deeper on the Reykjanes ridge over the past few weeks. There is a good chance that new earthquake activity is going to happen in this same area or nearby area in next days to months.


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

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Earthquakes north of Kolbeinsey Island

Today (16-March-2016) there was an earthquake swarm around 110 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. At this location there are no registered or known volcanoes, there however might be one, but it is difficult to confirm. This earthquake activity however appears to be related to an rift valley that is at this location, rather then any volcano activity.

160316_1740
The earthquake activity around 110 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. Green star shows the location of the largest earthquake. One magnitude 3,0 earthquake was deep on the Reykjanes Ridge (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,1. That magnitude is possibly an underestimate of magnitude due to distance from the SIL network. Other earthquakes have been smaller, but one earthquake had the magnitude of 2,9. That earthquake might have had a magnitude above 3,0 in reality. I suspect more earthquake activity has taken place without being detected by the SIL network.

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