Category: Öræfajökull

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Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (13-June-2017)

Today (13-June-2017) a magnitude 2.6 earthquake took place in Öræfajökull volcano. This is the largest earthquake in this volcano for a long time now and it is worth noting that Öræfajökull volcano normally doesn’t have any earthquake activity. This suggests that something might be up if it doesn’t start to quiet down in next few years. Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is not high as can be seen in this science paper that covers the years 1994 – 2007 in earthquake activity in Iceland.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (to the south on this image). Some of the activity might be glacier quakes due to summer heat or rain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Tectonic settings in this area don’t allow for a lot of crustal-tension earthquakes and that suggests that the source of current earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano can be explained by magma movements. If this is going to end in a eruption remains to be seen. At the moment current low level activity rules that out, since a lot more and stronger earthquake activity needs to happen before magma can reach the surface.

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Deep earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

I haven’t written many articles about Öræfajökull volcano, since most of the time nothing happens in it. Öræfajökull volcano is located outside the main activity area in Iceland, like Esjufjöll and Snæfell (east Iceland). This three volcanoes form a volcano “arch” in south to east Iceland. Research suggests that old continental crust is possibly melting under Öræfajökull volcano and maybe Esjufjöll volcano (unclear). Research into that can be found here. This research shows a possible volcano directly east of Esjufjöll, I don’t have it on my maps so I don’t have a name for it (it might be unconfirmed volcano in that area, some maps show it, other don’t. I don’t know why).


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Öræfajökull volcano is in the right-south corner. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The magnitude of the earthquakes in question is only 1,1 and up to 1,8. What makes them interesting and might be a signal about something is about to happen in Öræfajökull volcano is the depth of earthquakes in question. The earthquake (magnitude 1,1) with the most depth has the depth of 21,2 km. The rest of the earthquakes has the depth of 19,0 to 20,7 km. View on the tremor plot suggest that this earthquake activity is magma related, rather than being driven by tectonic forces.

This activity started in the year 2011 with few earthquakes, no earthquakes happened in 2012 according to my data. Since then few earthquakes have been happening each year. How long the process is from just minor earthquake activity until an eruption starts in Öræfajökull volcano is something I don’t know and far as I know historical documents about the known eruptions are limited at best. Last known eruptions took place in the years 1362 June 5th until 1362 October 15 +-45 days, the other known eruption was in the year 1727 on August 3 and it lasted until May 1st 1728 +-30 days.

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Increased activity in Öræfajökull volcano noticed

It has been noticed that earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is slowly increasing. At the moment this increase is just in the form of minor earthquakes taking place in the volcano at 5 – 10 km depth (at the moment). This was covered in a Icelandic news two days ago (when this is written), the volcanologist in the news (Páll Einarsson) says this is nothing to worry about at the moment, that I agree with, mostly, he also put forward that idea this process, if it evolves into an eruption might take up to 18 years from start to finish, as was the case with Eyjafjallajökull volcano. This is where I disagree with the professor Páll Einarsson, the reason being that this process already started good 10 years ago, I also suspect that Öræfajökull volcano to be a volcano that erupts suddenly and with a lot of force once it does erupt.

The eruption in the year 1362 had the VEI of 5 and the eruption in 1727 had the explosive force of VEI=4. Both eruptions lasted several months. Öræfajökull volcano only makes ash rich, explosive eruptions, based on latest historical data and studies into the volcano history. The processes that power Öræfajökull volcano might also be different, since there is an slab of old continental crust (study: Continental crust beneath southeast Iceland) under Öræfajökull volcano, that is slowly melting due the nearby hotspot. This means the magma is mostly silica, not far from the magma found in volcanoes found at subduction zones around the world.

There is also a second volcano this same area that has been showing sign of increased activity. That volcano is called Esjufjöll, it has even less understood activity (if any) since people moved to Iceland ~1300 years ago. There is a chance of an unconfirmed eruption in the year 1927, but it didn’t last long, maybe up to five days, it was mostly noted due a glacier flood from the area this volcano is located (small according to historical documents).

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga, Öræfajökull, Langjökull north volcanos

This is going to be a little compressed article. Since I’m currently in Iceland. I’ll be back in Denmark on 18-May. No GVP links now. I don’t think that my laptop can handle it (its slowly turning into non-functional computer).

Bárðarbunga volcano

The regular earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano continues, it follows the same pattern has it has been doing for the last 7 – 8 months.

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

The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,2. Other earthquakes had smaller magnitude. This earthquake activity is like the earthquake activity before, there doesn’t seems to be a lot of difference between the earthquake swarms that are now taking place between weeks.

Öræfajökull volcano

There is a interesting earthquake activity taking place in Öræfajökull volcano. It suggest that some magma is entering the volcano at depth (5 – 10 km). At the moment there is nothing that suggests an eruption is getting close, however the eruption history of Öræfajökull volcano is not well known and no reliable data exists on what might happen in the case of eruption. At the moment, all of the earthquakes taking place are minor, suggesting the amount of magma entering Öræfajökull volcano is minor at the moment.

Langjökull (north)

Today (12-May-2016) an small earthquake swarm took place in north Langjökull volcano. This earthquake activity has been taking place in this area since the year 2000, it was started by the magnitude 6,5 earthquake in SISZ. The reason for this earthquake swarm are unclear. No change in the main volcano has been observed, both in terms of earthquake activity or other changes. One idea is that this are stress changes in faults at this area, suggesting they might be lateral faults, not connected to the volcano it self.

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The earthquake activity in Langjökull north volcano (Hveravellir). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

None of the earthquakes that took place had strong magnitude, largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,0.


New – Analyzing articles

I plan on to start writing analyzing articles about volcanoes in Iceland in order to attempt to explain what is going on with the most active one and what might happen. Those articles will take few days to write, that means I won’t write many of them each week if needed. This is also going to cover history of the volcano if that is possible. I am going to try and expand this website a little in order to bring in more readers.

Hardware support needed

Since I have to go the dentist when I go back to Denmark (sight). I can’t afford the hardware upgrade and maintaining my desktop computer (I got a failing hard drive). I also need hardware for setting up a second geophone computer in Denmark and a new Power supply for my main earthquake computer, it now running a 350W power-supply from a different computer, making it a little under powered.

Here is the list of hardware needed if anyone can help me with this.

1 500W power supply for my main earthquake computer (It has to be Intel six CPU pin power compatible).
1 1TB hard drive for my main desktop computer. The current hard drive is failing, its making clicking sounds, suggesting that its read head is about to fail.
1 1TB hard drive for my main earthquake computer. This for my main backup of all my data (earthquake data and other important data, images and so on). The second backup is on the internet. I so far haven’t been able to setup my third backup plan.
1 500GB to 1TB hard drive for my second geophone computer in Denmark.

Extra

1 Used laptop that is faster than 2,3Ghz and with more than 2GB ram. It can be used, it just has to work and be younger then 2010 model of laptop. It doesn’t have to have Windows installed on it. It does have to have a working hard drive.

Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Minor earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Over the past few weeks there has been a slight increase in earthquakes in Öræfajökull volcano. Due to glacier quake activity I’m only using earthquakes that have confirmed depth of 1,5 km or deeper. This earthquake activity is minor and doesn’t suggest that an eruption is imminent, it however does suggest that something is going on.

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Öræfajökull volcano is to the south on this image (two red dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This activity has a long history, it started happening in 2012 at the earliest that I know of and has been going on slowly since then. Öræfajökull volcano did go from having no earthquakes and up to having two to five earthquakes a year. Sometimes more. There are clues in this activity that magma might be starting to push it self up into the volcano, but at the moment it doesn’t seems to be going far up into the volcano. Based on the current depth and low seismicity in Öræfajökull volcano. I don’t expect this to change any time soon. Since most of the time, at least for the moment there is little to no earthquake activity taking place in Öræfajökull volcano.

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Deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga and Öræfajökull volcano

Today (28-March-2015) there has been deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This suggest that there is a fresh injection of magma into Bárðarbunga volcano system. If this is going to result in new eruption remains to be seen. It is not impossible at current time to happen. So far however nothing has happened. Deepest earthquake had depth of 21,1 km, others earthquakes are shallower.

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Earthquake activity in Vatnajökull glacier today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Öræfajökull volcano

Today (28-March-2015) there has also been deep earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano [Wikipedia link here]. This activity is not new and has been taking place every few months for the past 10 years or so. Quiet times are different in length. Each earthquake swarm that takes place is different in both magnitude and length, current activity appears to be deep, but mostly small earthquakes, less then magnitude 1,5 for most part. Deepest earthquake in this swarm had the depth of 25,0 km. This earthquake activity is only due to fresh magma entering Öræfajökull volcano system, not tectonic activity in this area due the depth of the earthquakes are taking place.

Based on historical accounts of earlier eruptions (1362 and 1728). It appears that eruptions in Öræfajökull start with powerful earthquake swarm (magnitude 4,0+ earthquakes). The following eruption is an ash cloud one with glacier floods taking place, with that phase lasting up to 48 hours. What happens after that is unclear, since it was not documented properly by historical records (at least not properly mentioned or lost due the old age of the historical records in question). Eruptions can last for up to 45 days, based on earlier documented eruptions. Current earthquake swarm is inside Öræfajökull volcano, since it is not round volcano, but goes a little to north where the earthquake swarm is taking place. There is no fissure swarm connected with Öræfajökull volcano, it does not rule out that one exist, it is at least not known at the moment. At the moment there are no clear sign that there is increased eruption risk from Öræfajökull volcano. That might change without warning, as is always the risk with volcanoes.

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Deep earthquake in Hamarinn volcano

Yesterday (21-March-2014) an extremly deep earthquake took place in Hamarinn volcano (part of Bárðarbunga volcano often called Loki-Fögrufjöll). The magnitude of this earthquake was just 1,4 but its depth was around 29,7 km. The location of this earthquake was just 10,4 km North-East of Hamarinn volcano (main). So it possibly was inside Hamarinn main volcano system, but I am not sure on that detail.

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The earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano and Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquakes that take place this depth happen due to magma movement or small dike intrusion at depth. I don’t know what is the actual case here, this might just be an earthquake at depth. The crust has the depth of 40 km at this location (study on this can be found here) due to hotspot [second link here] activity that has increased the thickness of the crust. Last eruption in Hamarinn volcano was in July 2011, it was an minor eruption that took place and lasted just for few hours and did not breach the glacier.

Post updated at 21:02 UTC.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano

An minor earthquake swarm took place in Öræfajökull volcano today (09-September-2013). This was just minor earthquake activity and it was at shallow depth, just around 2.6 to 4.8 km. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2.0.

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Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Öræfajökull volcano is located south-most part of Vatnajökull glacier (next to the km line on the map). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity is not common in Öræfajökull volcano and that makes this activity interesting. So far this is just earthquake activity and I am not expecting anything else to take place. More earthquakes might happen in next few days to weeks. Or nothing else might happen Öræfajökull volcano.

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Earthquake activity in several volcanoes

Today (04-September-2013) had some minor earthquake activity in several volcanoes in Vatnajökull glacier. All of this earthquakes were small and less than magnitude 3.0 in size.

Kverkfjöll volcano

The deepest earthquake activity was in Kverkfjöll, with earthquakes at 31 km depth and 24 km depth. This deep earthquake activity is possible connected to magma movements since tectonic earthquakes are unlikely to take place this deep in the crust.

Grímsfjall volcano

One earthquake was recorded in Grímsfjall volcano, it was minor and shallow. This might even just be a glacier quake, rather than normal earthquake.

Öræfajökull volcano

Öræfajökull volcano did see two earthquake today, at the depth of 4 to 5 km. Both were small and tectonic in nature from the looks of it. Earthquakes are not common in Öræfajökull volcano so I am not sure why this increase has now taken place. It is worth noticing that sil network is now more sensitive in this area than before since new stations have been added in this area. This means that smaller earthquakes are now being detected than before.

Esjufjöll volcano

Esjufjöll volcano had two earthquake, the third earthquake might be a ice-quake. I am not sure if it was an real earthquake or not. Esjufjöll volcano normally do not have any earthquake activity, but few years ago an earthquake activity started with earthquakes that had magnitude of 2.5 to 3.0 so there is something going on in this volcano. What that might be I am not sure of yet.

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Earthquake activity in Kverkfjöll, Öræfajökull, Esjufjöll, Grímsfjall volcanoes. All small earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not expect anything major to take place in Vatnajökull volcano. Since the current quiet period in Iceland just seems to be ongoing as is.

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Earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano sparks interest

The earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano three weeks ago has sparked interest among volcanologist and geologists in Iceland. As the last earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano was only the third earthquake swarm to take place in the last 20 years. But this was a subject of a news from Stöð 2 (Channel 2) this evening.

While a eruption is not expected any time soon from Öræfajökull volcano. It is clear that Öræfajökull volcano has started the long (?) path to a eruption (question mark, as we all know sometimes volcanoes just skip the long waiting part and go strait to the eruption phase as a surprise to everyone).

News about this from Stöð 2 (Channel 2).

Skjálftahrina í toppgíg Öræfajökuls (Vísir.is, Icelandic, Video in Icelandic, News drama)