Posted on by Jón Frímann

Strong earthquake swarm on Reykjanes Ridge

Few moments ago (around 20:15 UTC) a strong earthquake swarm started on Reykjanes Ridge. This earthquake swarm is deep on the Reykjanes Ridge. Strongest earthquakes so far are ML3,1 on Reykjanes Ridge.

I am going to post updates as the swarm progresses. Some of the earthquakes can be seen on my webicoders here. But the distance is great so only strongest earthquakes are going to appear there.

Update at 21:06 UTC.

EMSC reports that the strongest earthquake was Mb4.8 while USGS is reporting that earthquake at Mb4.9 in size. The earthquake activity in this area is ongoing when this is written.

169 Replies to “Strong earthquake swarm on Reykjanes Ridge”

  1. Again, this is no more then an undersea eruption either happening or getting ready to happen. i just feel like people want to make it more then it really is.

    1. Actually, it mainly appears to be graben movement. An axial view of the quake pattern marks out a rather clear fault block. on the southern side of the spreading center. Can there be volcanism? Sure.

      The interesting part about this is that south of here, the MAR expands by extension, and to the North, the MAR expands by dike emplacement. There is a lot more to it than just that, but it was worth noting.

  5. Magnitude Mw 6.1
    Region MOLUCCA SEA
    Date time 2010-10-25 12:05:27.9 UTC
    Location 0.03 S ; 125.17 E
    Depth 30 km
    Distances 166 km S Bitung (pop 137,364 ; local time 20:05 2010-10-25)
    140 km E Mobagu (pop 82,137 ; local time 20:05 2010-10-25)

  6. Yes IMO has issued a warning of gale force winds exceeding 20m/s so I guess the helicorders will be black for a while. 🙂

  7. Magnitude mb 4.7
    Region NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
    Date time 2010-10-25 12:59:17.3 UTC
    Location 49.94 N ; 29.02 W
    Depth 30 km
    Distances 1452 km W Cork (pop 188,907 ; local time 13:59 2010-10-25)
    1262 km NW Angra (pop 12,045 ; local time 12:59 2010-10-25)
    1214 km NW Lagoa (pop 9,239 ; local time 12:59 2010-10-25)

  9. Sorry for this off-topic comment but this seems quite extraordinary:

    Magnitude 7.5 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes)
    Date-Time

    * Monday, October 25, 2010 at 14:42:25 UTC
    * Monday, October 25, 2010 at 09:42:25 PM at epicenter

    Location 3.100°S, 100.200°E
    Depth 33 km (20.5 miles) set by location program
    Region KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA
    Distances

    * 240 km (149 miles) S (184°) from Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
    * 241 km (150 miles) WNW (288°) from Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia
    * 416 km (259 miles) WSW (246°) from Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia
    * 634 km (394 miles) SW (220°) from SINGAPORE

  10. Magnitude 7.5 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes)
    Date-Time Monday, October 25, 2010 at 14:42:25 UTC
    Monday, October 25, 2010 at 09:42:25 PM at epicenter

    Location 3.100°S, 100.200°E
    Depth 33 km (20.5 miles) set by location program
    Region KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA

  11. Jon, mayby it’s an idea to create some space somewhere on your beautiful blog for non-Icelandic issues?

  13. Yeah the katla stuff has probably bought you a load of traffic from the conspiracy theorists.
    Now they are posting every big quake into the comments.

    1. @bozzy, I don’t care about information about other areas of the world in the comments. It is good with me since it is about earthquakes and volcanoes. But I will not make it a topic here as a main rule.

      1. I guess so, too. There is a heavy storm in southern Iceland right now, in Bakki, south of Eyjafjallajökull they have wind speeds up to 29 m/sec.

  16. I don’t think theres a increased tremor in godabunga, because theres a weatherwarning out, means the increase in the blue signal might almost certainly be because of the strong wind.

    1. Not a significant event apparently. A SIGNIFICANT TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED BY THIS EARTHQUAKE.
      HOWEVER…SEA LEVEL READINGS NOW INDICATE THAT THE THREAT HAS
      DIMINISHED OR IS OVER FOR MOST AREAS. THEREFORE THE TSUNAMI
      WATCH ISSUED BY THIS CENTER IS NOW CANCELLED.

    2. You have to be able to propperly interprest sensationalist terms.

      SIGNIFICANT: “measurable”

      1. Yes, “measurable” enough to kill at least one hundred of people confirmed dead today. Check it on the news. Death toll from the tsunami continues to increase.

      2. Either way, it’s still a local event. You will note that the extent of the “SIGNIFICANT” part of the tsunami didn’t cross county boundaries… likely not even major damage on the main island.

        Had the quake not been just off shore under their feet, this would probably been a non event…. except to news casters who value a stories worth by the number of bodies. or how much fear they can cause.

  20. @Jon – I saw your post on Big Think (Reviewing the little data that I have on Merapi volcano this looks quite bad indeed.) – any idea what is happening with Merapi now? The only webcam link I can get to open has gone from covered with smoke/steam/cloud to absolutely clear except for white pouring from the top of the volcano – the other links seems to be down. just had another look, it’s being obscured with that white stuff (excuse stuff but I don’t know what to call it!)

  21. Refering to the link some posted regarding the “cataclysmic event” they fear…

    Here is the reasons i think the article is sensationalist nonsense…First they say that “Scientists are fearing that the ancient volcano of Mount Merapi in Central Java may be in imminent danger of a cataclysmic explosion”

    They do not refer to any specific scientist so this might as well be taken from any doomsday blog…

    If there was indeed a danger such as they describe there would be alot of esteemed scientists (named) giving their comments.

    And secondly..It eruptded in 2006 which would give the volcano a quite short time to both refill its magma reservoirs and on top of that in order to cause a cataclysmic event “that could threaten the lives of some 53,600 people” it would need to inject a whole lot more magma than the most recent eruption did.

    So i believe that the eruption itself will be impressive as most volcanoes are but not in a way described in the article..It seems like a journalist is seeking the next big scoop without knowing exactly what he is talking about…Not refering to any source that is..

    1. Daniel_Swe: I agree with you. But given the amount of people living at this volcano’s feet who are refusing to evacuate it could yield to an unnecessary cataclysmic outcome, even if a smaller eruption occurs, which is very likely.
      The layers of ancient lava domes are rolling down in frequent avalanches and I don’t think it is any safe to get in their paths.
      Hopefully they will succeed in the evacuations efforts.

      1. Apparently the rapid inflation is occurring in an old part of the edifice that has not seen any activity in the past 100 years. Hence the concern for a cataclysmic eruption.

      2. The main reason i reacted to the article was the use of the word “cataclysmic”. 🙂 For me that spells certain doom in par with a supervolcano. A cataclysm is for me a world changing event.

  22. If you check out earlier comments, there were references to an article in the Jakarta Globe – http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mount-merapis-swelling-signals-huge-eruption-scientists-warn/403039 – in which the local head of the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (BPPTK) basically is quoted as saying that Merapi will have either a Pelean or a Plinian eruption. In all likelihood, the journalists have then googled Plinian and seen the word cataclysmic. Hence their “research” has yielded “the fact” that Mt Merapi is about to explode cataclysmically any second now.

  23. What can this be?

    09:03:43 65,136 -19,562 4,4 2,5 70,46 29,8 km N af Hveravöllum
    08:33:10 65,138 -19,549 6,0 2,4 90,01 30,0 km N af Hveravöllum
    08:26:31 65,170 -19,599 3,0 2,2 90,01 33,7 km N af Hveravöllum
    08:15:58 65,168 -19,582 3,4 2,0 69,20 33,4 km N af Hveravöllum

    2. This is inner plate tectonic earthquakes. They do happen from time to time in Iceland. They are not connected to any volcanism or the rift zones. But they are usually started by old fault lines where they happen.

    1. What do you mean? I haven’t been able to access any of the web cam images for the last 40 mins. Before that it was grey blocking out the volcano which changed to a very dark grey – rain?

      1. Looks like the site is down. The last i saw was over 30 minutes continously top activity on the graphs, and the webcam was grey because of clouds.

  25. @ Henry – Yes that was a strange location. I have never seen EQ´s at that location. Jon do you know what that may be?

    1. Hveravellir is a high temperature geothermal area. Google for the name and you will find a number of nice pictures.

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