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Landslide in Dyrhólaey island

It was noticed today that a landslide took place in Dyrhólaey island. This landslide is not big, but it cut a hiking path that goes close to the cliff edge in this area. Most of the rock in the island appears to be unstable according to the news today, but that instability is hard to see on the surface. In 2012 four people fell off that cliff, all survived the 40 meter drop in this location when they did accidentally step over the cliff edge.

Icelandic news and images (all text is in Icelandic)

Skriða tók með sér gönguslóða í Dyrhólaey (Rúv.is, images, Icelandic)
Stór skriða féll í Dyrhólaey: „Stígurinn sem alltaf er genginn liggur bara beint út þetta“ (Vísir.is, Icelandic, images)
Stórt skarð í stígn­um (mbl.is, Icelandic, images)

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Earthquake activity in Askja volcano

During the week there has been a swarm of minor earthquakes in Askja volcano. All of the earthquakes have been small and none have reached magnitude 2,0 far as I know.

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Askja volcano is the volcano most south on this image (the volcano on the end). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is nothing suggesting that current earthquake swarms are due to magma movements at shallow depths. This is rather hydrothermal activity changes in the volcano due the it being warmed up by new magma entering it and warming up groundwater inside the volcano. That has happened before in earlier eruptions and is documented, the time scale of such changes is not documented far as I know.

Askja volcano started for prepare for an eruption phase in 2010, so far nothing suggest that an eruption is imminent, but it remains a question if the push from Bárðarbunga volcano has changed anything in Askja volcano.

Article updated at 18:56 UTC.

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New dyke intrusion in Katla volcano

Yesterday (01-May-2015) a minor dyke intrusion took place in Katla volcano. This dyke had depth down to 26,9 km and up to 18,5 km. This is the second dyke intrusion in this are in short space of time. Largest earthquake in the following earthquake swarm had the magnitude of 2,0.

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Dyke intrusion in Katla volcano (dense cluster of earthquakes). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

While this doesn’t signal imminent eruption in Katla volcano this activity does have me concerned due to past experience with activity in Katla volcano. This might die out, but there is no way to know for sure. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens next in Katla volcano.

Notice on Grímsfjall volcano

There has been a slight increase in earthquakes in Grímsfjall volcano. This suggest that the volcano is about to be ready for its next eruption. Earlier eruptions took place 2011, 2004, 1998 … etc. It is impossible to know when or how big next eruption in Grímsfjall volcano is going to be.

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Dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (30-April-2015) a minor dyke intrusion took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This dyke intrusion was small and appears to be over for now. This does show that current activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is not over even if the eruption in Holuhraun has ended.

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The dyke intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano is a small cluster of earthquakes, it can be found on this image as three orange dots and one red dot. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake that appeared in the following earthquake swarm took place had the magnitude of 2,1. Depth of this earthquake swarm was around 17 km and going up to 5,3 km. Nothing suggest that at current time this dyke has reached the surface and no harmonic tremor was detected during the time this dyke intrusion took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. More dyke related activity should be expected in Bárðarbunga volcano in next few months to years. Other earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano are due to stress changes in the crust due to deflation the volcano came under during the eruption in Holuhraun, total subsidence of Bárðarbunga volcano during that eruption has been measured 62 meters. Current rifting activity is not over in this area even if no eruptions are taking place at the moment.

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Earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

Since yesterday (27-April-2015) at least there has been earthquake swarm taking place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). This earthquake swarm had a peak in activity during the night. Total of 64 earthquakes have been recorded so far, it is unclear of this earthquake swarm is over at this moment.

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The earthquake swarm in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,8 and 2,9. Depth of the earthquakes in this swarm was around 13 km. This does look like a tectonic activity and there is nothing suggesting this is a earthquake swarm of volcanic origin. Earthquake activity in this part of Iceland is common.

Article updated at 13:58 UTC.
Article updated at 16:12 UTC.
Article updated at 16:15 UTC.

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Changes to my geophone network next year

I have made the following decision on the future of my geophone network that I am currently running in Iceland. Next year (2016) I am going to do the following changes to it.

  • Böðvarshólar geophone station is going to be closed down in 2016 (late that year). It has been on-line since 2012 (3 years). There are also changes coming to the place where the geophone is hosted, so I don’t think that I can have it anyway longer then until 2017 or 2018 because of that. There already have changes happened creating problems for me, but since I am at the location I have managed to fix it temporary.
  • Heklubyggð geophone station is going to remain on-line for the time being. How long that is going to last I do not know. Since it depends on the owner where the geophone is hosted. I hope it is going to be on-line for few more years. It has been on-line since 2008 (7 years).
  • I have cancelled the setting up of new geophone station in Hvammstangi. I was unable to find good location and the cost of starting it would be high and it would only be on-line for a short period of time.
  • There is going to be a geophone in Hvammstangi for the time I am going to be living there (until 2017 or 2018, maybe shorter time period if I am lucky). That geophone is the one I have at home.

Cost of running a 3G internet connection has also been going up in the past few years in Iceland and I am expecting that to continue. Along with the difficulty that I have to deal with problems if a geophone station fails for any reasons, that being a software or hardware. It was also clear from the start when I started this project that I would not be able to continue it forever. I simply do not have the resources to do so or the time. The direction of my live has also been changing in past few years and I found my place in Denmark (this is Padborg) and I plan on living there for good once I move to Denmark in the year 2017 or 2018 (hopefully sooner). I made the decision on moving to Denmark in the year 2007. I was not sure in the beginning where to stay for good, that issue has now been resolved.

I won’t stop recording earthquakes even if I move to Denmark. It is just going to be different since Denmark doesn’t have a lot of earthquakes (1 – 3 earthquakes a year during a busy year). I plan on focusing on detecting distant earthquakes around the world in Denmark. I plan on buying Volksmeter one day (two channel costs $2000 / 1.841,83€) to record distant earthquakes in Denmark.

Permanently closed down websites

Please note that I have closed down the following websites permanently.

Europe geology

Canary Island geology

Falkland Island geology

The websites are going to stay up for some time until I delete them. I don’t plan on bringing them back since there was never high traffic on this websites even if something was going on in the areas they covered (Europe, Canary Islands and Falkland Islands).

Possibility of a new website

I am currently considering opening up a new website covering large earthquakes around world. I haven’t made up my mind yet. If I open up that website it is going to be on its own domain and not a sub-website of jonfr.com as this website currently is. I don’t know what the interest level is for a such website is yet. There are many websites that cover large earthquakes already on the internet. This website would be English only if I start it.

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Deep earthquakes in Katla volcano

Yesterday (23-April-2015) there where deep earthquakes in Katla volcano. So far only six deep earthquakes have been recorded. The deepest earthquake had the depth of 26,6 km. The largest earthquakes in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,2.

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity at this depth is rarely due to tectonic activity, it is mostly due to magma movements or pressure changes of the magma. It is impossible to know for sure what is going on. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake activity and there is nothing suggesting anything else then just earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment.

Donations: Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon to support my work. Thanks for the support.

Article updated at 16:21 UTC.

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All quiet in Iceland at the moment

At the moment everything is quiet in Iceland. This happens and is the normal state in Iceland, even if Iceland is on top of hot spot and a rift zone. No earthquakes swarms are taking place, at least no major activity and Bárðarbunga volcano is quiet at the moment.

Future of my geophone network

I’ve figured out what I am going to do with my geophone network once I move back to Denmark in the year 2017 or 2018 (moving year is going to depending on my saving, it might happen sooner if I’m lucky). It is extremely difficult to maintain and keep my geophone network running when I move back to Denmark. So I am going to close it down for good. Running a remote network also makes it difficult for me to maintain it if a hardware failure takes place (and that is going to happen). The only geophone station that I can keep running after the year 2017 or 2018 is going to be the geophone in Heklubyggð and I am not sure for how many more years that station is going to last. What is important here is that I am running this geophone network on goodwill of people only, for things like housing and electricity. When people life change I often can’t keep my hardware (the geophone) up and running where they are. Doing so from Denmark complicates matter even more, since guidance over the telephone to fix a problem is difficult and often impossible to do from Denmark. Since I need to be around to replace the hardware that failed.

I am not going to stop recording earthquakes. I am just going to do so from Denmark. While I am won’t record as many earthquakes as in Iceland I am going to record any larger earthquakes (magnitude 6,0+) in Greece and other parts of south Europe. I would also record any earthquake in Denmark that goes above the noise threshold (it is high due to road traffic and trains).

My current backlog of earthquake data is now around 5 or 6 years, since past few years have been busy. Both for me and Iceland in terms of earthquake activity. Since I started recording earthquakes in the year 2006 I have recorded around 20.000 earthquakes and that number continues to go up with every year. Just in Bárðarbunga volcano activity in 2014 – 2015 I added around one year worth of earthquake data in less then six months. In any given earthquake swarm in Iceland I add from 100 and up to 1.000 earthquakes if the activity is close to my geophone or strong enough to be seen clearly on them, that is not always the case if the earthquake swarm that is taking place is a micro-earthquake swarm with earthquakes with magnitudes 0,0 – 2,0.

My geophones can be viewed here.

Donations: Even if it is quiet I am always in the need for donations to keep this website running and being able to do something. People can donate with the PayPal button or by buying stuff from Amazon (if needed). Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Updates to PayPal buttons and new geophone

I don’t want to add long none-volcanic articles to this website. I did not want to do so due to length and the subject in question, so I did write it on my website called “Jón Frímann bloggar” and it can be found here. Please read it if you can.

New geophone going to be added

I plan on adding a new geophone to Hvammstangi soon. I don’t have exact date yet. This just using current hardware that I have to set-up this new station. I did get a computer to do this. It is just missing the hard drive and needs more ram and some version of Windows (maybe Win 8.1). I am looking into that cost, but at the moment I can’t afford it. This means that while I am going to be living in Hvammstangi there are going to be two geophones active in that area, once I get the other one up and running, allowing for higher resolution of any earthquakes that might take place in nearby area. I always have a geophone with me where I live to record earthquakes. Updates to webicorders website are going to uploaded soon, once I have finished working and updating it.

PayPal buttons and donations

Please remember to support my work with donations or by buying from Amazon if you can. If you can’t, don’t worry about it. I know that not all of the people who read this website can afford supporting my work and that is good too. I have now updated the donations button to my Danish Paypal account, the text once the button is clicked should be in English. If people want to donate more then 500€ please do so directly with your bank, since PayPal might not allow that high amount go trough my account at present time, since my Danish PayPal account is new and lacks one verification at current time. Information on how to donate directly with your bank information can be found here. Thanks for the support.

Article updated at 03:33 UTC on 12-April-2015.

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Deflation has stopped in Bárðarbunga volcano

According to a short news today on Rúv it appears that Bárðarbunga volcano has stopped deflating and activity is slowing down in new hydrothermal vents that opened up during the most active period of Bárðarbunga volcano. The rift activity that has started in this region of Iceland is not over yet, even if there is nothing happening at current time.

It is impossible to know when next period of eruptions starts in this area. Until then it is going to remain mostly quiet.

Icelandic news

Sigið í Bárðarbungu er hætt (Rúv.is)