Day: May 13, 2011

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New measurements of Eyjafjallajökull volcano crater

There is a short news piece about Eyjafjallajökull volcano on the news web site Morgunblaðið (mbl.is). It is about recent trip that geologist took to Eyjafjallajökull volcano. They where monitoring and during measurement of the crater that did form on top of Eyjafjallajökull volcano during the eruption in the year 2010.

According to the news, the crater lake in Eyjafjallajökull volcano is now frozen and there is already 10 meter thick snow layer in the crater. While the lake is cold it is still dangerous do go down into it and people are advanced against to do so. Due to carbon monoxide that is on bottom the crater. While the bottom of the crater is cold, the same cannot be sad about the crater walls. But they are still steaming and the temperature there is from 70C and up to 95C not far below the surface. So this area continues to be dangerous to people and travelling into it should be done with care and not without an experienced tour guide.

The reason why they did go to this trip today was too estimate the area before more detailed measurements are done this summer.

News from Morgunblaðið with picture can be found here.

Fóru ofan í gíginn (mbl.is, Icelandic, pictures)

Blog post updated at 02:24 CEST on 14. May 2011.

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Deep earthquake in Herðurbreiðarfjöll volcano (Askja volcano fissure swarm)

Today at 06:57 UTC in Iceland there was a ML0.2 earthquake east of Herðurbreiðarfjöll volcano. While the size of this earthquake is really small. It is the depth that is interesting in this case. The depth of this earthquake was at 25,7 km depth. This is a interesting depth given the increase in earthquake activity in Askja volcano.

According to my geological map (a rather new one) the mountain named Herðubreiðarfjöll is a volcano that is inside Askja volcano fissure swarm. A common thing that happens in Iceland. This area has many active fault lines and has erupted in modern time. But I do not know when this volcano last erupted, as there are no information on Herðurbreiðarfjöll volcano activity in the GVP database and I have not found anything useful on the internet about this volcano.

Earthquake activity continues in Askja volcano. But at slower rate then before. Other then this, it is quiet in Iceland as it has been for the past few weeks.