April 2013 – Iceland geology

April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Computer problems

I guess that being broke has finally cached up with me. I have a failed power supply in my main server computer that I run locally. It handles several important jobs. One of the being a counter for earthquake activity in Iceland and Canary Islands (El Hierro volcano). This allows me to see if anything is taking place, estimating number of earthquakes if anything happens. A earthquake swarm is a good sample of what this helps me with. So my server computer is close to being mission critical for me in what I am doing.

What is failing is the power supply as I did say before. The part that is failing in the power supply it self is the main fan. It is making noise and not spinning properly, suggesting it is almost dead. I also am seeing that my current motherboard suffers from the capacitor plague. It still works. But it is going to end its life span once the capacitors finally blow or just plain out die.

What do I need. A power supply that looks like this. Sadly I cannot afford it. I am going to check with my bank and see what they say, but I might be able to work something out. I do not know yet if I am going to get a deal with my bank. Buf I do it is going to increase my current money issues, since it is going to increase my payments back to the bank and therefor lower my already almost non-existent money once I have paid all my bills and debt. It is clear that my money issue are going to continue for a good while longer it seems.

The price is, EUR 41.19 or 307.10DKK, or something like this on lower price. This is the price if anyone wants to donate towards me so that I can buy this.

I cannot turn on the server computer at the moment. Since I am afraid the power supply might damage the already weakened motherboard (due to bad capacitor on it) . I am going to keep my server computer off until I can replace the power supply. Regardless if that is going to take a short or a long time. If I manage to buy a new power supply, it is going to take a few days until I can get it. The future plan for the sever computer is to get it compact and without any fans and such things if possible. Since it is not under heavy load and is only serving my internal network in several ways, including handing out local IP numbers and my IPv6 connection to the internet.

Thanks for the help.

Update 1: There is little help to get from my bank. Because I am really, really broke. This is going to be pain for me.

Blog post updated at 11:29 UTC on 30.04.2013.

April 27, 2013June 17, 2013

Earthquake activity in Hekla, Katla, Krísuvík and Bárðarbunga volcanoes

Before I start. I want to remind people that donations help me to keep this blog up and running. I only have social welfare from Iceland and that is barely enough to make end meets. Just 10€ go a long way for me. Thanks!

Hekla and Katla volcanoes

I am going to write about both this volcanoes here. Since I am going to be using the same image anyway for both volcanoes.

Yesterday (26.04.2013) there was a magnitude 1.1 earthquake in Hekla voclano. This earthquake was in the same area that triggered uncertainty level to be declared just before Easters in March. It was later cancelled when nothing more happened.

Earthquake in Hekla volcano. Also on this picture earthquake activity in Katla volcano (read more below). Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Katla volcano has been having some earthquake activity in past days. So far it has just been minor earthquakes and nothing more. But it has been taking place where a minor eruption took place in Katla volcano during the summer of 2011. That minor eruption created a minor glacier flood. But it did destroy a bridge and closed down the ring road (road 1) in this part of Iceland.

While this activity is currently nothing to worry about. It is worth keeping a eye on it. Just in case it increases, or if some other changes start to take place in Katla volcano.

Krísuvík volcano

A minor earthquake swarm took place in Krísuvík volcano today (27.04.2013). The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 1.9. The depth of this earthquakes was around 8.6 km. Activity in this area is normal and there does not seem anything strange about it. But Krísuvík volcano has been having periods of inflation and deflation for the past three years. Earthquake activity increases when Krísuvík volcano is in period of inflation. If that is the case now I do not know.

Earthquake activity in Krísuvík volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Bárðarbunga volcano

A minor earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano today. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 1.3. Depth range was from 18.8 km and up to 11.1 km. This earthquake swarm is important. Since it appears that this is a dike intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano. But a minor dike intrusion also took place in this area few weeks ago. That also resulted in a minor earthquake swarm in this same area.

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Most likely due to minor dike intrusion into the volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

A minor dike intrusions into a volcano does not mean a eruption is going to take place. In many Icelandic volcanoes (and around the world also) dike intrusions into the volcanoes are common event and in most cases do not result in any eruptions. But it is worth keep a watch out for this type of eruptions. Since it might signal a more active period ahead in Bárðarbunga volcano. But it might also just equally don’t mean anything. There is no way to know for sure.

Other then this activity. It has been rather quiet in Iceland at the moment. No larger earthquakes have been taking place in the past two weeks since activity slowed down in Tjörnes Fracture Zone.

Blog post updated at 22:32 UTC on 27.04.2013.
Blog post updated at 22:53 UTC on 27.04.2013.

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013

Earthquake activity in Hekla, Askja volcanoes and TFZ

Before I start. I want to remind people that donations are import to me. Since they help me keeping this blog and my earthquake web page up and running.

Hekla volcano earthquake activity

A minor earthquake activity took place in Hekla volcano yesterday. None of the earthquake was larger then ML1.2. The depth of this earthquake activity was around 8.4 km. This earthquake activity took place outside the main volcano. But was in the connected fissure swarms that extends from Hekla volcano.

Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano system. The earthquakes are the orange dots just south-west of Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquakes have been taking place in this area for few years now. I do not know what they mean. This might just be a earthquake activity and nothing else. Uncertainty level has been canceled for few weeks now due to lack of any more activity in the main Hekla volcano.

Askja volcano

There has been minor earthquake activity in Askja volcano this past weeks. All of the earthquakes have been smaller then magnitude 1.5. Depth of this earthquakes is around 18 to 22 km. Suggesting that current earthquake activity has its source in magma movements rather then tectonic earthquakes.

Earthquakes in Askja volcano. Askja volcano is the volcano north-east of Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone has slowed down since 2. April when a large earthquake swarm started in it. But earthquake activity remains as is. Even if the earthquakes are smaller and fewer. This means the earthquake activity has been continuous for the past three weeks.

Earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. It remains in two areas as of now. New activity has also been taking place. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is difficult to know for sure what happens next in TFZ. But tension in it remains as before and so does the risk for larger earthquake in this area. For the moment however, it remains rather quiet. When that might change is impossible to know for sure.

Blog post updated at 18:16 UTC on 24.04.2013.

April 24, 2013

I have left Facebook

Please note that I have left Facebook for good. I can be contacted by email, Google+ or Twitter. The reason why I left Facebook can be found here and here.

I do not expect to be returning to Facebook anytime soon. Or return at all for that matter. Since I find the negative effects of it too high when I started to think about it.

April 18, 2013

Donations needed for April

I know this is little late for this blog post. But there has been a lot of activity in Iceland in start of April. This has kept me busy on writing about it and kept the traffic high. That has also brought in some income from the Google Adsense that I have. But this is not nearly enough since I cannot make a living out of it just yet. For my 10+ hours that I spend watching earthquakes and prepare my self for writing about it I get awfully little pay for a lot of work. I also pay for my geophone network in terms of hardware (at two stations, two stations I have hardware on loan for the moment). That includes internet link in two places. The geophone network allows people to monitor earthquake activity in Iceland in close to real time.

I have got my debt problem under control. But that leaves me with little to live on. I have no money if anything happens. But that is exactly what has happened today with me. Now it is a dental emergency. I have a failed fix on a tooth. Since it is too expensive to repair the tooth (this is a wisdom tooth). But the removal of this tooth is going to cost me 1600 DKK (214.63€) and up to 2074 DKK (278.19€), there is a difference here of 474 DKK (63€). Money that I needed to get on a loan from the bank. If it is not removed. I risk breaking it (since it is already heavily damaged) and if that happens. The cost of removing what is left of the tooth in that case is even more expensive. So it is better to do it now then later. Since later might mean more cost for me and more time with the dentist.

As for my income of the Google Adsense. Here is a good example of how long it takes me to reach the minimum pay here in Denmark. The minimum pay is often 17000 DKK (2,280.22€). At current rate I am getting around 200 DKK (26.83€) to 300 DKK (40.21€) a month from this web site in just advertisement revenue. For simplification, lets just say that I get 250 DKK (33.53€) a month from my web sites in advertisement revenue when things are slow. But that is most of the time. To figure out how long it takes me to get up to the minimum pay here in Denmark on advertisement revenue only I do this. 17000 / 250 = 68 (this is number of months) / 12 = 5.6 years. So it takes me 5,6 years to get up the minimum pay here in Denmark if I just use the Google advertisement income. I do get some income from Amazon. But it is little it actually does not count for anything at the moment.

The reason for little traffic is simple. This is highly specialized blog. With limited reader group most of the time. But I do hope that this changes when I start posting stories on my story web site that can be found here. But it takes me a while to think up a story and write it.

Thanks for the support. It really does count when I actually do not have any money at all. That is all of the time now to my horror during this past few months. Something that I really hate as I have spoken about before in older blog post and I do not have to repeat here now.

April 13, 2013April 13, 2013

Earthquake swarm north of Kolbeinsey island

Around 11:00 UTC a earthquake swarm started just north of Kolbeinsey island. This earthquake swarm looks rather powerful. But due to distance from land only the largest earthquakes are appearing on the SIL network and on my geophone at Böðvarshólar. I am estimating the largest earthquakes having the magnitude of 4.0+. But that has not been confirmed yet. Last known eruption in Kolbeinsey island volcano took place in the year 1755. A dike intrusion or a volcano eruption took place north (100 km) of current location back in the year 1999. Last eruption before the eruption in the year 1755 took place around the year 1372.

The earthquake activity in Kolbeinsey island. It is marked by the green stars on this map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake activity as it has been appearing on my geophone at Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence. See CC licence page for more details.

No signs of eruption have appeared so far. If they do. They are going to appear on the SIL network. I am not sure if my geophone is going to pick them up due to the distance (around 300 km). There is a chance of more earthquake activity to take place in this area in the next few hours to days. I do not know if this activity is connected to what has been taking place in other parts of Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The smaller earthquakes that are taking place in Kolbeinsey island are not being detected by the SIL network or by my geophone.

It is possible to view the earthquake activity here, on my webicorder web page.

Blog post updated at 19:35 UTC on 13.04.2013.

April 10, 2013

Less earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Yesterday (09.April 2013) there has been less activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The largest earthquakes yesterday did have the magnitude 4.0 and 3.3. A smaller earthquake with the magnitude 3.1 also took place. Many other smaller earthquakes also took place as is normal for this type of earthquake swarm. There are no signs of any volcano activity in the area during this earthquake activity.

Earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake swarm does not appear to be over. Even if it has slowed down from its peak one week ago following the magnitude 5.5 earthquake. This type of slowdown are common in this type of earthquake swarms. In many cases the activity stops altogether and starts again after some time. I now believe that current earthquake swarm is connected (not sure how yet) to the earthquake swarm that took place in TFZ in October 2012 and started view few smaller earthquakes and had one magnitude 5.6 earthquake. For now however the earthquake activity is dropping. But it is impossible to know for sure what happens next in TFZ area.

April 6, 2013

Update on the TFZ earthquake swarm at 01:01 UTC

This is a short update on the earthquake swarm in TFZ. This is going to be a long earthquake swarm from the looks of it (currently).

The earthquake swarm in TFZ continues as it has been doing for the past six days now. The strongest earthquakes for the past 24 hours have had the magnitude 3.5, 3.6 and now 3.3 (automatic magnitude). This is a extremely complex earthquake swarm. Over a period of 48 hours there have been around 368 earthquakes. That is a drop in activity, but in the first few hours after the magnitude 5.5 earthquake in TFZ there where recorded over 500 earthquakes.

Earthquake activity in TFZ for the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The trace plot that shows the earthquake activity for the past 48 hours in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake swarm is complex due to three factors. There is a both slip fault and normal fault taking place there. There also appears to be a volcano in the area. But it not properly understood and is extremely poorly studied. It is unclear at present time if this volcano is connected to this earthquakes swarms at present time. Since so little is known about it. It is also not known if the current earthquake swarm is going to start something in the volcano. The second volcano that is in this area last erupted in the year 1868 following an earthquake swarm in this area. Why that did happen is also not known. But it has a Global Volcanism profile here. The volcano that is closer to Grímsey Island is currently unnamed. There is also almost no studies or documentation on it. But from the little I did find

Please note that the earthquake swarm information is always changing so this information here do get outdated fast. This mostly applies the maps and number of earthquakes.

Scientific data on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

As I did say here above. The Tjörnes Fracture Zone is complex and that is making this earthquake swarm extremely complex as it is taking place.

The rift fault lines in TFZ. This is the simple version. It is from a science study that can be found here. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office/Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson.

More complex nature of the fault systems in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Agust Gudmundsson. From study Infrastructure and evolution of ocean-ridge discontinuities in Iceland.

More complex image showing the fault lines in TFZ. Copyright Ragnar Stefansson, Gunnar B. Gudmundsson, Pall Halldorsson. From the study Tjörnes fracture zone. New and old seismic evidences for the link between the North Iceland rift zone and the Mid-Atlantic ridge.

The most detailed picture that I was able to find of Tjörnes Fracture Zone and the ocean floor. Copyright of this image belongs to many people. Please see the list of copyright holders in the following link. From the study First observations of high-temperature submarine hydrothermal vents and massive anhydrite deposits off the north coast of Iceland.

It is clearly worth watching this earthquake activity. Since it might have interesting effects on the volcano where this earthquake activity is taking place. Even on the second volcano just north of Þeystareykjabunga volcano.

April 6, 2013April 6, 2013

Minor dike intrusion in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (05.04.2013) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. The depth of this earthquakes was around 18 – 26 km. Meaning this is magma, rather then tectonic creating this earthquakes. None of this earthquakes had magnitude above 1.0.

Earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano. They are the orange dots. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Dike intrusions happens sometimes in Bárðarbunga volcano without it meaning there is a eruption going to take place soon it. This appears to be one of those cases.

April 6, 2013April 6, 2013

Magnitude 3.6 earthquake in Hamarinn volcano

Last night (05.04.2013) at 01:50 UTC a magnitude 3.6 earthquake took place in Hamarinn volcano (no GVP profile yet!). This earthquake had the depth of 2.1 km. This seems to be a dike intrusion taking place in Hamarinn volcano. No clear signs of harmonic tremor have been detected based on tremor data from Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The Hamarinn volcano is where the green star is. But that is the location of the magnitude 3.6 earthquake that took place last night. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Harmonic tremor plot do not show any harmonic tremor pulse. The signal on this harmonic tremor plot is the earthquake swarm in TFZ for most parts. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake activity is due to minor dike intrusion. Rather then something else. It is not clear if this activity is just normal activity for Hamarinn volcano or signal about something else is about take place. But as before. Hamarinn volcano remains mostly quiet for the moment.

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