During the night of 08-March-2017 a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 4,1 and the second largest earthquake swarm had the magnitude of 3,9. Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity happens in Bárðarbunga volcano mainly due to magma being injected into the main volcano at depth. This goes into magma chambers somewhere in the volcano, current data suggests that the magma chamber that erupted in in August 2014 to February 2015 is currently inflating. The rate of this type of earthquake activity has gone down in Bárðarbunga volcano, this used to be a weekly activity but now only happens every 2 to 4 weeks at the moment. This slowdown in activity is likely to continue if nothing else happens (new eruption or dyke activity).
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