Continued earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

On 28 and 29th of September 2017 an earthquake activity took place in Öræfajökull volcano. Most of the earthquake that have happened are minor in magnitude, one magnitude 2,5 earthquake took place and on 29th September a magnitude 2,0 earthquake took place, this is automatic magnitude and might not be correct. The depth of this earthquake is the default one (1,1km).


The earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is extremely difficult to know what this earthquake activity means if it means anything at all. The reason being that this might be part of Öræfajökull volcano normal activity that is not going to result in a eruption. There currently is no way to know for sure what this means, since last eruption took place in the year 1728 and proper monitoring of Öræfajökull volcano only started few years ago. Current activity is however slightly above normal background activity that can be expected from a volcano like Öræfajökull volcano.

Earthquake swarm west of Langjökull glacier

Yesterday (28-September-2017) a earthquake swarm has been taking place west of Langjökull glacier, it is close to a volcano named Presthnjúkar. It is the same system and inside its fissure swarm. The area in question has known faults from the modern era (12.000 years).


The earthquake activity west of Langjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes that happened had the magnitude of 2,8 and 3,1 both where felt by staff of a tourist company that operates in this area. There is no permanent population in this part of Iceland. I don’t know when this area last erupted.

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