Slow increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

There seems to be a slow increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. For the last 48 hours the number seems to be rising. This is how it looks on this graph from Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano from 2005 – today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This increase in earthquake activity suggest that more magma is pushing up the volcano at faster rate. The main idea now is that the magma that is pushing up Öræfajökull volcano is rhyolite in nature and that seems to be confirmed to an extent by the earthquake activity as it now appearing.


Last 48 hours of earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. The volcano is located in south part of Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

How this develops is a big question due to lack of accurate historical accounts. What is known about the eruption in 1362 was written down up to two centuries later and when that happens lack of accuracy is passed into the written record. The written record for the eruption in 1727 – 1728 is slightly better but is far from being accurate.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am a bit broke in December due the long term problem with my finances (November was awful!). I hope for improvements in the year 2018. It also costs to run this website. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Please remember to support Iceland geology with donations

I put a lot of work in this website as it shows when the number of articles (1320 so far) I’ve written since I started this website in September 2011. Donations allow me to keep writing on this website without being too much bothered with having to worry about financial problems too much (I’ve had enough of that for five live times already).

It is also clear that increase in volcano activity in Iceland means that I’ll be busier than ever writing articles about eruptions in Iceland and what that means. I do expect that the year 2018 is going to be something (possibly) and that wait might not be too long.

Please remember to support my work with donations. Everything helps, but it important to know that PayPal takes it share off any donations so smaller donations get even smaller when that is taken into account.

Thanks for the support. 🙂