Increase in the earthquake activity in TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

Information in this article might get outdated quickly due to fast moving nature of the current earthquake swarm in TFZ.

The earthquake swarm that started on 28-January-2018 continues (article here). A strong earthquake swarm started east of Grímsey island almost 18 hours ago (it started around 18:00 UTC on 14-February-2018). Over 500 earthquakes have been recorded so far, most of them are between magnitude 0,0 – 2,0. In the last 48 hours three earthquakes with magnitude above 3,0 have been recorded.


Many, many earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake activity is dense at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the moment there is nothing suggesting that this earthquake swarm is connected to any magma movement. It seems to be just connected to tectonic movements in this area. This earthquake activity appears to be taking place in a volcano but that volcano doesn’t have any documented historical eruption so it is impossible to know what might happen. Last eruption in this area was in a volcano south of current earthquake activity. That volcano erupted in the years 1867 December – 1868 January, Global Volcanism Profile can be found here.

I am going to update this article as needed as this activity develops.