Month: March 2018

Posted on

Minor earthquake activity on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

During the night a minor earthquake swarm took place on two parts of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The first earthquake swarm was just 19,9 km north-east of Siglufjörður village. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 3,1.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Largest earthquake is the green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The second earthquake swarm was north-east of Grímsey Island and it was a minor swarm. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 2,8. Other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Donations help me to keep writing. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Magnitude 3,0 earthquake in Öræfajökull volcano

Today (24-March-2018) at 16:32 UTC a magnitude 3,0 earthquake happened in Öræfajökull volcano. There has been a lot of smaller earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano in recent days and the earthquake activity has been continuous for most of that time.


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

I am unclear at the moment if there is any change happening at this moment. There has been slight increase in earthquakes that have magnitude larger than 1,5 in recent days. Overall there has been no major increase in earthquake activity so far in Öræfajökull volcano. But it has been mostly continuous for last several weeks and that might be a sign of trouble in near future.

The magnitude 3,0 earthquake was felt in Öræfasveit and other nearby areas.

I’ll update this article later if anything major happens.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Magnitude 4,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (21-March-2018) at 22:56 UTC a magnitude 4,3 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake is at the usual place inside the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera, but this location that had activity now is also the place that has high energy hydrothermal hot springs. This area of hydrothermal activity is high enough to melt trough the 100 meters of glacier at this location.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity appears to be ongoing at the moment in Bárðarbunga volcano and nearby SIL station show that more smaller earthquakes are currently happening in Bárðarbunga volcano than are showing up on the map of Bárðarbunga volcano.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. My current situation doesn’t improve until I move back to Iceland and it won’t be fully good until I have finished paying everything I need to pay in Denmark after I move to Iceland (I will work in Iceland until end of October, that is going to help a lot with that issue). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Quiet period in Iceland at the moment

At the moment there isn’t much happening. This is one of the quiet period that regularly happen in Iceland. How long this break is going to last is impossible to know. It might be few more days and maybe several more weeks.

Currently the only notable activity happening is in Öræfajökull volcano but this is the same type of activity that has been happening for weeks now and do not require a new article.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. At the moment I am completely broke and I don’t know how this last week of March is going to be. I have updated the information on how to donate on the Donation site. The updated information can be found here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake swarm in Askja volcano

Yesterday (14-March-2018) a earthquake swarm started in Askja volcano. The area the earthquake swarm is happening in has been having smaller earthquakes for several weeks already. Currently this earthquake activity is ongoing.


Earthquake activity in Askja volcano (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is the strongest earthquake in Askja volcano since August-2014 when a magnitude 4,5 earthquake happened in this area due to activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and the connected dyke intrusion. That also resulted in a deformation in Askja volcano that later did go back to normal. At the moment there is no harmonic tremor being detected and that means no magma movement and no eruption.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am broke at the moment due to my financial problems that follow me while I am living in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂
My move to Iceland by the end of May is going to change this to the better. Specially after I finish paying the debts I have in Denmark (that is going to take until November).

Posted on

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (07-March-2018) there has been deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity was in two areas. In the main volcano and south-east of it.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm in the main volcano is normal and is connected to current inflation activity of Bárðarbunga volcano. Earthquake activity happens mostly when magma is pushing the crust upwards when it flows into the volcano from depth. The earthquake swarm to the south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano is more interesting. That is a dyke and it has been in this area for numbers of years already. At the moment this dyke remains at depth of 15 – 23 km but this increase in activity might be increasing the risk of eruption if it does not quiet down. The increased magma activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has increased the earthquake activity in this dyke over the last few months.

There is a high risk of strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano in the next few days to weeks.

What also happened in this earthquake swarm was a high intensity tremor on the mid-band (1-2Hz) during the earthquake swarm. This is highly unusual. What it means is less clear.


The tremor activity (close to the end) on a SIL station close to Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Donations

Thanks to donations I was able to buy the moving boxes I need to pack my stuff into before I move back to Iceland. But I always welcome donations since they help me writing articles and in general making this work in Denmark while I am living in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Ongoing earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano, fresh earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano

At the moment the earthquake activity that started in Öræfajökull volcano on 25-February-2018 is currently ongoing. Most of the earthquakes happening are small, most are smaller than magnitude 1,0.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Directly north-west of Öræfajökull volcano is a another volcano making earthquakes. That volcano is named Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Most of its earthquake activity is also small earthquakes with magnitude smaller than 1,0. After the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano 2014 – 2015 earthquake activity increased in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Earthquake activity was also high during the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano due to stress changes in the crust. It is likely that current earthquake activity is due to adjustment of tectonic stresses.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Currently I am broke due to how bills work here in Denmark. I am moving to Iceland by the end of May and that is going to resolve this issue but until that happens I am stuck with the problem of being broke. Thanks for the support. 🙂