Day: June 30, 2018

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Ongoing earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano (update 29-June-2018)

There is currently ongoing earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano. This earthquake swarm started on 26-June-2018 with the magnitude 3,1 and it has been mostly ongoing since then. All earthquakes are minor in the volcano at the moment. A magnitude 2,1 earthquake happened outside the volcano (but those earthquakes appears to be connected to it) and suggest crustal stresses are changing at the moment at expectational speed (my view).


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (red dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

What also appeared today is a earthquake swarm in the side of Öræfajökull volcano. If this earthquake activity continues it is worrying as it suggests that an eruption might happen in Öræfajökull volcano side and that might be a major issue if a eruption vents opens up in such area. Since this is close to Road 1 and warning time might be limited or close to none in worse case. This type of activity warrants more monitoring in my view.

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Short earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge

Yesterday (28-June-2018) and today (29-June-2018) during the night a short but strong earthquake activity took place on the Reykjanes ridge. Strongest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,2 or 4,1. It is unclear (to me) at the moment what magnitude is correct. Since I did get a signal on Dellukot geophone station that was considerable larger than for magnitude 3,2 earthquake (given distance from the station). Böðvarshólar geophone station remains down due to a broken computer (that I can’t fix).


Green stars show the location of this earthquake activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear at the moment if this earthquake activity is going to continue. At the moment it appears to have stopped, but distance from land makes it impossible to detect smaller earthquakes in this area.