Day: September 15, 2020

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Strong earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone – Flatey – Húsavík fault

Today (15-September-2020) at 14:52 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw4,6 took place on Flatey – Húsavík fault line. This earthquake was felt over a wide area and at the writing of this article no damage has been reported in the news.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Image used with permission and copyright belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Second largest earthquake took place at 17:06 UTC and had a magnitude of Mw4,0. This earthquake was felt but less than earlier earthquake because of smaller magnitude. This earthquake activity has increased the risk of a large earthquake in this area or on nearby faults. This might result in a earthquake in the magnitude range of Mw6,0 to Mw7,1 in this part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano (Loki-Fögrufjöll)

During the night (15-September-2020) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Hamarinn volcano (Loki-Fögrufjöll) (part of Bárðarbunga volcano). This earthquake is part of an activity that has been happening in this location for more than a week. It’s unclear what this activity means but it has been recorded that in 2011 few weeks before a minor eruption in volcano there was an increase in earthquake activity before the eruption took place. This earthquake activity is ongoing at the writing of this article.


The earthquake activity in Hamarinn volcano. Green star shows the main active area. Image used with permission and copyright belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

When this earthquake took place there was no change in harmonic tremor on nearby SIL stations. An eruption in Hamarinn volcano don’t seem to require a lot of earthquake activity before it starts. I don’t know why that is but that was the experience in the minor eruption in July 2011.

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Earthquake yesterday (14-September-2020) in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Yesterday (14-September-2020) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone, this earthquake was felt in Dalvík and Ólafsfirði towns. This is the first earthquake with magnitude above Mw3,0 in at least a month in this area. The earthquake swarm has been ongoing but all the earthquakes that have happened have been small in magnitude.


The earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This image is used with permission and copyright belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is ongoing as it has been since 19th of June 2020 when it started. I don’t expect that to change and risk of a large earthquake remains in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone.

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