Month: December 2020

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano and earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge

Today (29-December-2020) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano. This was just small earthquakes but the amount is considerable. This earthquake activity happens because of magma inflation in this area.


Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Reykjanes ridge

Today (29-December-2020) and earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place on Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake was far out in the ocean. Only one other smaller earthquake seems to have happened in that same area after the largest earthquake. Otherwise there has not been any more earthquake activity today out on the Reykjanes ridge.


Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

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Minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (17-December-2020) a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. This is a minor earthquake swarm with total of just eight earthquakes recorded. It is little unusual to see this earthquake activity in Katla volcano in December since this is normally the most quiet time of the year.


Minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,9 and all other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. I am not expecting any more activity in Katla volcano. That might change without warning since this is a volcano.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (21-December-2020) at 11:38 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.


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

This earthquake had two earlier earthquakes with magnitude of Mw2,4 and Mw2,8. Smaller earthquake activity seems to have stopped or happening at slow rate at the writing of this article. Currently Bárðarbunga volcano has an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,0 to Mw5,0 every few weeks since end of the eruption in 2015. This pattern doesn’t seems to be changing.

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Landslide in Seyðisfjörður town damages houses, people evacuated

Over the last few days the town of Seyðisfjörður in eastern Iceland has been dealing with several landslides. During the night of 18-December-2020 a landslide moved a house of its founding and damaged it. Risk of landslides are also in other towns in eastern Iceland. I don’t know anything useful about landslides but the situation has turned bad in eastern Iceland. The reason for the landslides is heavy rain in the area and rain has been more than 200mm during 24 hours according to weather reports. Currently there is no change in the weather forecast until Saturday when the rain is expected to stop. After that there is expected that snowing is going to start as the weather cools in eastern Iceland. Icelandic Met Office website in English.

Icelandic News

Landslide and rain alerts continue in East Iceland (Rúv.is)
Aurskriða hrífur hús með sér á Seyðisfirði (Rúv.is, Icelandic) – News report on landslide moving a house off its foundations.

Update at 14:43 UTC

New images from Seyðisfjörður town show the damage that has happened in this landslides during the night. Images can be found in this Icelandic news.

Húsið hefur snúist hálfhring – Myndir (austurfrettir.is)

Article updated at 14:43 UTC.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano early morning

Early morning on 16-December-2020 at 04:30 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1 took place close to Reykjanestá in Reykjanes volcano. The largest earthquake was felt over a large area. A swarm of small earthquakes started soon after the largest earthquake and this swarm was active for few hours.


The green star shows the area of activity early morning in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

A second smaller earthquake swarm started just north of Grindvík town few hours after the earthquake swarm close to Reykjanestá. GPS data for the area doesn’t seems to have updated on the web and because of that I don’t know if the area is entering new inflation phase or not. The earthquake activity suggests that Reykjanes volcano is about to enter a new inflation phase but that is currently not certain.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano and deep earthquake activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

Today (10-December-2020) at 00:08 an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,5 took place in the volcano Reykjanes. This earthquake was felt in nearby area. Since then there has been a minor earthquake swarm going on in the area of Reykjanestá.


Green star shows the earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

Today (10-December-2020) an deep earthquake swarm took place in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. All earthquakes that took place where small in magnitude but depth was from around 5km to 12 km depth. It is not known at the writing of this article if this suggests an magma movement inside Brennisteinsfjöll volcano.


Orange dots to east of Krýsuvík volcano show the activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am expecting more earthquake activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano in next few months. It is going to take few weeks to months to see if anything more is going on there.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Askja volcano

Today (05-December-2020) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Askja volcano. All earthquakes in this earthquake swarm where under Mw2,0 in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Askja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity suggests that magma is on the move in Askja volcano. Nothing however suggests that Askja volcano is close to an eruption of any type. Current situation seems to have been created by the fact Bárðarbunga volcano 2014 eruption almost started an eruption in Askja volcano by injecting magma into it. That didn’t happen because the magma stopped before reaching Askja volcano magma chambers. That interaction might have changed the situation inside Askja volcano magma chambers resulting in the earthquake activity that is now appearing in Askja volcano.

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Small earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone south east of Grímsey island

Yesterdat (02-December-2020) at 11:38 UTC an small earthquake swarm started on Tjörnes Fracture Zone just south-east of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,1. This earthquake swarm was small but there is also a strong snowstorm in Iceland and that has limited detection of earthquakes since late Monday (30-November-2020).


The Tjörnes Fracture Zone earthquake activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is a different area from the area that had strongest earthquake swarm in 40 years on Tjörnes Fracture Zone in June 2020 when the largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw6,0. It is difficult to know if there is going to be more earthquake activity in this area. There is always a risk that is going to happen.

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Single earthquake on Reykjanes ridge

Yesterday (01-December-2020) at 20:40 UTC an magnitude MW3,5 earthquake took place on Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake was located close to Geirfuglasker rock on the Reykjanes ridge.


A single earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Since this was just a single earthquake it is not possible to know what happens in this area. More earthquakes might happen in this area in next few days and even larger ones.

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Earthquake swarm north of Grindavík town in Reykjanes volcano

At 11:23 UTC today 1-December-2020 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 took place north of Grindavík town in the Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake was felt but few reported on it. A swarm of smaller earthquakes has followed both earlier of after the largest earthquake.


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

This earthquake activity is part of the process of magma injection into this area since January 2020. There is a risk of stronger earthquake in this area following this earthquake swarm. Earthquake activity happens in high activity time period with quiet period between them. This earthquake swarm suggests that new activity period is about to start in this area of Reykjanes volcano.

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