This is a short update on the situation about the eruption on 27-March-2021. This eruption is now classified as to be happening in Krýsuvík volcano system.
The eruption seems to be slowly increasing. The small craters on the left (on the web camera) have now merged into one larger crater. It is possible that the two remaining craters might merge into one large crater.
The magma fro this eruption is coming from 17 – 20 km depth and that can result in a eruption that can last a long time.
Geldingadalir valley is now almost filled with lava. It is expected to overflow by Easter in about 6 days based on current eruption rate of the lava.
Lake of lava has formed in the Geldingadalir valley. Videos have been posted on Facebook and other social media showing how dangerous the lava field currently is. Do not walk on the fresh lava. It is going to take decades and possibly centuries to cool down to a safe level.
The lava at it thickest is estimated now to be 20 to 30 meters deep.
There are fluctuations in the eruptions. Sometimes its slightly more and sometimes slightly less based on observations with the web camera on Rúv.
It seems that a mountain is being built by this eruption. How that is going to progress is difficult to know for sure.
In general there has not been a lot of change in the eruption since it started a week ago (19-March-2021). Next update is going to be hopefully on 2-April-2021 unless something major happens in this eruption.
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Today (25-March-2021) a minor earthquake swarm took place east of Grímsey island. Earthquake swarms are common in this area. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0. This earthquake swarm might not be over.
The earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone often starts slowly before increasing. I don’t know if that is going to happen now since this area has been having a lot of earthquake activity in recent months.
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Moving Iceland geology to a bigger server
Because of current high traffic to this website I plan on moving it to a slightly larger server in the time between April to June. I am not sure yet when I can afford the change since this is a slightly more expensive option at 79€ a month from current price of 9,5€ a month (I also have other websites here that I won’t move since they get little to no traffic at all). I am also expecting far higher traffic to this website in the future when other Icelandic volcanoes start to go active for a long and short time period.
This is not a update on the eruption. There has not been any major change in the eruption at the writing of this article.
University of Iceland has released a report that can be read here (pdf) showing that the magma that is now erupting comes from the depth of 17 to 20 km. Crust at this location on the Reykjanes peninsula is around 17 km deep. A 3D map can be found here of the eruption. I think it is going to updated regularly by ÍSOR. The lava that is now erupting is part of Tholeiitic magma (Wikipedia). The lava is 1180C when it erupts from the ground.
What seems to be now happening is that a shield volcano is forming. It is a question if this is going to result in a formation of new magma chambers along the dyke where it formed. There is continued risk that new vents and fissures eruptions opens in this change can happen without warning. Based on earthquake activity it seems that the dyke continues to be active rather than having turned into rock by cooling.
It is now estimated that the Geldingadalir valley is going to overflow in 8 to 18 days and currently a lava pond is forming at this location. Once that happens the lava is going to flow into nearby valley (I can’t find the name of it). One of the valley the lava is in the end going to flow into Nátthagi valley if the eruption lasts long enough.
This is a short article about the eruption in Geldingadalur. The volcano that is erupting continues to be Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. This might change at later date. This article is written on 22-March-2021 at 17:30 UTC.
The eruption is now mostly just in one crater. There is some activity in two other craters but it seems to be getting smaller as the eruption goes on.
This eruption is tiny and one of the smallest eruption observed in Iceland.
There is risk of new eruption opening up once this eruption ends or starts to get close to ending.
There is a fissure in the ground on the right side of the main crater (as seen on the web camera). A lot of volcanic gas comes from that fissure but no eruption has taken place so far.
There has not been any noticeable deflation according to GPS data from today (22-March-2021).
The main crater is now estimated to be 30 meters high but it is unstable and collapses often.
The lava is estimated going to fill Geldingadalur valley in 10 to 14 days if the eruption continues this long.
Earthquake activity has almost stopped on Reykjanes peninsula after the eruption started. Once the eruption stops earthquake activity might increase again.
This is a image from Google Earth and shows Geldingadalur valley that is now being filled slowly with lava. Copyright of this image belongs to Google Earth/Google and other companies that Google has made this image available with its Google Earth program.
The last eruption period on Reykjanes peninsula lasted from the ~700 to the year ~1400. It can be estimated that current eruption period that has now started on Reykjanes peninsula is going to last until the year ~2400 to the year ~2600. During this time shortest time between eruptions is 1 year but the longest time between eruptions might be up to 10 years. How this going to be exactly is a big question but this estimate of mine is based on the limited historical data that I have read somewhere (I no longer remember where that was).
According to the evening news on Rúv the lava and magma that is now flowing into the valley of Geldingadalur is around 1200C and is a primitive magma of Tholeiitic magma series (Wikipedia). The source of this eruption is a magma chamber with the depths of 17 km to 20 km and the origins of the magma it self is far deeper into the hotspot below Iceland. This magma has a lot of CO and CO2 gases that are highly dangerous. There is also a lot of SO2 gas in the eruption and that is dangerous gas.
News in Icelandic about this
Since the eruption is now in stable activity I am going to limit update to if anything major happens. Next update about the eruption should be on Friday 26-March-2021. Other activity in Iceland is going to be reported as normal if anything happens.
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Article updated at 18:32 UTC. New web camera added. Article updated at 20:50 UTC. Web camera information updated. Article updated at 23:57 UTC. Information added about the eruption.
This information is going to get outdated quickly. This article covers Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This article is written on 21-March-2021 at at 00:40 UTC.
This eruption is tiny. The amount of magma erupted is now around 0.02km3 but this number might not be fully accurate since I’ve not seen any published number about of volume of lava erupted so far.
This is unconfirmed but it is possible that an new fissure opened up under the lava field next to the hill side (seen on the web camera, this is on the left side).
The current erupting fissure is now about 200 meters long and might be getting shorter.
Earthquake activity has almost stopped at the writing of this article.
This eruption might only last 1 to 3 days before it stops.
There is no sign of deflation in the GPS data at the writing of this article.
There are no other reports about this eruption at current time. This might change without warning.
Beint vefstreymi af eldgosinu – Vogastapi (Rúv.is) – Added 22-March-2021. View from a distance. Should show a red glow from the eruption if the weather isn’t too bad. – This web camera is no longer active!
Update at 15:28 UTC – One side of the main crater collapses
Here is a video of the main crater collapse on one side and give lava a new path for short period of time. At the writing of this update that path for the lava has closed down again.
Kvikustreymið braut sér nýja leið (Rúv.is) – This is a new video of the crater collapse that took place at 14:20 today (21-March-2021).
Article updated at 15:29 UTC. New information added. Article updated at 21:21 UTC. New information added. Article updated at 03:06 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera added.
em>Article updated at 16:34 UTC on 22-March-2021. Web camera has been removed by Rúv – comment added to that web camera.
This is a short overview of the eruption that is now ongoing in Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall mountain area. This is part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system according to latest information. This information might change as the time and more information is collected. This article is written on 20-March-2021 at 02:58 UTC.
This is the first eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system since the year 1340.
The eruption started at 20:45 UTC according to Icelandic Met Office. The harmonic tremor from the eruption is almost invisible.
The fissure is at the writing of this article estimated about to be 1 km long with the direction south-west and north-east.
Currently the eruption is small and there is no risk of damage to any infrastructure. Next road (currently closed because of earthquake damage) that might get damaged is 2,5 km distance from the eruption site.
This eruption suggests that more eruption might start in different fissures once this eruption is over.
The valley that the lava is flowing into might get filled with lava if the eruption lasts long enough. The valley next to it is equally deep so there is no danger of this lava flow.
The eruption is in a area that is difficult to access even by a car.
The earthquake activity in the dyke. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The eruption might only last for two to three days as it currently looks but that might change without warning since it is impossible to know for sure what is going to happen next with this eruption.
There are no good web cameras of this eruption since it is remote and started late on Friday night and the weather on Reykjanes peninsula is not good for today (20-March) or tomorrow (21-March).
Updated at 04:49 UTC. Web cameras added to this article.
Article updated at 03:49 UTC. Information added. Spell check fixes. Article updated at 04:52 UTC. Web cameras added. Article updated at 14:44 UTC. New web camera added from Rúv.
This article is going to go get updated soon as possible or a new article is going to be written. This information is going to get outdated quickly. This is Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano.
This volcano eruption seems to have started without any earthquake activity or major harmonic tremor as of writing of this article. More information later this evening.
Update at 22:46 UTC
Here is a web camera link from Rúv. It might work. But all the web cameras are getting heavy traffic now.
Update 22:56 UTC
This is the possible location of the eruption based on satellite images of the area. This is in eastern side of Fagradalsfjall mountain. This is from Icelandic Met Office.
Update at 23:13 UTC
This the first picture of the eruption. The fissure is about 200 meters long at the writing of this article. Picture is from Icelandic Met Office.
Update 00:05 UTC on 20-March-2021
Video of the eruption. Video from Icelandic Met Office. Downloaded from Twitter.
Update at 00:56 UTC on 20-March-2021
Here is a new video of the eruption on Rúv website.
Title of the article was also fixed.
This is a short article that because the situation can change without warning and article is written on 19-March-2021 at 21:07 UTC. There have been updates to names used and now Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja name is used by Global Volcanism Program and Icelandic Met Office. Suggesting that the magma that is about to erupt has its origin in Krýsuvík volcano system eat of current centre of activity. This sometimes happens in Iceland when magma travels long distances deep underground.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Today at 15:01 an earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw3,1. This earthquake has in my view clear signs of magma movement close to the surface as the depth of this earthquake was just 0,1 km (100 meter).
A magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake that took place today at 15:01 UTC.
This earthquake strongly suggests that magma created it at shallow depth. It has not yet resulted in an eruption but it is a question if this the final sign before an eruption happens. The current quiet time might last up to 2 months but it is impossible to know for sure.
At 04:30 this morning (19-March-2021) an earthquake swarm started just off the coast of Reykjanestá. This activity looks tectonic in nature for now but it is highly focused in one location. This earthquake activity did start on 24-February-2021 when the Mw5,7 earthquake happened. This activity was only going on for short period of time on 24-February-2021 before it stopped until now.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá in the far left corner of this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,7 but in total of 10 earthquakes with magnitude above 3 took place in this earthquake swarm. Around 100 earthquakes where recorded at the writing of this article but after 06:00 this earthquake swarm slowed down from its peak activity around 05:50. This earthquake swarm might increase again without warning.
This is a short article written on 17-March-2021 at 17:49 UTC. The situation can change without warning.
It has been less activity in in Fagradalsfjall volcano (Krýsuvík volcano). Current day to day change is not a lot at the writing of this article but it is also possible that bad weather that is now passing over Iceland is masking some of the smaller earthquakes in the dyke between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Inflation continues at what seems to be about the same rate as yesterday (16-March-2021).
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano located between Keilir mountain and Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Number of strong earthquakes has dropped after the strong earthquake activity during last weekend (12 to 14 March). What also changed is that the dyke can’t move more south then it already has. It seems that it hit a impasse in the crust that it was unable to break or go around (harder crust is the most common why this happens). The current status is a waiting for the eruption to start and when that happens is impossible to know.
Since there is not a lot of change going on at the writing of this article I am going to slow down the number of updates I am posting. Next update is going to be when something happens or at the latest Monday 22-March 2021.
Please remember to support my work if you can. Donations help me staying away from always being broke. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Article updated on 18-March-2021 at 20:07. Web camera updates.
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