Posted on by Jón Frímann

Hekla volcano earthquake from early this morning

Here is the earthquake that took place in Hekla volcano this morning. This earthquake was small, just ML2.02 with the depth of 4.8 km. Because of how close this earthquake was to my geophone at Heklubyggð it did appear clearly on it.


The earthquake at Hekla volcano this morning. This picture is released under Creative Commons License, see License web page for more details.

No aftershocks where recorded after this earthquake and nothing suggests that a Hekla volcano is about to erupt at present time. But that can change without warning at any time.

38 Replies to “Hekla volcano earthquake from early this morning”

    1. This tectonic earthquake. There does not appear to be any magma properties in it. But even if it looks tectonic it might well be created by magma.

      But that is just speculation.

      1. Since magma is thought to be located around 5-8km deep under Hekla and this quake was just shy of that would that not indicate a magmatic component in this quake?

        Even if the signature was tectonic in nature could that have been caused by magma intrusion which increase the pressure upwards triggering a tectonic quake?

    1. I agree, there is far too much stress at the moment, something’s got to go soon! 😛

    2. “Soon,” geologically, could be 100 years. Though it certainly doesn’t look like we’ll have to wait that long.

    1. The accuracy is quite poor so I think this one will be relocated. Wouldnt be surprised if it was under Hamarinn as there has been an increase in activity there. So if it gets checked out by the IMO I bet it will be more to the SW part of Vatnajökul.

  4. Hei! Non stop movement in el hierro. Again rising up earthquake numbers. Incredible situation. Just where huge landslide happened about 50000y ago. Fascinating. Looks like the thing is awakening…I m worried since never been like this since records..and government is still with green alert (like if nothing happening at all, to protect tourist high season? and this yeah d link volcano to economy right? 😉 keep moving on!

    1. TUmm… landslide no. CO2 is nominal and within normal range. Activity keeps migrating from one side of the supposed (by me) pluton to the other. Everything seems to remain focuses at about 11 km down.

      Unless they start a definite trend I’m gonna have to agree with them.

      But… the Chilean volcano was unexpected and it had a column 10km wide (at the base) when it went.

      1. Is el hierro a dormant volcano? Or does it have a history; i.e: the past few hundred years?

  6. Can’t we all make a bet about what volcano that will go next? 😛 Even though it’s probably not gonna happen 2morrow, it will come, just from which one! 🙂

    Jon, keep up the good work.. And do you teach anyone or anywhere about volcanoes? I would love to know more about them, and I really want to see a volcano close up. And since I live in Norway, thats kinda hard where I’m sitting 😛 But I guess u have my e-mail, and if you have the time and the interest, I would love to go to Iceland and learn more 🙂

      1. Hekla: Late August/Early September.

        Katla: May stay quiet for next few years! 😉

        Hamarinn: Possibly Next June/July.

        -Sam 😀

  8. I drove out to Hekla Volcano in the afternoon (just for fun), but it was mostly covered in low clouds, and returned when it started raining too, and drove back after dark. Staying in one place in the vicinity of Hekla (on some sort of “stakeout” for a few hours), I noticed there seemed some “unrest” in the ground but hard to put fingers on it (like sitting in boat and it moved slightly now and then). I think the area vill see an eruption in not too distant future, maybe very soon.

  9. There is a sudden rise in the harmonic tremors on the Skrokkalda SIL station. I am going to watch it better later on. But I am having a good time now with my friend, so I am a bit busy in that respect at the moment.

    1. Yah, there was a small harmonic tremor event in both Skrokkalda and Grimsvotn stations. But now the weather is again rainy and more windy today.

  10. @Jon, I am glad to hear you don’t sit next to your geophone all the time!It’s good to have good times with friends.
    I think you have your volcanoes well trained at the moment so you can have fun without interruption!
    @Just another Lurker, you Icelanders have my respect. You live with constant earthquakes and with the knowledge that sometime soon another eruption , another Jokullhaupe, darkness in winter and Atlantic storms! You live with nature and your communities seem to work together. In UK we have occasional small quake *The last 2.6M cracked our ceilings and brought down next door’s ceiling. It took me much copying of graphs and helicorder signals to convince our house insurance company that England has earthquakes!!
    Just out of interest how many brick built houses do you have there? This is the problem in UK, old houses made of small bricks with crumbling mortar. NOT designed with earthquakes in mind!

    1. @diana barnes, we have no brick houses. almost all houses in iceland have been built with steel-braided concrete since the 1920´s or made of wood that can handle quakes better than bricks (it sways more easily). most of our houses are built after 1920 anyway so they all meet some kind of earthquake resistance standard.

  11. For those interested in El Hierro or who would like to see what Markus has mentioned here is a link. El Hierro last two charts.
    http://www.01.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaSenalesAyerHoy.do#
    And here is a web cam too.
    http://www.meteolaspuntas.es/.
    Markus says “I m worried since never been like this since records..and government is still with green alert (like if nothing happening at all, to protect tourist high season? and this yeah d link volcano to economy right? keep moving on!”
    Maybe their Government needs to visit Iceland to see how Volcanic regions can use this to their advantage and attract tourists.

    1. Thanks Diane interesting reading – I am off on holiday to La Palma in November. There is no point in worrying about the possibility of an eruption – If something happens something happens, if not I will have a good holiday. You have to make the most of the situations in your life.

      Now back to Iceland ……..

  12. Slightly off topic I know, but I’ve been watching Geysir Mila live webcam on and off for a while and noticed over the last few days the water column seems a lot less powerful; it was easily clearing the top of the frame, but today it’s barely reaching the top; also the water level in the basin seems lower. Is this a seasonal variation with lower groundwater level; through lack of rain;the conduit slightly blocked or just Geysir being temperamental?

    1. this is not Geysir itself but Strokkur. The water column can be bit variating in height and number of eruptions per hour from day to day. It depends on weather and other factors it seems. it is obviously pretty windy today.

      Geysir itself has not erupted since the last big earthquake in 2000 I think (at least not on its own power) and is outside the frame on the left on the video.

      link: http://live.mila.is/geysir/

      1. @ Watchman
        Thanks for the correction – you can’t beat local knowledge! Apologies for the delay – had lots of gardening to do!!
        A

  13. Please Don’t quote me on this; I don’t know about everyone else but… I think Katla will stay quiet for the next few months, possibly even years. As despite the Increased activity over the past few months, the same thing happened in 1955 and 1999, and there was no ‘major’ eruption then right?

    P.S: Sorry to be a Dopamine Killer! 😉

    1. Many things are different now than those years…vastly different. I do not wish for any eruptoin in Iceland as its dear people stand to suffer from it, but I am concerned that Iceland is going thru an active period.

      But as Jon says, there is no way to know, only when Katla reveals the true cards it is holding, which it won’t do until its ready to fold.

    2. I have the same feeling… although there is no specific reason or scientific explanation for this. I just have the impression that the distribution of the earthquakes is more or less random. Within the caldera, yes, but too many variations in vertical and horizontal direction. And lots of earthquakes were very shallow. This doesn’t change the fact that Katla is close to an eruption but she is not ready yet. However, we all know that the mood of women is subject to change without warning at all. 🙂

  14. El hierro had no eruptions for thousands of years. Closest ones are Teneguia in La Palma in the early 70’s as you will see. However looks like a weak point is awakening just there. Today 100 more tremors of small scale…¿Does anyone know if having about 1400 of this tremors during last month is normal on seismic/volcano areas? Is it comonn f.ex. In Iceland or in Hawaii or somewhere? I mean what does it mean? Average depth is been 10km. Some also at 2km few at 25km.

  15. Friday
    05.08.2011 17:39:53 63.647 -19.059 0.3 km 2.0 42.86 7.7 km NNE of Hábunga

    1. Can oyu give me a link to your helicorders for Katla or Hamarinn if that is possible? Thanks Jon! 😀

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