Posted on by Jón Frímann

A ML3.4 earthquake 25 east of Grímsey Island (automatic size)

When things gets busy in Iceland, they mean it. At least that is the case now. This also the reason why I do not trust the quiet times in Iceland.

A earthquake with the size of ML3.4 took place 25 km east of Grímsey Island in the TFZ at 21:46 UTC. But that is an non-volcanic zone that bridges the eastern volcanic zone with the North-Atlantic rift zone. This earthquake had an earthquake with the size of ML2.9 taking place before the larger one. That was an pre-earthquake most likely. But it seems that an earthquake swarm is also starting in TFZ as it has done close to Krísuvík volcano on the Reykjanes Ridge. I do not know if this earthquake was felt or not.

I am going to update this blog post if I need to.

Update 1: The location of this earthquake. So far there have not been any aftershocks following the ML3.4 earthquake. Its depth was at 11.5 km. This earthquake does not appear clearly on my geophones due to the distance involved (over 200 km).


The location of the ML3.4 earthquake on TFZ. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Blog post updated at 22:22 UTC.

9 Replies to “A ML3.4 earthquake 25 east of Grímsey Island (automatic size)”

  1. It is beginning to look like you could be in for a long night, Jon! 😉

    The Krisuvik earthquake shows up massively on your own helicorders – I suppose that is a reminder to us all to not panic over small blips! This Grimsey tremor barely showed up at all though – is it just too far away or are there other factors to take into account?

    Thanks, as always!

  2. Probably simply tectonic at this point. The TFZ is not known for frequent eruptions, but Iceland can erupt at anytime, just as the Fimmvorduhalus eruption proved!

  3. Off topic: quite cold night here in Grimsnes, south Iceland. -18ºC and a clear night

  4. @ Irpsit… I giggled over that description.. QUITE cold!!! I think -1 is cold here. Mind you we went down to -15 C last winter and I was suffering.
    Anyways Goooood Morning Iceland and JOn. here is a screen capture I made of Bob this morning. Still burping out little smokers.
    http://youtu.be/ZHVRufxCKGI

    1. I missed the sheep, I missed the trikes and now I missed the snow-mobiles.

      But the clip does show how bright real lights on Katla are.

      C’est la vie.

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