Posted on by Jón Frímann

Minor earthquake swarm in El Hierro volcano

After the eruption ended in El Hierro volcano it seems that minor magma dike intrusions have been taking place. This magma intrusions so far appears to be deep and not big. Given the depth and the size of the earthquakes that are currently taking place. This also suggests that new magma continues to flow into El Hierro volcano. But that flow might be at slower rate then it was early in the year 2011 before the eruption started. The largest earthquake in this swarm had the size ML2.8 with the depth of 12 km. Based on automatic data.


The current earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano. The earthquake swarm in question was small in size. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN.


The earthquake activity appears clearly on this picture. The highest peak is the ML2.8 earthquake. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN.

It is hard to know for sure what this means for future eruption events. Before the earthquake swarm today there was an small eruption somewhere in El Hierro volcano. It can be seen by the harmonic tremor levels. But this event was small, a lot smaller then earlier events. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens next in El Hierro volcano.

7 Replies to “Minor earthquake swarm in El Hierro volcano”

  1. Good Morning Jon and everyone.
    I have been watching Vestari Saudhanjukur for several weeks now. I keep asking why it looks like somewhere there is volcanic activity. However other SILs are not working nearby so hard to see to what extent this activity spreads.
    Does anyone have any idea what is causing this tremor pattern please?

    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/vsh.gif

      1. Thank you John 🙂 I forgot that glaciers make noise but I am surprised that it is so “loud”. Why don’t other SILs near glaciers or lakes make similar noise? Is this SIL station very close to a steep glacier?

  3. ER said last night that the vent was 95% blocked (not sure how they get the %). The EQs are an indication of increasing pressure.

    The jacuzzi appears to be weaker today when viewed from the shore but there are strong currents in the sea, which may be affecting this.

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