Posted on by Jón Frímann

Minor earthquake activity in Iceland

During the past few weeks it has been quiet in Iceland. Really quiet, with almost nothing going on. It is still like that to some extent. So this is just a short overview of the small activity that has been taking place in Iceland during the past 48 hours or so.


The earthquake activity in Iceland during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The most activity in the last 48 hours have been on the Reykjanes and on TFZ. But there was an small earthquake swarm in each area. With earthquakes that did not get over ML2.5 in size so far. Two earthquakes where in Askja volcano. One in Grímsfjall volcano fissure system (maybe in Þórðarhyrna volcano).


Earthquake west of Hekla volcano, in the SISZ. This picture is released under Creative Common Licencee. See the licence page for more detail.

Katla volcano

During this winter. Katla volcano has been quiet. This is somewhat normal, as more snow means more ice-mass on top of the volcano. But now that has started to melt a little and that means less ice-mass on top of the volcano. That could mean more activity in Katla volcnao during the next few weeks. So far however the activity remains small and there are no special earthquakes to report.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano, on this picture earthquake activity west of Hekla volcano can also been seen here. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The earthquakes west of Hekla volcano belong to the SISZ fault area. Not Hekla volcano it self. What is also interesting is the earthquake activity in south part of Katla volcano. In area outside of the glacier. This are small earthquakes, that do not appear on my geophone. Even if they are close to it. I am unsure what this means for the future. But it is worth keeping an eye on it.

19 Replies to “Minor earthquake activity in Iceland”

  1. I think the overall pattern of EQ’s across the map is of interest. When you study pre eruption records and compare then there is some way to go, but the pattern of activity for the winter period has been significant.

    The 3+ EQ’s we saw a while ago are still indicating an overall increase in land mass stress across the area. That taken with 4+ activity on the EMSC data views for Reyjanes Ridge further South and Jan Mayen (NNSN and EMSC) further to the North are all pointing at Iceland as the next phase.

    It is very much a guessing game as to which system will become active – or multiple systems?

  3. What’s up with these quakes NNW of Kitsufell? Tectonic?

    Friday
    30.03.2012 10:52:14 64.812 -17.239 7.5 km 0.6 99.0 3.7 km NNW of Kistufell
    Friday
    30.03.2012 10:51:10 64.819 -17.257 6.5 km 0.3 99.0 4.8 km NNW of Kistufell
    Friday
    30.03.2012 10:49:49 64.809 -17.237 5.9 km 1.6 99.0 3.4 km NNW of Kistufell

    2. Obviously a journey to the center of the earth is impossible.
      But if one thinks about it, mantle plumes most likely do reach the center of the earth. So there is a connection between volcanoes across the globe in that respect.

      I suppose many entrepreneurs would like to be seen as geniuses, far ahead of their time, like Jules Verne was, but i seriously doubt any one will come even close.
      It would be a task hard enough for the modern homo sapiens just to fully understand what Jules Verne was talking about in his stories.

      1. There lies a problem with that theory, in that the elements exuded by volcanoes differs across the globe – they each have their signature left in the ashes and rocks.

        If they all stem from the same source then their signatures would all be indentical. Why is it that lithospheric element deposits differ globally? There is clearly something far more complex down there and no matter how much we theorise about it we will never know for certain.

      3. April 1st or not, after 1300 hrs it is over so if you are still joking, the joke is on you.

        If you are not, which I sincerely hope is not the case, then looking at fiction movies will not rise your IQ. Sites like this will since there are many people here with genuine knowledge to enlighten you, If youtube is your forte then watch this and the suggested videos which appear at the end –

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICIHgyNCDHw

        Good luck whichever.

      4. Richard Bransons April fools joke was not bad, it had Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks and Black eyed peas Will-iam sitting in a craft made from carbon-carbon.
        The only flaw was that it was not issued in April.

        If you think about it, you are being lied to by the media constantly all 365 days of the year, so if April 1st would be made special, it would have to be the only day the media actually told you the truth.

        The ruling elite who controls the media has used it and all other resources to create decades of indoctrination, built up lair by lair towards a sort of idiocracy.

        There is a part in Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s latest movie, where Peter Weyland talks about tecnology.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUxdAWrsag8

        Its science fiction, but makes sense if you think about it.
        Technology is advancing very fast, at the same time people deliberately being sent into the opposite direction.
        The way i see it, its like the elites are building themselves a huge bomb, one they sit right on top of.

        Regarding the volcanoes, i personally don’t worry about them, even though i live a couple of hundred kilometers from the biggest one.
        From what i can tell, peoples interest in volcanoes is mostly fear-driven, so i should be more careful of what i write and what information i add to the debate each time.
        Some of it i should keep to my self.
        If i needlessly offended anyone, i apologize.

    1. The lake in Askja volcano crater is ice free, it should be covered with ice now, its 220 meters deep, so it would take a lot to melt the ice on top if it.
      Lake Myvatn is frozen and its far lower than lake Askja.

      http://mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2012/04/02/oskjuvatn_islaust_med_ollu/

      NASA research plane is in Keflavik airport, it will be in Iceland for 5 weeks doing research in altitude up to 65000 ft.
      It will make measurements on glaciers in Greenland and Iceland among other things.

      http://ruv.is/frett/fljugandi-rannsoknarstofa

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