Posted on by Jón Frímann

Iceland hotspot history of past ~65 million years

Here is an short history of the Icelandic hotspot for the past 65 million years. But it is believed to be around that old. Based on current studies into it.


Iceland hotspot during past ~65 million years. Copyright unknown, but belongs to it’s author. But the picture is from this web site here.

There is a lot of debate about the hotspot under Iceland. If it exist, or how it works. A lot of unanswered question remains. But with time and study. I am sure that some of them are going to be answered.

More information (short version)

Iceland hotspot (Wikipedia)
The water content of olivines from the North Atlantic Volcanic Province (SicenceDirect, Paywalled)

9 Replies to “Iceland hotspot history of past ~65 million years”

  1. Thank you for an interesting post.

    By the way, has there been a lot of earthquake activity today in Mýrdalsjökull? Is it an earthquake swarm, or am I wrong?

      1. There are currently no ice-quakes in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. This are real earthquakes. It seems after an quiet period. Katla volcano is starting to have new earthquake swarms.

  2. Are these earthquake swarms “dangerous” or are they normal this time of the year?
    What does this mean, is the quiet time over in Iceland and in Mýrdalsjökull?

    If you have time to answer this, I would be thankfull.

    1. They are normal for the moment. But with recent activity in Katla volcano (last year). It is hard to know when it changes from normal to not-normal activity.

      So for the moment. It is all just wait and see what happens next.

    1. There was an small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano yesterday. I have not yet written about it. As it was mostly common pattern that has been seen during past few weeks. But if it continues. I am going to write about it.

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