Posted on by Jón Frímann

A string of small earthquake swarms

A string of small earthquake swarms took place yesterday. It started with a small earthquake swarm at Geysir volcano. The a small earthquake swarm took place at Hengill volcano few hours later. This string of earthquake swarm ended with a earthquake swarms did end with a short but powerful earthquake swarm out on Reykjanes Ridge. Where the largest earthquake was ML4.1 in size (depth 10,4 km) according to the automatic SIL system. All of this swarms lasted from 1 hour and up to 3 hours and the total number of earthquakes was something less then few dozens of earthquakes.

Besides this it remains rather quiet earthquake wise in Iceland. But that can change without any warning at any time.

53 Replies to “A string of small earthquake swarms”

  1. Hey everyone!
    Back from vacation and @Carl, yes, Bahia deserves indeed the epithet of “tropical paradise”, since Rio has many issues that draws it away from the full meaning of the expression.
    @Jón: … “Besides this it remains rather quiet earthquake wise in Iceland” – not quiet enough to call it “quiet”. 🙂
    Miss you folks!

  2. from the Icelandic news – another place to watch?

    In other industrial news, The Icelandic Energy Authority has granted Landsvirkjun permission to carry out test drilling for geothermal resources at Gjastykki in Thingeyjarsysla, North Iceland. The licence was granted with the agreement of the local authority and the land owner; but against the wishes of the Minister for the Environment, the Environment Agency and the Natural History Agency.

  4. I just found a very usefull article about Icelandic Volcanology for those of you who don’t like to read very complicated studies. This article contains about every general feature of Icelandic volcanology, including a very nice map of all Holocene Volcanic Systems, an explanation about fissure eruptions as Laki and Eldgja and much much more.

    This is not some kind of advertising but after reading some paragraphs it really answered a lot of my questions so I can recommend you to just take a look at it. 🙂

    http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=991146220&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=991146220.pdf

    2. Remarkable…. really explains a lot…. i got up to page 17 before my brain started to waver………i confess i’m not very matmatical. It was 15 years before i realized i’d married a mathmetician… duh! However the marriage continues and we are on year 41 now and i realize there are things my little brain is never going to ‘get’. This paper goes a long way in explaining the dynamics of the make up of Iceland. No wonder Jon started this site. The volcanics of Iceland are truely unique and need independent coverage.
      Thanks to both Pieter for the information and Jon for the site.
      Best!motsfo

      1. Hehe! I’m at page 19. So far, so good, but, from now on, I think I’ll need a break. 🙂

    1. Motsfo: Not much reason for bowing here… all you have to do is skip the tough paragraphs and go on. Very interesting, indeed, even for an amateur. 🙂

      1. Problem is that I go on searching for names and links and it never comes to an end. At this very moment I got stuck at April, 14th EB post. Wonder why?

      3. just watched the lights drive off the screen.
        Hope he makes it home.
        Famous blessing by my grandchildren:
        (Since i have a few and they live in different directions and seem to leave at different times….)
        “May You go all the way home and play with Your
        Own toys!”…. we laughed and laughed about one serious little 4 year old that pronounced that blessing as their beloved cousin drove out of sight.
        May he go all the way home too…..
        Best!motsfo

      5. Hehe when I was in Thorsmork last summer, there was also a small jeep stuck in Markjaflot, a tractor had to come from the local mountainhut to pull him out. It was somehow hilarious to see this guy pulling him out, like it’s his everyday job.

      8. I think that wouldn’t be a very tactical [;ace to camp, because there are about 3 campingsites only 10 minutes away from Gigjokull, plus small, but still pending danger of a glacial flood from the crater lake at Eyja.

  7. @Pieter: Thank you very much for the article. Very, very illuminating, but I’m done, for now. Interesting that, in the chapter where he describes volcanic hazards, he points to the possibility of air traffic disruption – and that was before Eyjafjallajökull 2010.
    And I highly recommend the reading of the four appendixes containing invaluable information concerning interactions between volcanic systems as well as useful maps of Icelandic volcanoes.
    But remember, skip numbers and formulas!

    1. Hehe I just had to share this, not only the information is good and interesting, but I like the way it’s written simplified enough for us amateurs to read it and not get completely lost. 🙂 I noticed the air traffic disruption thing too, this guy must be like some voodoo magician. I bet he just made Eyjafjallajokull erupt to prove his article was right!

      1. Yes, and I still must read the final chapters and appendixes more carefully. I like the fact that one can make accurate “predictions” based on sheer scientific evidence.
        BTW: still curious about Jón’s forecast of new swarms in Reykjanes area. These things do, indeed come in waves, but he was very straightforward on this. 😉

  8. GRF gps/tremor station is back up by the way, new material again for stat-droolers like me hehe. 🙂

  9. I was trying to install a new geophone station. But that did not work, as the 3G mode/router (Huawei 3G router) did not support NAT. Based on the web interface in the router. For that technical reason I was not able to setup a new geophone station as I had hoped. As I was unable to forward the data to my main computer.

    I am going to try again tomorrow at a new location if I can. I still know of people how might be able to host this hardware for me.

  10. 3 new Mýrdalsjökull Tremor-Plots are online:
    Asolfsskalaheidi (aso), Smjörgil (smj) and Slysaalda (sly) and without name (alf)

      1. You can use them in the “Overall seismc tremor plots” seeing the IMO.
        And ALF: You’re right. This is exactly occurred to me, especially since nowhere a new station has been released.
        (Sorry: this is a Google translation)

  13. Those of you who live in Norðurland should probably stay away from inclined mountains and hills. An avalanche is not fun to get in the head.
    IMO-warning that I just felt might be apropriate to repost here.

    1. i might know how You feel, Jon. If it goes a long time here without an earthquake things get edgy……. The longer it goes; the bigger the quake. Since i live in an area affected by a subducted zone there are many earthquakes and the zone is always subducting so if we go a long time without an earthquake the next one has a greater chance of being bigger. Then when one comes, everyone relaxes………. i enjoy them (when they aren’t too big)
      It’s fun to see if You can guess which way it came from by observing the movement. my DH went thu the ’64 great quake in Anchorage and it made quite an impression on him. They kind of freak him out. (understandable)
      But he would panic when the little rollers start and it would scare the kids when they were little…. i had to do something to make them less scared because we get them all the time…… no reason to frighten children…… so i would tell the children to “Watch Dad. It’s fun to see him get scared.”
      i know, not kind…… but he was one to always play practical jokes on the kids and now it was time to turn the tables on him… Sorry for the long post.
      Best!motsfo

      1. Now it’s my turn to bow to your courage, MotsFo.
        I sort of freak out at the idea of an earthquake.
        Back in the 70s, when I was visiting Santiago, Chile, I felt a very light jolt and I still remember how I panicked.
        I’ve already asked Guillermo at the EB about his feelings after last year’s big one and he said “people get used to it”.
        Hats off to both of you . 🙂

      2. Near subduction zones quiet time indeed is lethal. This is why I worry so much about the coasts of Oregon and Washington, because there is also a subduction zone and the last major earthquake (6+/7+) was about 300-400 years ago. So all this stress building should eventually lead to a castastrophic earthquake.

    1. Thank you, Jón.
      Etna is putting on a beautiful show which reminds me a bit of Eyjafjallajökull in may, as seen from Hvólsvöllur webcam.

    2. @Birgit: Many thanks! Amazing to watch live the explosions an also the rolling incandescent rocks.

    3. I am going to create a web page for the web cameras that are not automatic in updating the pictures. I don’t create web pages for streaming web cameras, but I do link to them.

    1. Impressive picture at etnaweb.net! Indeed very nice. This is rather new activity isn’t it?

      1. Well, it had been showing signs of awakening, but from the 11th she started to display a Strombolian kind of eruption, but today it grew stronger and lava started to flow and then formed a lava lake and fountain. Beautiful!

  21. Hey!
    Not that quiet!
    Thursday
    13.01.2011 09:22:27 64.084 -17.261 1.1 km 3.9 54.47 15.4 km WNW of Skaftafell
    Thursday
    13.01.2011 09:22:22 64.415 -17.269 0.1 km 2.7 99.0 1.2 km N of Grímsfjall
    Thursday
    13.01.2011 09:06:36 64.426 -17.258 0.4 km 2.7 99.0 2.5 km NNE of Grímsfjall
    Thursday
    13.01.2011 09:06:36 64.391 -16.953 1.1 km 2.7 90.01 15.5 km E of Grímsfjall
    Wednesday
    12.01.2011 09:33:28 65.101 -16.426 5.5 km 1.1 99.0 2.4 km NW of Herðubreiðartögl

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