Posted on by Jón Frímann

One year ago since Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption did start in Fimmvörðuháls

This day exactly one year ago a eruption started in Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The first phase of the eruption was a Hawaiian type eruption that took place in Fimmvörðuháls. But that area is glacier free and is part of Eyjafjallajökull volcano system. On 31.03.2010 a second fissure did open close the first one that had been erupting for about two weeks by then.

The explosive phase of the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano started on April 13th 2010. But I am going to write more about that when the day comes (I hope). That eruption did not end until late May and since then Eyjafjallajökull volcano has resumed it’s dormant status. For now anyway.

Here are videos of the Fimmvörðuháls eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano that took place in 2010.

35 Replies to “One year ago since Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption did start in Fimmvörðuháls”

  1. Very much enjoy following your blog and updates on the volcanic activity of Iceland. I live in the desert of southern Utah USA – totally different from the north Atlantic! Looking forward to visiting Iceland some day soon.

  2. Hi Jón

    Has anyone taken a look at the summit area of Eyjafjallajökull recently? Last summer there was a steaming lake up there and it was still puffing a small amount of steam when I went past last October. I was wondering what an Icelandic winter would have done to cover the crater in snow and ice.

    And I’m still kicking myself for not spending £2000 to go and see Fimmvörðuháls, I think I missed the show of a lifetime!

  3. I don’t like that big earthquake swarm in Japan at the moment. There is a good risk for a Mw7.0 or larger earthquake going to take place in Japan soon in my assessment.

  4. M6.6, M6.4, M6.6, M6.0 and a M5.9….

    Thats uuh….on the high side of the decay curve. It had been into the 5.0 / 4.8 area.

    1. That is why this is worrying. There is clearly a earthquake swarm going on in the area and I fear that it might trigger a nearby fault lines, as they might be weakened by the Mw9.0 earthquake.

      1. Ya, I’ve been watching this and wondering if some bigger movement is afoot and how this would impact the recovery at Fukushima Dai-ichi as things are quite fragile over there from all the heat, explosions and fires. Its not that uncommon to see something in the high 7’s or even 8 within 2 months. I know they are racing several clocks and this is one of them.

      2. I guess those aftershocks rattled the asian markets and are appearing to have an affect on the U.S. futures as well. The fear is that these are occurring of the coast of the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors which are very fragile and that a huge aftershock could result in a melt down.

        The markets these days are very jittery given they have greedily climbed the wall of worry so high up.

        http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/asian-stocks-drop-as-more-quakes-strike-near-nuclear-site-plants-closed.html

        Very interesting world lately. Strap on your seat belts.

  5. Isn’t that exceptional? I thought those aftershocks did kind of “die down” after time, not like these getting stronger again.
    ( but what do I know… newbie on the earthquakefront)

  6. Hey all,

    is there some know earthquake swarm, that had this intensity ?

    So since 9 days we had over 200+ quakes 5+ thats some energy release, a 9, a 7.

    Sure we dont know yet what all drives this swarms, and yeah you said we have seen a earthquake swarm in Iceland with over 800 eq in a small timespan, but not that much energy like in japan, can someone verrify that?

  7. DIn theThe thing to look for, is are these quakes indicative of stress moving/redistributing through the nearby strata, or if they are causing loading to the south. I don’t know when the last large event occured there. If you pull the USGS poster for the 9.0 it might say on there. Sorry, no link…. I’m on the road.

  8. This zone is known for its intensity but comn i have really never seen such a long time so much realease in energy, where is this energy coming from? whats rumbling the plates? That it will build up something is sure, yet its always the same…. when….

    But really have somebody any clue if there is a know earthquake swarm with such an intensity, sure there is a big problem because of lack data, because we have had such an improve in instruments worldwide, thats for sure.
    But here we have more then 200+ feelt earthquakes, please gimme a hint.

    1. Well, you do have the oldest and most dense part of the pacific plate here. Under the idea of “slab pull” this would be one of thee areas experiencing the most activity. Japan is notorious for it’s large quakes… but I don’t know if this is normal.

  9. Back to Eyjafjallajökull vulcano… although the eruption caused a lot of damage and was kind of a disaster for the air traffic over Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, it also had some positive aspects.
    Looking at the videos, you can see (and feel) how beautiful and fascinating eruptions can be. And the eruption has certainly motivated many people to increase their knowledge about vulcanos, particularly in Iceland. And that also includes me. I read a lot about Etna, Vesuv, St Helens and Pinatubo. Concerning Iceland, I only knew the story of Surtsey. And now I frequently check earthquakes and tremor charts in Iceland. I’m even thinking of visiting Iceland during summer (but not only for this reason). So far, Eyjafjallajökull has changed my life a little bit.

    One question remains, though (although probably no one can give the answer before it actually happens): Is the eruption of Eyjafjallojöküll followed by Katla? So far, I haven’t seen any suspicious activity… break of the tradition?

    Best from Germany,
    Dirk

    1. The problem with correlating Eyjafjallajökull eruptions to Katla activity, is that relatively speaking, Katla is alway on the verge of eruption.

      IN MY OPINION, both share a common origin rift wise, but that is about it. A lot of supposition has been made about a common plumbing system, but scant evidence supports it. Even in my plots there appeared about 3 or 4 quakes that made a diagonal line from the the Eyj feed system towards Katla, but nothing ever came of it.

      Since then, there has been broad seismicity under the western slopes extending midway to Torfajökull. My interpretation is that is is sill emplacement… but I could be wrong. After all, I’m not a geologist.

      1. The earthquakes that are happening near Torfajökull are all related to cooling/deflation. I’ve read an article about it, I’ll look for it later.

    2. On that subject, here is a FoxNews article about the Katla connection. It is pretty short and concise and quotes some Icelandic geologists, but does not quote research. Im sure if your puruse the net you’ll find research that tries to explain the connection. I believe Katla has erupted within 1-2 years of Eyjafjallojöküll 3 for 3 times in the last 1000 years if my memory from reading serves me correctly.

      http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/19/threat-new-larger-icelandic-eruption-looms/

      1. It’s not research… but a look at a plot of Katla eruptions vs Eyjafjallajökull eruptions sort of illustrates my point.

        How can one claim a valid correlation when one volcano is always headed into an eruptive phase and the other only occasionally acts up. You can’t help but think they are connected.

        It’s an artificial correlation.

        http://i51.tinypic.com/119ba1c.png

      2. Most of what I have read states either vaguely or specifically that Katla follows Eyjafjallajökull within “weeks” or “months”, and this has not happened. So it sounds like the correlation is drawn from the proximity in time being weeks or months. For the random correlation you suggest, it would be statistically unlikely to have eruptions at both volcanos within months due the Eyjafjallajökull only erupting 18% (3/16) of the frequency of Katla over a span of 12,000 months. Randomness would not put Katla erupting right >after< all 3 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions.

        http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7070239.ece

      3. Thank-you for this interesting plot. I tend to share your opinion because from what I’ve read the theory is based on 3 or 4 occurences. I didn’t know that Katla is so “old” though.
        Interesting side-note is that in many articles you find the Statement “usually Katla follows within weeks or months” but then I read that the Katla Eruption in 1823 was likely triggered by Eyjafjallajöküll eruption in 1821. That’s 2 years, not weeks or even months. 😉

      4. What Lurking is suggesting really is along the lines of Probabilistic Independence or Correlation Indendence which falls under the heading of Probability Theory.

        A statistician would take Lurkings plot data and calculate the Correlation Coefficient in order to determine whether statistically that these tandem eruptions where Katla follows Eyjafjallajöküll could be random or correlated. I suspect that even with Katla eruptions following 2 years later, that there is a statistical correlation that is statistically significant.

        Then of course, there are scientific theories that argue for this correlation.

        I tend to error on correlation 🙂

  10. Hi Jón F., thanks for the videos – I didn’t discover Eruptionsblog and the Icelandic eruptions until Eyjafjallajökull came on board. Nice to visit this in retrospect.

  11. Every morning since January I have been waking up in the morning and seeing Eyjafjallajokull and Katla to the east. I live in South Iceland.
    Very often my mind daydreams of watching an eruption from here, some 100km of safe distance from Katla.

  12. A few Katla earthquakes. Is Katla celebrating Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption aniversary? I hope it doesn’t get too excited in it’s festivities!

  13. Hi everybody!
    No Katla, but yesterday there was a smal article in a free newspaper stating the following: According to Belgium researchers there is a chance that the Netherlands could be hit by a e.q. of 7.0 on the Richter scale. They base their opinion on geological research.
    The area around Roermond and Sittard is an active tectonic system.
    Has any of you comments on the statement made by the Belgian researchers in the above mentioned article? Not that I am afraid or so, it’s only – after reading Jón’s blog – for many months now – interesting what your non-/semi-/professional opinions are.
    Thanks on forehand for your comments.

    Henk Weijerstrass
    Zwaag

      1. mmm, usually I tend to ignore what is written in the Telegraaf…

        I’l read it later ( after some “real” science :-P)

  14. Hi everybody!
    No Katla, but yesterday there was a smal article in a free newspaper stating the following: According to Belgium researchers there is a chance that the Netherlands could be hit by a e.q. of 7.0 on the Richter scale. They base their opinion on geological research.
    The area around Roermond and Sittard is an active tectonic system.
    Has any of you comments on the statement made by the Belgian researchers in the above mentioned article? Not that I am afraid or so, it’s only – after reading Jón’s blog – for many months now – interesting what your non-/semi-/professional opinions are.
    Thanks on forehand for your comments.

    Henk Weijerstrass

  15. Something went wrong, I appologize for the double post!
    I though I hadn’d post it yet and still had to go through “CAPTCHA”.
    Henk

  17. Katla is being stimulated again. Here comes the long line of quakes from originating from the peninsula.

    1. It’s naïve to think the tectonic-microquakes on the Reykjanes peninsula can somehow affect magma movement deep within a volcanic system. This is not the case at all.

      The quakes beneath Katla’s caldera are interesting because of their depth, but nothing really unusual so far, these earthquakes have happened for years.

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