Posted on by Jón Frímann

Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Yesterday (24-February-2018) and today (25-February-2018) earthquake activity increased in Öræfajökull volcano after a long quiet time. Largest earthquake recorded had a magnitude of 2,2. Other magnitude where from 0,6 and up to 1,2. All earthquakes are marked as at shallow depth, but that might not be correct.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (south to the right on this image). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is due to magma pushing up into the volcano. This is above background level of activity in Öræfajökull volcano since background level activity is around 1 – 2 earthquake a year (up to 10 earthquakes a year).

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13 Replies to “Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano”

  1. Is this what they call volcanic tremor?.What does this mean? Is this the first sign of an eruption?

    1. This is just earthquake activity. You can see how tremor data looks like in the data from Bárðarbunga volcano eruption in 2014. It is going to be different for Öræfajökull volcano, but tremor activity appears like this on Öræfajökull volcano or something close to this.

      The station showing the data are dyn and Kreppuhraun.

      http://icelandgeology.net/?p=4814

  2. Hi Jon….a question for you.

    When there are large swarms in Iceland, all other locations seem to go quiet. For example Öræfajökull . When the tectonic activity dies down….earthquakes appear again. Why is this please ?

    1. This is just how it appears. It is a random event if one area is active while others are quiet.

      There is always a chance of more than one area being active in Iceland at any given time. I don’t remember when it happened last time that there was a high activity in more than one part of Iceland.

  4. I think katla or barda. Barda has been more active the last half year so i put my one norwegen krone on bardabunga.. Jon your turn..

  5. Hi Jon, I am planning to visit Iceland from March 19 to 26 2018. My trip will involve driving through on the highway 1 from Keflavik to Hofn, on the March 19 and back to Vik on March 20. Will it be safe in view of potential volcanic eruption at Öræfajökull? At what situation the road will be closed?

    Thanks for your prompt update for volcano activity monitoring.

    1. It is unlikely that an eruption is going to happen during this time. But an eruption in Öræfajökull or Katla volcano does mean the closure of highway 1 for a undefined amount of time to Reykjavík with south Iceland.

      Only safe viewing of an eruption in Öræfajökull volcano is west of it. I am not sure if exact location since I don’t know the landscape in this area.

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