The earthquake activity in Askja volcano continues with no clear signs that it is about to stop. Since midnight around 200 earthquakes have happened at the writing of this article. Icelandic Met Office is currently holding a meeting about this earthquake swarm in Askja volcano.
The earthquake swarm in Askja volcano as of 12-November-2019 at 11:55 UTC. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There seems to be a pulse activity in this earthquake swarm. Activity drops for several hours before increasing again and then slows down again. That is possible clue that this earthquake swarm has its origins in magma activity that has not yet reached shallow levels of the crust. There is no deep earthquake activity in this swarm and that might not happen. What exactly is going on in Askja volcano remains unclear at the writing for this article.
There are now two possibles of what might happen next
- Earthquake activity continues until an eruption happens. This would be a lava eruption with no or limited amount of volcano ash happening in the process.
- This earthquake swarm continues until it just stops and no eruption happens.
What happens is impossible to know for sure since this earthquake activity is a mystery as of the writing of this article.
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Seismic activity if it were tectonic it would be more widespread, but instead it is concentrated in only one area, this is clearly magma.
It has increased, since the seismic activity in Herdubreid has decreased, after continuing for years.
Source:(IMO)
An earthquake swarm started the 7th of November just east of Askja volcano and is still ongoing. Around 700 earthquakes have been recorded in the area since the swarm started. The largest earthquake was about M3.4 and occurred on the 9th of November. In addition to that earthquake, one earthquake > M3.0 has been detected during the swarm until now. No volcanic tremor has been detected in the area. This is more like brittle type tectonic earthquakes related to continental drift. Earthquake swarms occur regularly around Herðubreið and Askja. The IMO is monitoring the activity 24/7.
Written by a specialist at 12 Nov 17:11 GMT