Posted on by Jón Frímann

Hekla volcano earthquake last night

Last night at 21:39 UTC there was a ML0.7 earthquake in Hekla volcano. Depth of this earthquake was 1.3 km. It is unclear if this earthquake is a pre-event before a eruption starts. But few years ago there was a earthquke in Hekla volcano. But no eruption did happen that time around.


Hekla earthquake. Click on the picture too see it in full resolution. This picture is released under Creative Common License, see top link for more information.

This is a picture of the earthquake. The distance was 16.8 km from my geophone to the location of the earthquake. My geophone is close to Hekla volcano and because of that it is really sensitive to any activity that takes place in Hekla volcano (given good weather).

53 Replies to “Hekla volcano earthquake last night”

  2. Wow… at the moment this blog is really an interesting place. We cannot complain about activities in Iceland during the past weeks: first the earthquakes in the Krysuvik area, then the earthquakes and odd tremor plots at Grimsfjall, followed by some activity in the area of Kverkfjöll, and recently some activities at Askja and now even Hekla.

    Sounds like a lottery game… we could even make a contest which one blows first. But on the other hand, it is very well possible that nothing happens at all in the next weeks or even months.

    I’m just wondering: is there any connection between these events? Perhaps (but this is only speculation of a non-expert) it just indicates that one vulcano is wakening up (perhaps leading to a bigger eruption) and the movement of magma at this place is responsible for the events around the Vatnajökull area, i.e. some kind of chain reaction?

    1. “I’m just wondering: is there any connection between these events?”

      Yes, but more specifically, all of the events and volcanoes are caused by the slow spread of the two major plates, the interaction of the two microplates, and the presence of a (possibly mid level sourced) mantle plume/hotspot.

      With the Mid Atlantic Ridge cutting through the middle of Iceland, it’s pretty hard for the events there to not be related in some fashion. As for direct causative effects from Askja to Hekla or something similar, no.

  3. There is more going at Askja volcano that I first estimated. I am going to write about a little later on. But more shallow earthquakes, along with deep earthquakes (22 km) have been appearing in Askja volcano over the last 24 hours.

  5. There is no increase in tremor in Askja. How about inflation, does someone knows where to find the data for Askja? I know that for a long time the volcano was deflating, probably since the huge eruption in 1875. Apparently, after 2007, some big changes start to happen at the volcano, and a local warden told me the volcano was on the way to an eruption.

    1. Nice for who? For us observers yes ofcourse! But personally I can only fully enjoy such an experience when no human life is in danger. 🙂

  9. Far as I can tell from IMO data, it appears that the latest earthquakes north of Askja volcano had low frequency component in them. I am not sure, but it appears to be the case.

    1. Why do you think? The tremor graphs does not show anomalies at the low-frequency bands.

      1. It can be seen on the SIL stations a bit farther away from Askja volcano. It is not clear on the stations closest too Askja volcano. I do not know why that is.

      2. Yes, on the 1-2Hz band is a large spike in a lot of SIL stations in Northern Island. Is 1-2Hz low enough to be classified as a ‘low frequency’ tremor, and if so, can it also be classified as magma-related tremor/earthquake?

      3. May be due to its low depth to hear low frequencies do not have to go away,
        is a review

      4. Ah, there is a red spike hidden beneath the green/blue spike. As can be see at the Dimmadalsas (dim) SIL-station.

        So yes, this is low frequency. Very interesting.

  11. I am going to sleep now. But I am going too write about this tomorrow when I wake up. Even if nothing interesting happens.

  12. 23:47:09 65.122 -17.045 1.1 km 1.5 90.01 22.6 km WNW of Dreki
    23:16:27 65.139 -16.992 1.1 km 1.3 77.18 21.3 km WNW of Dreki
    23:03:36 65.136 -17.010 1.1 km 1.3 90.01 21.9 km WNW of Dreki
    22:52:35 65.150 -16.983 0.2 km 1.5 90.02 21.6 km NW of Dreki

    http://i52.tinypic.com/e9jj21.jpg

    Peculiar signal.

    1. 15:44:03 65.135 -17.018 0.6 km 1.4 57.29 22.1 km WNW of Dreki

      Quality isn’t good but the location clusters tightly

    3. 15:54:55 65.113 -17.096 19.6 km 1.4 99.0 24.5 km WNW of Dreki
      04.05.2011 15:51:20 65.138 -17.009 0.1 km 1.6 99.0 22.0 km WNW of Dreki
      04.05.2011 15:28:44 65.134 -17.017 0.1 km 0.7 99.0 22.0 km WNW of Dreki
      04.05.2011 13:30:49 65.133 -17.033 5.2 km 0.6 99.0 22.7 km WNW of Dreki

      http://i54.tinypic.com/de8dmo.jpg

    1. I don’t know what happened. But they seems to have a lost of a lot of pages. Including the weeks overview among other things.

  14. hi everyone

    The automatic counter of iceland earthqauke page is working now again.

  15. The Katla quakes today, are they ice quakes? they are very low and some -0.7

    The weather in Iceland land, looks to be very hot. is 17c normal for April? its only 14c in Dublin today.

    1. Hot? We have temperatures around 0°C and 16cm of snow since yesterday. Although snow can happen at this time of the year its pretty rare in this amounts in the western area of iceland in this time of the year.

  16. The weather situation is interesting.

    We have the jet stream (and a weather front) right crossing through Iceland, more or less like the mid Atlantic rift! To the west side, it is cold and snowy (0ºC in Reykjavik), in Selfoss where I am is cloudy and about 8ºC, in East Iceland, is warm and sunny, about 17ºC. And this is the same warm air that covers all Europe (Europe has been unseasonably warm and dry for more than a month)

    Such a contrast, but tomorrow the warm air will win, and invade all Iceland, and so it will be mild all over Iceland, warmest in East and South. It will be up to 18ºC or more.

    1. That will make the volcano glaciers in Iceland to begin to melt… it will destabilyze pressure within magma chambers isn’t it?

      1. Well that has been going on ever since the end of the last ice age, but yes, that could happen at a faster rate.

    1. Thanks for this information (a year overview helps a lot). From what I gather in this plot is that magma is collecting fast under Askja volcano. There are some tectonic earthquakes there. But they appear to be rather fast magma inflow under Askja taking place.

      A lot faster then I would have expected.

      I am going to write more about Askja volcano when I know more about what is going on in Askja volcano.

    2. Lurking: you are getting close to “Virgil “(from the Superv. movie)

    4. Wow…. that is soooo cool… thank you for that it really helps you visualise the activity……

      ….. there seems to be so many volcanos grumbling away….

      brilliant job …. 🙂

      1. Just remember that there are a large amount of tectonic activity in the plot… not all of it is volcanic.

        I don’t have a way of distinguishing between the two in the SIL data.

  19. @Lurking, great vid, another EQ this last night, about the weather thing, i was watching a BBC programme and a ice sheet in the north pole broke up in a week, something they said could not happen. It was day after tomorrow stuff. Now nothing is holding back the glaciers from flowing and the movement has quicken. any signs this is happening with Katla or Grímsvötn? minus the ice sheet part.

  20. A very pretty 3D insight in Askja volcano! Very well done!

  21. Lurking, if I send you all the data on my wife, can you 3-d her weight gain so we can see the areas that her cellulite is accumulating the fastest? I’m pretty sure its in the pwuet, but wanna make sure.

  22. Jon is katla still a threat or has all this died from last years eruption

Comments are closed.