Category: Reykjanes

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw4,2 in Reykjanes volcano

Today (18-March 2020) at 10:32 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,2 took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake started a swarm of earthquake that is ongoing at the writing of this article.


The earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity is increasing again in this area of Reykjanes peninsula as inflation has resumed but at lower rate then before. That might change as the time goes on. I was unable to record this earthquakes because I am having a major problems with my earthquake computers and Microsoft has disabled activation of Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems so I can’t use them. I am working on a solution but it going to take a little time to implement properly.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw5,2 in Þorbjörn mountain (Fagradalsfjall mountain)

Today (12. March 2020) at 10:25 an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw5,2 took place in Fagradallsfjall mountain east of Grindavík town (Reykjanes volcano). This earthquake was felt over a wide area. This earthquake appears to be directly connected to the inflation that has been taking place in this area.


The Mw5,2 earthquake in Fagradallsfjalli mountain. This image is free to use if sourced is mentioned.


All the directions of the Mw5,2 earthquake in Fagradallsfjall mountain. This image is free to use if sourced is mentioned.


The earthquake swarm following the Mw5,2 earthquake in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The earthquake swarm following the Mw5,2 earthquake in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is a risk of strong earthquakes in this area and it is going to be a while until it starts to quiet down again. There is at the writing of this article no signs of magma moving towards the crust. It is unclear if that is going to change but no such signs have been detected at the writing of this article.

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano (west of Grindavík town)

I am sorry for lack of updates in recent days. I have been moving and taking up from boxes and that stuff takes time and energy. I have now temporarily fixed the geophone in Hvammstangi, Iceland and that is now updating again. The geophone website can be found here.

Overview of the Reykjanes volcano activity in recent days

In general there has not been a lot of change in activity in Reykjanes volcano. Earthquake activity has most stopped north-east of Gridavík town when the inflation in that area mostly stopped and a little time of deflation started and stopped at 55mm based on recent GPS measurements. Earthquake activity is ongoing. There seems to be a pattern of larger earthquakes happening in the western part of the activity in similar pattern as was the case in the eastern part of the active area (Grindavík town). Largest earthquakes on Wednesday had a magnitude of Mw3,4. There is a risk of stronger earthquakes in this area.


The earthquake activity on Reykjanes volcano as of the writing of this article. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This information might go outdated quickly if something happens in this area. Earthquake activity might be increasing again with Grindavík town but that is unclear at the writing of this article.

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Increase in dangerous volcano gases detected in caves on Reykjanes volcano

It was reported in the news today that dangerous levels of volcanic gases have been detected in caves on the Reykjanes volcano. This change suggests that magma might already be close to the surface and at less than 1 km depth. Bad weather has been masking detection of smaller earthquakes in recent hours. There has not been any change in earthquake activity and inflation remains at around 60mm and has stayed there for several days.

Icelandic news

Stay out of Reykjanes caves, people warned (Rúv.is)

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Increased earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano

Today (17. February 2020) there has been a increased earthquake activity in the volcano called Reykjanes that is west of Þorbjörn mountain close to Grindavík town. Most of this earthquake activity is small with largest earthquakes having magnitude of Mw2,8. Over 160 earthquakes have happened today. Earthquake activity is ongoing so this numbers are going to change quickly.


The earthquake activity today. Reykjanes volcano is located to the far west on this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Inflation continues in this area without a change and has now reached more than 60mm close to Þorbjörn mountain area. I don’t know for sure how much inflation has now taken place in this area.

Pictures of the area with the earthquakes

Today (17. February 2020) I did go to this active area to take few pictures. I didn’t get many pictures because the weather was cold and windy. All pictures are taken by me.


The Reykjanes and the Atlantic ocean. Copyright Jón Frímann Jónsson


The rock cliff of the coastline. Copyright Jón Frímann Jónsson


Eldey island at a distance. Copyright Jón Frímann Jónsson


Gunnuhver hot spring. It makes steam. Copyright Jón Frímann Jónsson

More pictures and a video can be found on my Instagram here.

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Please remember to support my work. The second half of February is going to be really broke for me because of moving back to Iceland and other low income related problems. Just donate if you can do so. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake activity starts in Reykjanes volcano (west of Grindavík town)

Yesterday (14. February 2020) an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw3,1 took place west of Grindavík town. This is just one of many earthquakes this is area as earthquake activity is now continuous and shows no sign of stopping. There has also been increase in earthquake activity in the volcano named Reykjanes (far west of Grindavík town). Þorbjörn mountain is on a top of a different volcano. It seems that both volcanoes in this area are getting active and that is not a good thing.


Earthquake activity in this area. Notice all earthquakes have the direction south-west to north-east. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This situation is getting more complicated and the rate of inflation has slowed a little in recent days while there has been increase in earthquake activity at the same time. The increase in activity in the most west volcano (Reykjanes volcano) makes the situation more dangerous as an eruption the western volcano are going to happen mostly out in the ocean and that is going to result in a volcano ash cloud for a longer or short time period.

What has now started is going to take months since it did not go the quick route with this inflation and magma activity.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw3,1 north-west of Grindavík town

Today (11th February 2020) an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,1 took place north-west of Grindavík town in the volcano of Reykjanes. A second earthquake with magnitude Mw2,6 also took place at the same location.


Current earthquake activity around Grindavík town (Þorbjörn Mountain). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity in this area remains the same and is mostly minor earthquakes and that is not a surprise for me. This earthquake activity is in a new area following this magma intrusion and inflation in this area.

Article in wrong place

I did discover that an Icelandic earthquake article had found its way to this website. I don’t know how I got the two websites mixed up. But I have now corrected this and it is on the correct website.

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Earthquake activity update for 4th February 2020 for Reykjanes volcano

Today (4th February 2020) there has not been a huge change in activity in Reykjanes volcano. Today’s earthquake activity has only been minor earthquakes and around 100 have happened today. There is no change in harmonic tremor on nearby SIL stations so magma is not moving towards the crust. Current inflation is around 55mm to 60mm. The only noticeable change in last few hours is that area of earthquake activity seems to be pushing it self a little more north-east. There has not been any change in the south-west part of the active area.


Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano today (4th of February 2020). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is a possibility that this is going to be a long process before an eruption happens. It is a long time since an eruption last took place (but no time at all in geological time scale) in this area. It also takes the magma a while to get to the pressure levels needed for an eruption and at current amount of magma it might not be enough to start an eruption in this area.

While there is no major change between days or earthquake activity I am going to have fewer updates since too many articles about the same thing is not good and I know this from experience when Bárðarbunga volcano erupted in 2014 to 2015.

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Moving back to Iceland

I move back to Iceland next week. That might result in limited updates the days that I am moving (14th to 18th of February) if something happens on the Reykjanes peninsula in that time. I’ll try to update best I can during this time. Normal updates start soon as I get all my belongings back from transport by the start of March. At the same time I’ll fix errors with my geophone so I can start recording earthquakes again and provide updates of earthquake activity in Iceland in more details.

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Earthquake update for Grindavík town (Þorbjörn) on 3rd February 2020

Yesterday (2nd February 2020) a magnitude Mw3,3 earthquake took place north of Grindavík town at 19:04 UTC. It was felt in Grindavík and nearby area as all earthquakes of this magnitude. Today (3rd February 2020) the day has mostly been quiet and there have only been minor earthquakes in the Þorbjörn mountain area and the area close to Grindavík town. The volcano that is now active is called Reykjanes and this is the second volcano of two in this system. The first volcano is mostly under the ocean and is possibly active but exact status remains unknown. Since around 10:00 UTC there have been small earthquake activity, since around 18:00 UTC earthquake activity has started to increase again and is ongoing as the writing of this article. Inflation is now at 50mm to 55mm.


Current earthquake activity close to Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake activity rate close to Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There doesn’t seems to be any change in activity since this started on 21st of January 2020. Earthquake activity is going to continue until this inflation stops or an eruption happens. I don’t know what is going to happen with this.

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Earthquake activity update for Grindavík town 2nd February 2020

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Earthquake update for 2nd February 2020

Earthquake activity close to Grindavík town continues as before. Largest earthquakes since midnight had the magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,0. A lot of smaller earthquake activity is currently happening and don’t always appears to be visible on the automatic map on Icelandic Met Office website. Over 200 earthquakes have taken place since midnight. Over 1200 earthquakes have taken place since 21st January 2020 when this started. Inflation remains the same and is now close to 50mm (GPS information can be viewed here). Rate of inflation seems to change slightly between days and I don’t know why that is happening. Most inflation seems to be happening close to the blue lagoon. Most of the earthquake activity is on a fault that is south-west to north-east direction and is south-east of highest point of the inflation. That makes a sense in terms of crust stress factors. What is missing is a earthquake swarm north of the main inflation area.


Earthquake activity in the Grindavík town area for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


All the earthquake activity in this area since 21st of January 2020 to 2nd February 2020. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Surface image of the area that is now having earthquake swarms. Copyright of this image belongs to Google.


The earthquake activity in the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There are no signs of the magma that is now injecting it self into the crust at 3 to 6 km depth that has started to break up the surface. It is possible that pressure is not enough for that to happen just yet. What happens next is impossible to know for sure but earthquake activity is going to continue in this area until inflation stops or an eruption starts.