Category: Reykjanes peninsula

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Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano

Over the last few hours there has been an earthquake swarm close to mountain called Fagradalsfjall in or close to the volcano called Reykjanes. At the writing of this article no earthquake with magnitude over Mw2,0 have happened. That might change without a warning.


The earthquake swarm in the volcano Reykjanes or close to it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there isn’t anything suggesting that magma is on the move at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is something to watch out for since this might increase in size and magnitude over the next few hours. Inflation data from GPS measurements from this area are still unclear. There is also ongoing earthquake swarm north of Grindavík town but it has quieted down in last few hours.

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Two strong earthquakes north of Grindavík town

This morning (18-July-2020) two strong earthquakes that were felt in Grindavík town and Reykjanes area took place this morning at 05:54 UTC and 05:56 UTC in the volcano Reykjanes. Earlier earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and the second earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,1. There isn’t a lot to go on by the GPS data that is showing any inflation taking place following this earthquake swarm. The strongest earthquakes were also rather shallow being only at 2,5 km depth.


The earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This magma intrusions are a repeated pattern and now strongly suggests that a eruption is going to happen in this volcano. When is impossible to know. What is most likely to happen is that more and stronger earthquake swarm might happen. Current depth of smaller earthquakes in this swarm is now from 8 km to 0,1 km. This appears just to be earthquakes in the rocks at the most shallow depths for now due to pressure changes at more depth from magma. There is a risk of stronger earthquakes in this area because of this dyke intrusions.

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Sharp increase in earthquakes in Þorbjörn mountain (Svartsengi/Reykjanes volcano)

Since around 06:00 this morning (13-June-2020) a sharp increase in earthquake activity took place north of Grindavík town. The most dense earthquake swarm was located west of the Blue lagoon with other minor swarms in other nearby areas. The active volcano is Reykjanes and Svartsengi (no Global Volcanism profile). Map can be found here and here (go to Höggunarkort).


The clusters of earthquake activity close to Grindavík town. This map can be found here (Icelandic only). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


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

Largest earthquakes at the writing of this article have a magnitude of Mw3,5 (at 20:27 UTC) but since this earthquake swarm in ongoing that number can change without warning.

There was also considerable noise during the earthquake swarm earlier. Suggesting that something is going on but I do not know what might be for now. The noise results in the blue band thickens during the earthquake swarm.


The termor plot during the earthquake swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Current GPS data (can be viewed here) doesn’t show any major changes at the writing of this article. That might change in next few days.

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Weekend long earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (both of them)

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Over the weekend there has been a earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,6 on Saturday 06-June-2020 at 01:01 UTC. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. Around 220 earthquakes have been recorded at the writing of this article.


The earthquake activity in the volcano called Reykjanes and Svartsengi (Þorbjörn). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The reason for this earthquake swarm is inflation that has been increasing in recent days according to GPS data that is not yet corrected or verified. That GPS data can be found here. This inflation increases the risk of larger earthquake in next few days.

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Earthquake swarm north-east of Grindavík town

Today (30-May-2020) at 01:07 UTC an earthquake swarm started north-east of Grindavík town in the volcano of Reykjanes (Svartsengi part). Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,7 and other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing and this information is going to get outdated quickly. Current activity doesn’t suggest that an eruption is about to happen.


The earthquake swarm north-east of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This signals that the inflation in this part of the volcano has started again at earlier speed possibly but this requires a confirmation from GPS data and such confirmation takes a few days. This is information that I don’t have access to because its from satellites that NASA runs to monitor volcanoes. Only Icelandic Met Office and University of Iceland has access to this type of information.

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Inflation resumes at Þorbjörn mountain on Reykjanes peninsula

According to Icelandic Met Office and news at Rúv.is the inflation at Þorbjörn mountain seems to have started again after few weeks of no inflation being detected. The inflation now seems to be small but that might change without warning. There might not be a lot of earthquake activity connected to this time of inflation because the area already is inflated and there was a lot of earthquake activity earlier in the year when this started. Earthquake activity might be more common on the edges and at those location the risk of magnitude Mw6,0 earthquake is highest, but is impossible to be certain about this due to how many faults there are on the Reykjanes peninsula, both from volcanoes and rift faults due to the rift valley that is there (its just full of lava).


There was a earthquake swarm yesterday (28-May-2020) north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

How this is going to change and evolve over the next few weeks is not something that can be predicted with any certainty for now. Since there have not been any eruption in this area for close to 800 years it is not known how this volcano systems behave in a eruption and inflation phase.

GPS data can be found here.

Icelandic News

Land virðist farið að rísa við Þorbjörn á ný (Rúv.is)
Vísbendingar um að landris sé hafið að nýju við Þorbjörn (Vísir.is)

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