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Analysis of the earthquake pattern in El Hierro volcan

Please note that this is not a professional analysis of the recent earthquakes in El Hierro volcano. So it might be wrong. It also might not hold any science value at all.

During the eruption of El Hierro volcano a earthquakes activity has been in the north part of El Hierro volcano. This earthquake activity is most likely created by dike intrusions into the bed rock. At this moment it is unclear if any of them are going to reach the surface. There also seems to be some minor connection between the earthquake swarms and how active the eruption is in the south part of El Hierro volcano is. But what and how that connection is and works is unknown to me at present time. The strongest earthquakes that have happened so far are up to Mb4.6 in size (I do not think that this earthquake size has been downgraded. But I might be wrong).

The current location of the earthquake swarm has not changed a lot during the past few weeks. So it is more or less in the same place. There are however reports that the earthquakes are getting shallower. But it is currently unknown if that is because of magma movements or because the crust is releasing stress because of the dike intrusions in El Hierro volcano. A full list of earthquakes larger then ML2.5 can be found here (EMSC).

The results of this dike intrusions are going to that in some areas of El Hierro Island a hot springs and other types of hydrothermal activity might show it self. Without warning. But that can result in this type of hot springs.


Picture is from Hveragerði, Iceland. Picture taken by me (Jón Frímann Jónsson). This picture is released under Creative Commons Licence. See Creative Commons Licence web page for more details (link in top bar).

This is also going to be the result for El Hierro volcano after the eruption end, if any magma remains shallow in the crust to cool down.


A 48 hour map of the earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

The earthquake are in almost N-S line, that is most likely the fault line that might erupt if it opens up. But as it stands now. Most of it would be out to the sea. But the exact length of a fissure is impossible to predict. What happens is only clear when it starts erupting.


The 4 day amount of earthquakes in El Hierro volcano. There are some earthquakes in south El Hierro volcano. But those earthquakes are fewer and smaller in size. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).


The total number of earthquakes in El Hierro volcano since the magma intrusion started in July 2011. As clearly can be seen on this picture, the new area with earthquakes makes a clear signal that it a magma injection into the rock. Rather then result of tectonic movements in the area due to the eruptions. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

Update on the eruption it self: Explosions appears to be taking place in El Hierro volcano again. That suggests that the eruption is once again more powerful, after a few hours of lowered activity. It is not yet confirmed if any new vents have opened up closer to the shoreline. There are pictures that suggest it. But nothing is confirmed at this moment. But it cannot be ruled out that new fissure is going to open up closer to the coast. If that happens, it is going to be noticed if the depth is shallow enough.

As for the eruption in El Hierro volcano. I now classify it as long term eruption, as it has lasted for longer then 1 month. So rather then sharp blog posts about what is going on. I am going to post regular updates on what is happening in El Hierro volcano eruption. If there are any major changes. I am also going to cover that soon as possible. But I am not always in front of the computer, and El Hierro volcano is far away. But I am doing my best regarding this eruption.

Blog post updated at 12:25 UTC on 16 November, 2011

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Quiet time in Iceland in earthquake and volcano activity

Currently there is a quiet time taking place in Iceland. This does happen often in Iceland. Sometimes the quiet days are due to bad weather. But now the quiet seems to be a ongoing and has been for past few weeks. The exeption from that is the earthquake activity in Katla volcano and the man made earthquake activity in Hengill volcano. But that activity has dropped down for some reason the past few weeks. I am not sure why that is.

I also want to point people to a new feature on Iceland Metrological Office web site, that seems to have gone up only few days ago. But this web site shows the drumplot (webicorders) from the SIL network. This is not far from what my geophone network shows. That web site can be viwed here.

Blog post updated at 16:43 UTC.

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Sharp increase in eruption activity from El Hierro volcano

This is a short update on El Hierro volcano.

There has been a increase in harmonic tremor activity from El Hierro volcano. This suggest that new vent or vents might be opening up in El Hierro volcano. But this type of eruption pattern is to be expected from a fissure eruption. Like the one that is currently taking place in El Hierro volcano.


The harmonic tremor jump in El Hierro volcano at 16:06 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

There are also some explosions that can be seen on this tremor chart. But they form spikes that can be spotted if looked closely. Is is now also possible to monitor the eruption via web cam located on El Hierro Island. That web cam can be found here.

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Iceland, Canary Island and Spain volcano and earthquake forum announcement

I was going to announce this for December. But things often change faster then I had planned. But sometimes it is just important to make the jump, as I did originally with this blog. Over the past year the traffic increase on this blog has been large. Way larger then I did expect when I did start this blog. With this type of growth there is a need for different ways to deal with all manners of issues.

No subscription for this blog and forum planned forever

It is my firm believe that science should be free for betterment of mankind everywhere. For that reason I am not going to change this blog into subscription forum. I also believe that access to science data should be free and open to all. As that encourages progress and new ideas. While that I can only do that here and nowhere else, so be it.

Because of this policy I am going to survive on nothing else then donations of good people and advertisements. But after a long consideration I find that to be a better option then a subscription plan for this place.

The forum is on different domain

I am going to have the forum on a different domain that I have already bought (it is not yet active. I am waiting for that now). The reason for this is to prevent confusion between the two. But they are going to be hosted on the same server anyway. But if the forum grows like this blog. I am going to start buying bigger hosting package, as this one is already getting too small when the traffic is at its highest. But with that comes increased hosting cost. This forum is going to support live chat for up to 50 users at the same time. I am going to be using Invasion Power board for this task.

I am going add the domain name here once it becomes active and when I finish setting the forum up properly. It is going to take 1 to 2 days until it is all up and ready.

name-of-the-forum-domain-is-going-to-be-placed-here.eu (it is a .eu domain)

Cost of the forum + domain

The cost of the domain was $15.99 for one year and 179.99$ for the forum for 6 month licence (upgrades). A renewed licence costs $25 every 6 months (I might take it, since updates are important for security of the forum).

Why forum ?

The reason for the forum is simple. There is a need for it. As this blog grows there are dull times that people like to chat about other things then just volcanoes and earthquakes. This blog has limited space for that due to its nature (its a blog). A forum is a way better for that type of chat. This also gives people chance to share pictures, charts and other things more easy then on this blog. The forum is however fully integrated part of this blog, even if it is on a different domain.

It is going to take some to fully set-up and work on. But one thing is clear is that a forum needs a different strategy then a blog. So I am going have to add some moderators to it with time along with Administrators as the time goes on. But it is going to take time and work as everything else.

Thank you all for the patience in this matter. I also want to thank everyone for the support and understanding in all this.

Update 1: Even if I open up forum. This blog is not going anywhere. If you think that, you are wrong. This blog is not going to be part of the forum. But it is going to be part of the same whole thing. But the blog and forum are going to be separated in therms of what is going to be discussed.

I find that some people are to are to quick to judge this. Since the forum has not even opened up yet. But I know from other large web sites that this works and it seems to work well for them.

Blog post updated at 19:46 UTC on 13 November, 2011

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New dike intrusion into Katla volcano caldera

A new dike intrusion has started in Katla volcano caldera. So far only few earthquakes have taken place. But the largest one so far is ML2.8 in size with the depth of 0.8 km (800 meters). It appears clearly on my geophone at Hekla volcano. But it seems that new area in the Katla volcano caldera has been increasing activity during past few weeks. Based on the number of earthquakes that are currently taking place there.


The earthquake as I did record it on my Heklubyggð geophone. This are all the directions on the gephone. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The North-South component of the geophone shows the nature of this earthquake clearly. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The vertical component of the geophone did also show the nature of this earthquake clearly. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The area inside Katla volcano caldera that is responsible for the current earthquake activity. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The earthquakes in Katla volcano now are created by magma intrusion into the rock layers. There is not a lot of about tectonic earthquakes in Katla volcano today. But they cannot be completely ruled out. But the signature of those earthquakes is different then by earthquakes created by magma movements.

Note: I have been recording earthquakes since the year 2006. I have learned a lot during that time.

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Update on the eruption in El Hierro volcano on 9 November, 2011

Short note on comments: This is a short notice on comments. This blog has been getting a spam flood for the past few days. During the past 2 days or so there have been over 300+ spam comments that my spam filter has captured. This makes it ever so hard to find real comments that go into the spam box by accident. If your comment disappears for no reason after it has been posted. Then the spam filter has captured it. Please do not re-post it, as then following comments are just going to go into the spam box too. I have to manually un-check them as spam and approve them. So if you post three comments with the same link, I am going to clear the three comments with the same link. But given the amount of spam that this blog is getting there is always a risk that comment is going to get lost and permanently deleted.

It is also important that if you get “comment is held for moderation” that you do not re-post what you are commenting on. As the comment is going to wait in the moderation until I clear it. I am not always around to check for this, so it might take few hours or more until I approve the comment/s.
*****

The eruption in El Hierro volcano is ongoing and does not appear to show any signs of ending. However the strength of the eruption has dropped a bit during the past two days. But this was to be expected, since this is a fissure eruption and it has mostly been erupting from the same vents during the past four weeks.

It has become a bit difficult to get accurate information on what is going on El Hierro Island. So I am not going to speculate on that. But from what I can gather it seems that dangerous gas level has been detected on the ground. But the reports that I am reading are bit unclear on this. This has also been mentioned in comments on this blog.


The harmonic tremor from the eruption in El Hierro volcano at 15:23 UTC on 9 November, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN.

As can be seen on this tremor plot the harmonic tremor in the eruption is dropping. Explosions that have taken place are also clear on this tremor plot. That might be because the eruption vent is getting smaller, therefor less magma is being push out the erupting vent. Or the currently erupting vent might be closing up. As so often happens with fissure type eruptions. If that happens does not mean that this eruption cycle is over. It just means that the current eruption vent has closed up. New fissures are most likely to open up in coming weeks as the eruption goes on. Where and when it impossible to know for sure.

Earthquake activity continues in north part of El Hierro volcano. This are most likely dike intrusions into the bed rock there. So earthquake activity should be expected to continue north west of the town Frontera. If a dike intrusion manages to find a path to the surface in this area there is going to be a eruption and earthquake activity should drop following that. But until and if that happens there are going to be earthquakes. There is also chance of hydrothermal activity to show up in this area if a dike intrusion gets shallow into the bed rock. But is not go up from the ground and start a eruption. This might also be the reason why some part of El Hierro Island are experiencing high levels of toxic gas for the moment.

I am going to post more on the eruption in El Hierro volcano as I know more what is going on.

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A ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano

At 09:50 UTC today (8 November, 2011) there was a ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano. According to news this earthquake was felt in Vík í Mýrdal town and on nearby farms. No harmonic tremor has been detected following this earthquake.


The earthquake location in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake was also detected on my geophone network. I currently do not have the data to locate the earthquake in my recording.


The ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano caldera. Please note that this earthquake is un-located, that means the P and S wave markers are unset. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence. See Licence page for more details.


The ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano caldera. Please note that this earthquake is un-located, that means the P and S wave markers are unset. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence. See Licence page for more details.

It is impossible to know what this means in terms of activity in Katla volcano. But this was just a normal earthquake for most part from what I can tell. There was no harmonic tremor following this earthquake.

Icelandic News about this earthquake. Icleandic mocks Google Translate every day of the year.

Skjálfti í suðurjaðri Kötluöskju (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Enginn gosórói sjáanlegur (Vísir.is, Icelandic)
Harður jarðskjálfti í Kötlu (mbl.is, Icelandic)
„Þetta er óþægilegt“ (mbl.is, Icelandic, interview)

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Harmonic tremor pulse in Hamarinn volcano

The harmonic tremor in Katla volcano seems to be over. It lasted only short duration after the earthquakes it seems. At least I cannot read anything else out of the data from the SIL station around Katla volcano.

But the harmonic tremor in Hamarinn volcano (part of Bárðarbunga volcano system) seems to be ongoing, as before there is little to no earthquake activity following this harmonic tremor activity. I have no idea why that is. But following this harmonic tremor there was one earthquake with the size ML1.9. But with extremely poor location and size measurement. So the size and depth are subject to a change.


The earthquake in Hamarinn volcano at 16:35 UTC on 7 November, 2011. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Hamarinn volcano at 16:44 UTC on 7 November, 2011. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Currently the harmonic tremor pulse in Hamarinn volcano is ongoing. So far the harmonic tremor pulse has not reached the level that suggests a eruption is about to start in Hamarinn volcano, as did happen in July this summer (year 2011). But it worth keeping watch on this event in Hamarinn volcano. As more might be coming from that volcano. But its eruption pattern is undocumented so far, as there have been few to none eruptions in Harminn volcano in the 20th century in Iceland.

Update 1: The weather in this area is quite bad from what I can tell. But so far it does not seems to have any effect on the SIL stations. At least I do not see any weather pattern above the normal so far.

Update 2: There seems to have been a minor eruption in Hamarinn volcano. The harmonic tremor looks like that now. But that is almost the same tremor signal that was in July this summer when a minor eruption took place in Hamarinn volcano.


A clear sign in my opinion that a minor eruption took place in Hamarinn volcano. This activity might continue as it did in July. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.


The harmonic tremor sign can also been seen from Grímsfjall SIL station. Not as clear, as this is a small event. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

A glacier flood should be expected from this event in the next few hours. At least I am assuming that given the glacier cover in the area. It is also a risk that this eruption is going to continue for the next few hours and drop off between as it did in July.

Blog post updated at 16:55 UTC on 7 November, 2011.
Blog post updated at 17:06 UTC on 7 November, 2011.

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Harmonic tremor pulse in Katla volcano

This just started few moments ago so I waiting on how this develops. But there is a harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano.

The harmonic tremor in Katla volcano started with a small earthquake swarm. This is more then just minor event it seems. But at this moment it is hard to know how this is going to develop. But next few hours are going to give clear picture of what is going on in Katla volcano. There is a bad weather in the area, but that makes the observation of what is going on more difficult then in good weather.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse in Katla volcano at 16:00 UTC on 7 November, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse in Katla volcano at 16:00 UTC on 7 November, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse in Katla volcano at 16:16 UTC on 7 November, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

What happens next is impossible to know for sure. But watching what is happening in Katla volcano is the only thing that can be done for the moment. No more earthquakes have happened so far in Katla volcano (at the time when I write this). The harmonic tremor pulse was detected up to Skrokkalda SIL station. But also on Grímsfjall SIL station. There is a harmonic tremor pulse also taking place in Hamarinn volcano, more on in a little bit. This harmonic tremor pulse is because of dike intrusion is taking place in Katla volcano. It is impossible to know how big it is currently.

Blog post updated at 16:26 UTC on 7 November, 2011.

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General update for Katla volcano and El Hierro voclano

This is a general update for Katla volcano and El Hierro volcano.

Katla volcano, Iceland

During the weekend there was a minor dike intrusion into Katla volcano caldera. The largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm was a ML2.1 with the depth of 1.4km. This is among the smallest earthquake swarms in Katla volcano since activity started to increase after the small eruption in July 2011. The reason for this earthquake swarms in Katla volcano are dike intrusions (wiki). Sometimes following this are small glacier floods from Mýrdalsjökull glacier that is on top of the caldera. But that does not seems to have this time around, or the last time there was a dike intrusion in Katla volcano (few weeks ago).


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the weekend. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

El Hierro volcano, Canary Islands, Spain

The eruption in El Hierro volcano continues as it has been doing for the past four weeks (almost). But the chance of a new island forming has grown somewhat in the past few days. The main reason for that is that eruption did gain some strength during the past two weeks. The increased strength in the eruption was due to a new injection of magma into El Hierro volcano. Both at the main magma sill and what seems to be a new magma intrusion into El Hierro at depth. That magma has so far not been able to reach the surface and remains at the depth of 20 km or so. But there also seems to be some dike intrusion activity been taking place in the same area, as more magma is injected under El Hierro volcano North West of the town of Frontera (IGN name information).

For that reason the risk of new eruption vents open up in this area is high in my opinion and is going to remain that during this eruption. But it remains to be seen if a new eruptions vents open up in this area. But that depends on the amount of magma that is currently injecting into El Hierro volcano at depth. It is impossible to know for how long new magma is going to get supplied into El Hierro volcano. But so far this process has been ongoing since July, so that is already five months (or about that) that new magma has been flowing into El Hierro volcano.

The formation of new Island off the coast of El Hierro Island is now a real chance. As the erupting vent has build up close enough to the surface of the water to start the Surtsey Island process. That process in it self is going to take few weeks to complete, at least until the crater no longer gets water into it. When the water can no longer into the crater the eruptions turns to lava fountain eruption. A Hawaiian style of eruption to be exact. That progress is going to remain to the end of eruption. But this is only going to happen if the eruption lasts long enough to build a small Island off the coast of El Hierro Island. So far that remains unseen. However the chance for this to happen is good in my view.

There is also worth noticing that this eruption is a bit variable in eruption strength. This can clearly be seen on the harmonic tremor plots that can be viewed online from El Hierro volcano. This is normal, as the flow of magma from inside El Hierro volcano is not stable and can change suddenly. The risk of new fissures to open up without warning remains high in the area around the current eruption vent is also high. The new fissure have the risk of opening up without any earthquakes and warning. To some extent this has already happened during this eruption. But I am not sure the new eruption vents did stay erupting for a long time. This is however most likely to repeat it self regularly during this eruption.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano on 7 November, 2011 at 09:32 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

Off topic: Small apology

Here is a small apology to my readers. I have been a little bit under the weather in past few weeks. There are many reasons for this. But the biggest one is that my plan to live in Denmark failed this summer. But the chance of me moving back to Denmark has lifted my mood again. But I also found that playing computer games helps me dealing with my current status a bit. Because of this under the weather issue. My blog post have not been that good in my view. For that I want to apology. I can’t promise that this won’t happen again while I am living in Iceland. It is also a factor that the darkest time of the year never goes well with me (Mid October to early March).