Category: Hekla

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Minor earthquake activity in Hekla volcano

Today (8-October-2019) there has been a minor earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Largest earthquake has a magnitude of Mw1,2.


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

At the writing of this article there is no change in harmonic tremor on SIL stations around Hekla volcano. Icelandic Met Office and Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management are both monitoring the situation in Hekla volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano (there is *no* eruption risk above normal levels!)

Over the last few days there has been swarm of small earthquakes in Hekla volcano. This earthquake activity is situated in the south part of the Hekla volcano system. It is just outside the main volcano. What is causing this earthquake activity is unclear.


Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is no eruption risk from this earthquake activity. There is nothing suggesting that for now at least this is going to result in a eruption. A lot stronger earthquake activity is needed before that can be declared!

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Minor earthquake activity in Hekla volcano

Today (09-June-2017) there has been earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Largest earthquake only has the magnitude of 1,0 and greatest depth is 2,2 km.


Hekla is to the right on this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the moment there are no signs that this is going to lead to an eruption. That might change without warning. The source of this earthquake activity might be gas or steam activity in the crust in Hekla volcano, at least when it comes to shallower depth. At more depth it’s slightly difficult and increases the changes the earthquakes at those depth are created either by magma or pocket of gas breaking the crust.

At the moment Hekla volcano is not showing any signs that eruption is imminent.

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Three minor earthquakes in Hekla volcano

Before I start I want to make that clear that nothing of interest besides this earthquake activity is happening in Hekla volcano.

Yesterday (02.03.2017) three earthquakes took place in Hekla volcano. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 0,9 and other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity in Hekla volcano (to the right on this image). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently nothing suggests that an eruption is imminent in Hekla volcano. The reason for this surface earthquake activity is unclear. It is my view that Hekla has moved to earlier pattern of eruption, this pattern means an eruption once to twice a century, that means next eruption might happen sometimes between 2030 – 2100.

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I pad all the bills this month and I’m broke. If people like my work they can support it by sending me donations. Donations are not a requirement, just if people want to. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Update to this section

I have started to stack up the bills for April (due how the system works here in Denmark, I have found it to be good idea to this if I’m unsure about anything) and from the looks of it appears that April is not going to be easy billing month due to a cable bill I have [3.733,73 DKK], stupid decision to get it, since most channels just show reruns and more reruns, but I was just after two news channels that I have now figured out to get with a 40 cm satellite dish indoors (yay, knowing inverse square law of radio waves).

I have cancelled my cable subscription now with an email [if that doesn’t work. I will call them and cancel it that way]. Like with the internet bill in February, they are charging me for a six month period. I also think that next three month internet bill is in April (around 900 DKK for next three months according to my estimate). The only good news is that I have been saving up a little for this cable bill since I already knew it was going to be a big one, the sad part is that March bills upset that plan a little bit, thanks to a donation I can increase my saving up a little for that bill, making it slightly easier to pay the cable bill in April. It might however upset my plan up upgrading a IPTV box I have for Icelandic channels (in case of an eruption I have it, not because of “good” programming). As I have to send it to the company I bought it from to upgrade it and that costs in total around 600 DKK in the mail both ways.

This, along with my heavy debt payment plans make keeping all this afloat a bit of challenge at the moment. The money situation is going to be little easier from June when the debt payments I have get lowered down a bit. Until that I guess I’ll have to ask for more donation and support. It’s a big mess and I’m not happy about it, but this is where I’m at the moment.

Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated at 03:28 UTC/04:28 CET on 03.03.2017.
Article updated at 03:34 UTC/04:34 CET on 03.03.2017.

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Short overview of earthquake activity in Iceland

This is a short update of earthquake activity in Iceland on 28-February-2016.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Over the past 48 hours there has been earthquake activity and dyke activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Some of this earthquake activity has been on around 15km depth. Suggesting magma movements within Bárðarbunga volcano system. Earthquake activity always seems to increase few hours to days after a swarm of deep earthquakes appear in Bárðarbunga volcano.

A dyke activity has appeared on the edge of Bárðarbunga volcano, it is located south-east in the volcano. In a area that has seen this type of dyke activity before. It is interesting that this activity seems to persist at this location.

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Over the past few days few earthquakes have appeared in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Some of those earthquakes have had the depth around 15 km. This suggest some type of magma movements inside the volcano, but nothing that suggests that its going to reach the surface any time soon.

Askja volcano

Earlier this week (Week 08) an deep earthquake swarm took place in Askja volcano. With earthquakes having the depth down to around 22 km. Suggesting that magma is flowing into Askja volcano magma chamber at depth. This has been happening at regular basis since 2010. At the moment there is nothing suggesting that eruption is going to happen any time soon in Askja volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga, Tungnafellsjökull and Askja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Katla volcano

There was some minor earthquake activity in Goðabunga in Katla volcano. This appears to be normal activity for this region of Katla volcano. No other interesting activity took place this week (Week 08) in Katla volcano.

Hekla volcano

Two earthquake where detected in Hekla volcano. Nothing else happened following this earthquake activity. Why this earthquake activity happens remains unclear.

Torfajökull volcano

A minor earthquake activity took place in Torfajökull volcano during the weekend. This activity is possibly due to changes in hyrdrothermal areas in Torfajökull volcano.

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Earthquake activity in Katla, Torfajökull and Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Other than this activity things remain quiet in Iceland. There are few minor earthquake swarms on Reykjanes peninsula and Tjörnes Fracture Zone. But they are too small at the moment to write about.

Donations

Please remember to support me with donations. The new computer left a big hole in my budget and any support in order to cover it are welcomed. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Move to Denmark

It is now official. I’m moving back to Denmark on 14. April, with just few minor details left to work out (getting a loan for the apartment insurance and few other things). I’ll move into my new apartment on the 15th April. More details later next weeks when I know about the apartment loan.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Hekla volcano

During the night (11-January-2016) few minor earthquakes took place in Hekla volcano. None of the earthquakes did go over magnitude 2,0.

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The earthquake activity in Hekla volcano (right). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

No other activity has followed this earthquake activity. No change in harmonic tremor has been observed for the last 24 hours. At the moment this looks like a surface earthquakes due to some stress changes in the area of Hekla volcano.

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Bárðarbunga volcano earthquake swarm (Week 01 2016)

Current earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to be a regular feature until next eruption. Due to that I won’t write about all the earthquakes that happens, just when a magnitude 3,0 or larger earthquakes take place. The situation in Bárðarbunga volcano and nearby areas is getting more complex due to increasing magma activity at depth and surprising high number of them are creating pathways to the shallow crust. Since the eruption in Holuhraun ended there has been increase in earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano, this is best seen by almost weekly magnitude 3,0 or stronger earthquakes. What has also been appearing over the past few weeks is deep activity in Trölladyngja, activity that started on 28 km depth and up to 20 km depth currently. That process only took around 1,5 – 2,5 months to happen (short amount of time). The activity in Trölladyngja is troubling in my view, since it’s my opinion that if the magma manages to create a pathway to the surface it is going to start an eruption in that area. Magma below Trölladyngja might also stop in it’s track, if it gets close enough to the surface without eruption it might create a new hill or new hydrothermal area while it’s cooling down. Whatever happens in the end is going to be interesting.

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Latest earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The second issue that is now starting to show it self is Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano, also known as Hamarinn. Today a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in it, not far from Skaftárkötlum cauldrons, the depth was 0,7 km. The earthquake today in Bárðarbunga volcano also had the magnitude of 3,2 with the depth of 0,1 km. Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano is a complex volcano with shallow magma chambers. After the last glacier flood it was clear that hydrothermal activity in Skaftárkatlar cauldrons is increasing the hydrothermal areas are growing in size. This means there is more energy flowing into the hydrothermal systems and the only way that happens if new hotter magma into the volcano. This development is troubling, both in short term and long term. This increases the risk of minor eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano considerable in my view. Risk of larger eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano has also gone up. Last eruption in Loki-Fögrufjöll volcano that was large took place in the year 1910 and lasted from June to October that year. Last minor eruption in my view took place in July 2011, lasting for few hours. That eruption has not been confirmed by geologists yet, I don’t know why that is. A glacier flood followed that eruption.

Other complexities in all of this are random fissures that might open up under unknown dykes, starting a eruption in areas that might not have seen a eruption in a long time. Along with new magma dykes going somewhere new. Whatever happens it is going to be interesting and this is going to take a long time. It takes Bárðarbunga volcano, since it starts it eruption cycle up to 20 years to finish once it’s started. The eruption cycle that started in 1862 did not end until 1910. A new eruption cycle started in 2014 and it’s ongoing. The longest eruption cycle I see in GVP data is a eruption cycle that started in 1697, it didn’t end until the year 1797.

Hekla volcano

A single earthquake with the magnitude of 1,7 took place in Hekla volcano today. Nothing else happened following this earthquake. This means Hekla volcano remains quiet.

Frost quakes

It’s cold now in Iceland. This means frost quakes have been appearing on Iceland Met Office SIL stations. This has also been increasing the noise levels on some SIL stations (the blue band when seeing harmonic tremor levels).

History of eruptions in Iceland

I’ve added a short link to a post that a made back in 2011 and I continue to update. This post has all of the eruptions in Iceland since the year ~900. This is good for people that want to check for historical eruptions in Iceland.

Article updated at 00:25 UTC on 11-January-2016. Updated for slight increase in clarity of wording.

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Minor earthquake swarm on Hekla – SISZ boundary

During the night of 9-April-2015 an earthquake swarm started on Hekla volcano – SISZ boundary. This has been for most part a minor earthquake swarm so far. With largest earthquake only having the magnitude of 2,8. This earthquake activity has appeared clearly on my Heklubyggð geophone.

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The earthquake swarm is located north of Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull. South of Hekla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm appears to be tectonic in nature. This means there is a higher chance it might be related to stress changes in SISZ (South Icelandic Seismic Zone), rather then any activity in Hekla volcano. There is little chance in my view that this activity is going to trigger any eruption in Hekla volcano, I just can’t rule it out at the moment. Currently it appears that this earthquake swarm is ongoing. This earthquake swarm doesn’t appear to be moving quickly at the moment, that might change but I am doubtful that is going to happen while minor earthquakes are just taking place. If stronger earthquakes start to happen this minor earthquake swarm might grow into a middle sized one or a big one. Largest known earthquakes in this area have reached magnitude Mw7,0. Such earthquake has not taken place in this part of SISZ for the past 103 years. Currently there is nothing indicating that earthquake with that type of magnitude is about to take place.

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Article updated at 00:20 UTC on 10-April-2015.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Hekla volcano

Since yesterday (26-March-2015) a minor earthquake swarm has been taking place in Hekla volcano. This has not been continuous earthquake swarm and there has not been huge number of earthquakes taking place. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 1,4.

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

This earthquake activity took place deep inside Hekla volcano, with the deepest earthquake being on 17 km depth (mag 1,4). Other earthquakes took place on shallower depths, but all depths where greater then 10 km. What exactly is happening I do not know, at this depth it is possible the earthquake activity taking place is due to magma movement rather then tectonic changes. I don’t expect any eruption to take place in Hekla volcano at current time.

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Katla volcano

There is currently an ongoing earthquake activity in Katla volcano. So far this earthquake activity has been small in terms of magnitude, with the largest earthquake only having the magnitude of 2,7.

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The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

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Updated image of the activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquakes that I have recorded so far are low period earthquake. Suggesting that they are being created due to magma or hydrothermal change inside the volcano. So far nothing suggests that an eruption is imminent. But I find this activity in Katla volcano suspicious and something that needs to watch, since I think this might be a risky situation and it might change on short notice.

Hekla volcano

A magnitude 2,3 earthquake with the depth of 9,9 km took place in Hekla volcano system on 02-July-2014 at 23:48:57 UTC. No other activity took place following this earthquake. It is not clear why this earthquake activity is taking place in Hekla volcano.

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Article updated at 22:05 UTC.