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Strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano (22-November-2022)

Today (22-November-2022) a strong earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano at 19:55 UTC. Strongest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,4. One Mw3,5 earthquake was recorded with several smaller earthquakes. Magnitudes and number of earthquakes are changing. This is an updated text of the earthquake magnitude.

Three green stars in Katla volcano caldera along with few red dots that show smaller earthquakes.
Green stars in Katla volcano showing the locations of the strongest earthquakes. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

What is going on is unclear at the writing of this article. At the writing of this article I am not seeing any change in harmonic tremor, but that might change without warning. I’ll post updates if anything more happens in Katla volcano.

Added: I added the donate buttons back if people want to support my work. I had to remove them because of a increased fraud risk in October and that might be ongoing risk.

Article updated at 21:16 UTC.
Article updated at 23:06 UTC.

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Earthquake swarm in Kolbeinsey island (north of Grímsey island)

Today (22-November-2022) an earthquake swarm took place in Kolbeinsey island. This is far north of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1 and total of four of those earthquakes happened. More than dozen smaller earthquakes have happened. Because how far this activity is from Icelandic Met Office SIL network only the largest earthquakes are being measured.

Green stars far north on the map, north of Iceland. This is the location of Kolbeinsey island. There are dots all over Iceland showing smaller earthquakes.
Green stars show the earthquake activity in Kolbeinsey island. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

What is going on is unclear. This might just be normal tectonic activity for this area. There is only poor monitoring of this area since its out in the ocean and remote.

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Small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano (yesterday 19-November-2022)

Yesterday (19-November-2022) at 21:13 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. This was a small earthquake swarm with just few earthquakes, but it had an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 taking place at 21:13:05. Just before and after this earthquake fewer smaller earthquakes took place.

Green star in Katla volcano caldera. With few smaller red dots that show smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

Since this earthquake activity stopped, everything has been quiet in Katla volcano.

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Deep earthquake activity in Hekla volcano

This started on Monday (14-November-2022) with an earthquake of magnitude Mw2,0 at 25,6km depth. This depth is as deep as the crust goes in this location of Iceland. This earthquake activity has been followed by two micro-earthquakes of magnitude of Mw0,5 and Mw0,6 at 11,5 km depth.

Red dot at Hekla volcano in south Iceland. With few blue dots showing smaller older earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

There are no clear or obvious signs that Hekla volcano is about to do anything. But this deep earthquake activity suggests magma movements at depth or pressure changes maybe. This is clearly not a big activity and at the writing of this article I don’t expect anything to happen.

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Possible dyke intrusion in Fagradalsfjall volcano

Early morning today (10-November-2022) an swarm of earthquakes took place slightly north of the place where the eruption in August 2022 took place in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This possible dyke intrusion was small and only lasted for about 1 hour before it stopped. Depth of the earthquakes was from 5 km to 7 km.

High resolution image of the earthquakes in Skjálfta-Lísa interactive earthquake map from Icelandic Met Office. It shows the dots line up in a fissure like location.
Skjálfta-lísa high resolution map of the earthquake activity. From Icelandic Met Office website.

This activity might give a clue on in what area next eruption is going to take place in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Based on earlier eruption there won’t be any warning before an eruption earthquake swarm starts. In August that eruption started with a minor earthquake swarm, created from a dyke intrusion that was happening. In the hours before an eruption starts there’s going to be a strong earthquake swarm, based on what happened just before the eruption in August. It is interesting if the eruption activity moves north-east, rather than south-west. Why that happens, if it does so, is not something I am clear on why happens.

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Earthquake in Hengill volcano, felt in Hveragerði and Reykjavík

Today (9-November-2022) at 13:34 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Hengill volcano. This earthquake was felt in Hveragerði town and in Reykjavík. Few smaller earthquakes followed the larger earthquake.

Green star in the Hengill volcano with few red and orange dots next to it. Showing smaller earthquakes in that same area.
Earthquake activity in Hengill volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

It looks like this earthquake swarm is over or close to end. I don’t expect anything major to happen in this earthquake activity.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw3,2 in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Today (3-November-2022) at 11:06 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake took place a bit of a distance from land. This earthquake seems to be part of an activity that is now happening in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This seems to be an ongoing earthquake swarm in this area.

Green star out in the ocean south of Grímsey island, this is far from land so this earthquake was possibly not felt. Few red dots around the map showing smaller earthquakes that have also happened.
Earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know what this earthquake activity means, if it means anything. Its been a while since Tjörnes Fracture Zone had a strong earthquake above Mw6,0 in this area and north of it. Earthquakes in Tjörnes Fracture Zone can go up to Mw7,0 in magnitude, those are rare and happen only after a long time period of quiet it seems.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw3,2 north of Herðubreið mountain

Today (31-October-2022) at 15:00 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,2 took place at Herðubreið mountain. This earthquake started a swarm just east of the earthquake swarm that has been going on for more than a week now. Earthquake activity remains high at the writing of this article.

Green star and red dots around Herðubreið mountain. Showing strong earthquake activity in that area.
Earthquake activity around Herðubreið mountain. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear what is going at this area. This looks like a tectonic earthquake activity, but there might be more in this than appears. At the moment, this is just earthquake activity and its unknown if that is going to change.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw4,2 in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (31-October-2022) at 14:57 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal inflation earthquake as Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate after the large eruption in 2014 to 2015.

Green star and red dots in the center of the image in Vatnajökull glacier shows the location of the earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcnao. Red dots and a green star to the north close to Herðurbreið in a differnet earthquake swarm
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano, also in this image the earthquakes from Herðubreið mountain. Image is from Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal and happens every few months in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw4,0 south east of Grímsey island

During the night of 27-October-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,0 took place at 02:13 UTC. This earthquake was followed by few minor earthquakes. This earthquake was also felt in Grímsey island and in Akureyri town.

Green star south east of Grímsey island in the ocean. Where the magnitude Mw4,0 earthquake took place.
Earthquake activity south east of Grímsey island. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

There’s a good chance of more earthquake activity in this area. Since this seems to connected to or be part of an earthquake swarm that started on 8-September-2022.

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