Iceland geology

Yesterday (19-March 2020) an earthquake swarm took place close to Grindavík town (Þorbjörn mountain) in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm was has several hundred earthquakes and many of the earthquakes were at shallow depth and it is not understood why that was. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0, Mw3,2 and Mw3,3. Other earthquakes that took place were smaller in magnitude. The earthquake swarm seems to be over for now but this activity happens in swarms and how long and how strong each swarm is different.

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

Inflation continues in this area and that is the reason why this earthquake swarm activity happens. What seems to be happening now is that more activity is happening and it is happening over a wider area. At the writing of this article there are no signs that magma is finding a path to the surface.

Geophone website

I have now managed to make my geophone network active again. I had to move the software from (operating system) from Windows to Debian Linux because Windows 10 just doesn’t work for this. In the future I have to move my main computer to Debian Linux but it is going to be a little while until that happens because I need to backup data before I can change operating systems on my main earthquake computer (along with other problems that I need to resolve before this can happen). The geophones that I have up and running can be viewed here.

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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.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. At the writing of this article I am completely broke and there are still few days left in March until April starts. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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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Please remember to support my work with donations. This is a lot of work behind each article even if that work is mostly invisible to the reader. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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.

Donations

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. 🙂

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.

Donations

Please remember to support my work if you can with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂