New earthquake swarm in Fagradalsfjall volcano and in Þorbjörn mountain (Reykjanes volcano)

This article is going to get outdated quickly.

Current activity is also complicated and might not behave in the same way as earlier eruptions did. Largest earthquakes at writing of this article have had magnitude of Mw3,5 and Mw4,5. Larger earthquakes can be expected without warning. There have been around 1000 smaller earthquakes at the writing of this article.

Green stars close to Þorbjörn mountain and a lot of red dots in south part of Fagradalsfjall volcano. There is also green to west of Þorbjörn mountain.
Earthquake activity in Fagradalsfjall volcano and Þorbjörn mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is a good chance this events are not going to behave the same way as happened in earlier eruptions, because the location is little bit difference and that can result in a lot of change on what happens when magma pushes it self up through the crust. The earthquake activity close to Þorbjörn might be a mixed earthquake activity of tension breaking earthquakes and magma pushing it self up. GPS data doesn’t show any inflation close to Þorbjörn mountain at the writing of this article.

Earthquake activity is increasing in south part of Fagradalsfjall volcano, this is area in Nátthagi, Nátthagakriki and other nearby area. There is a dyke intrusion in that area and has been a while. That dyke intrusion might be about to erupt. There is a lot of uncertainty going on at the writing of this article. There is also a pattern of high and low in the earthquake activity, this has been the pattern in the earthquake activity before the earlier eruptions.

I’ll write updates about this activity as needed. It might take a while, since I always try to figure out what is going on before an article is written.

Magnitude Mw4,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano yesterday (24. October 2023)

Yesterday (24. October 2023) at 22:19 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano north eastern part of the volcano. This time it was not in the caldera as is the most common location for this earthquake activity.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano, in Vatnajökull glacier. This green star is located slightly to the north east of the main crater of Bárðarbunga volcano. Few yellow dots are around the green star, showing smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is a inflation connected earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is the second earthquake this year that reaches magnitude of Mw4,9. There is no risk for an eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano at current time.

Earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (14. October 2023) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is one of many inflation earthquakes that have taken place in Bárðarbunga volcano since end of the eruption in 2015. This earthquake activity is going to continue for the next 50 to 100 years if nothing changes, but with rate of earthquakes getting lower as the time passes.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano, in the northern part of the volcano.
The activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal and won’t result in a eruption. This type of earthquake or larger happen currently every two to three months in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Next eruption in Fagradalsfjall volcano might happen at Christmas or sooner

Icelandic Met Office reported today (14. October 2023) that an new eruption in Fagradalsfjall volcano or nearby is now expected to happen before or close to Christmas. After the end of the eruption on 6th August 2023 the inflation that has been happening is now faster then before earlier eruptions. At the writing of this article, an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,7 took place north of Grindavík town and was felt in Grindavík.

A lot of of red dots showing new earthquakes north of Grindavík town and in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This are small earthquakes and often happen before an eruption starts.
Earthquake activity north of Grindavík town and in Fagradalsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

In the last two eruptions, after the first eruption ended. There have been around ten months between eruption. That does not seem to be the case now. Since it seems that next eruption is going to happen at four to six months time. A half or close to it from when the last eruption took place. This situation is dangerous, because this means that an eruption can start without much warning and not a lot of earthquake activity. Icelandic Met Office advice is that people travel around and in Fagradalsfjall volcano carefully.

Closing down the email postlist

For the last few years I’ve been running a basic email postlist that seeks out new articles from this website few hours after I post them. Because of changes from mailchimp that I’ve been using I’ve made the chose to close down the postlist from next Saturday. I recommend that people find a RSS client to get updates when I post new articles about earthquake and volcano activity in Iceland.

Update 14th October

I have now closed down the email poslist and deleted my mailchimp account (that I had been using since 2013). I only used the free version of the email since that was the only thing I needed. If I ever create a new email postlist. It has to be a solution that I can run my self. If that happens is I don’t know yet. Since technical solutions can be difficult when it comes to email subscription lists.

Two earthquakes connected to Fagradalsfjall volcano

Today (5. October 2023) two earthquakes took place that are connected to Fagradalsfjall volcano inflation. The first one was a magnitude Mw3,3 in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This was a tectonic earthquake because of inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano. The second earthquake was north of Grindavík town and had a magnitude of Mw3,2. That earthquake was part of an earthquake swarm and dyke intrusion in that area. That area north of Grindavík town has been seeing a lot of earthquake activity in recent weeks, all connected to dyke intrusion activity.

Two green stars on Reykjanes peninsula that are connected to inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano.
Two green stars on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The increase in activity in recent weeks strongly suggests that an eruption is going to happen soon. When is impossible to know and earthquake activity is too low at the writing of this article for an eruption to be happening today. This might change without warning, as has happened in the last two eruptions. There is a possibility that something has changed after the last eruption, but the answer to that question won’t happen until next eruption. All that can be done now is to wait and see what happens.

Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (4. October 2023) at 16:11 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,7 (Icelandic Met Office) or Mw5,0 (EMSC) took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Green star and red dots in Bárðarbunga volcano that is located north-west in Vatnajökull glacier.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano and large earthquakes like this happen every few months. This means that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate after the eruption in 2014 to 2015. This earthquake activity is not going to result in a eruption and won’t result in a eruption for a long time.

Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (ongoing)

Today (27. September 2023) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano on Reykjanes peninsula. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article. At the writing of this article, the largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1.

Green star on the Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano, there's also a green star at Reykjanestá that is next to the ocean. A lot of orange and red dots at this same location.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The source of this earthquake swarm seems to be magma intrusion into this part of Reykjanes volcano. I don’t know if this is going to result in a eruption, this earthquake activity seems to be too low for that to happen. That might change without warning, as sometimes happens with volcanoes. This is at least highly active time period now and what is going to happen is unclear.

Earthquake in Kleifarvatn lake

Yesterday (26. September 2023) at 18:42 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,3 took place in Kleifarvatn lake. Few smaller earthquakes followed this earthquake, both before and after.

Green star in Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. A lot of other earthquakes activity is also happening on Reykjanes peninsula at the moment.
Earthquake activity in Kleifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake is possibly because of an inflation in Fagradalsfjall volcano that is to the west of this location. There is no sign that an eruption is about to start at this location in Kleifarvatn lake.

Earthquake swarm in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

I am sorry that I am late on writing this article. I was moving from Denmark to Iceland and that was a lot of effort and I’ve been tired after this move.

On Sunday, 24 September 2023 an earthquake swarm took place in Brennisteinfjöll volcano, in a area called Geitarfell (Goat Mountain) in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. Largest earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw3,0 to Mw3,2. A lot of smaller earthquakes took place at this same location.

Yellow dots at the location where the Sunday earthquake swarm took place. There's a lot of earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula at the moment. Shown with two green stars, one at Svartsengi and the other in Kleifarvatn lake.
Yellow dots show the Sunday earthquake activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity didn’t have any short term signs that an eruption is about to happen at this location. I don’t know when last eruption took in this location, but it was clearly more than 6000 years ago.

Earthquake webicoders

Since I have moved back to Iceland. I am now recording earthquakes again. The webicoders are going to go online tomorrow (if no delays). They can be found here once they are back online.