Iceland Suddenly Swarming with Earthquakes

Wow, what is going on in Iceland the past 48 hours! There have been 3 concentrated areas of earthquake swarms that are still apparently ongoing. Iceland is a land of high volcanic activity, probably only second to the Indonesian regions. Iceland is located directly over tectonic plate boundaries and is rumbling with activity, possibly magma movement beneath the surface.

modernsurvivalblog.com...

Anyone with earthquake knowledge can explain to us if this is a threatening thing or not happening ?

I used to think the exact same thing when i first started watching Iceland closely (around the last eyja' eruption), the thing is i'd get all worked up waiting for it to go, only to find that what i was seeing is pretty normal. I think Puterman, Robin Marks and a couple of other resident experts could put your mind at rest, as they have done with me in the past.

I still think its the place to watch closely as it can get very nasty, very quickly. You have to remind yourself that Iceland is a constantly growing country and i mean this literally, a very active fault line runs straight through the middle of it, so bumps, swarms and the odd volcano letting off steam is normal.

A few threads that you can learn a lot from regarding Iceland.

Volcano's in Iceland, possible alarm?

Another volcano possibly erupting in Iceland.

It also might be worth a visit to the quake watch thread where the experts hang out im sure theyll be happy to answer any queries.

as you may not know by posting this thread Iceland sits on top of a seismicly Hotspot .

in regards to its location which is on the northern alantic ridge . Iceland was formed though a series of volcanic eruptions and it is to this day still growing in mass thickness and size .

a bunch of small quakes as these are normal for iceland

Iceland[note 1] (/ˈaɪslənd/ ( listen)) (Icelandic: Ísland (names of Iceland) IPA: [ˈislant]) is a European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.[7] It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (39,769 sq mi).[8] The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to some two-thirds of the national population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior mainly consists of a plate
au characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.

en.wikipedia.org...

en.vedur.is...=table

some say that iceland or parts of iceland has a direct plung into the mantle of the earth which is another reason why iceland always has a erupting volcano

The article linked to above does say that it's a seismically active area and that even so, these new swarms were still significant.... definitely worth watching - S&F.

There has been some conversation about this over in the comments at the Eruptions blog:

bigthink.com...

Even for Iceland, it's a lot of activity.*


*statement not meant to indicate that the end is nigh, that you should start stocking up on MRE's and potassium iodide, or that you don't have to work on that term paper that's due tomorrow.

Something is up here. i noticed a gentle rumbling of pots on the shelves here in the mountains of Vancouver BC. Canada. very gentle, but noticable.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus


A little bit off topic given the distance from BC to Iceland, but you might want to talk about that here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I have that weird "too quiet" feeling too, not that it means anything.

reply to post by quakewatcher


If im not mistaken, does the north american plate not run all the way through iceland, and vancouver bc is right ontop of it?

Half a world away, but oh so connected.

We are all the way at the other end of the plate. Really not related.

If you look at this map:
en.vedur.is...

vs this one of the most active volcanoes:
en.wikipedia.org...

I'm not sure there's much to worry about even if you are in Iceland. Quite a bit of activity in the Tjornes Fracture Zone, however, which has had at least one eruption in the past. (Submarine, and from what I can find not really a big deal.)

Magnitude 4.8 Region REYKJANES RIDGE

Date-Time

* Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 02:46:58 UTC
* Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 12:46:58 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 57.270°N, 33.009°W
Depth 10.1 km (6.3 miles)
Region REYKJANES RIDGE
Distances 840 km (520 miles) ESE of Qaqortoq (Julianehab), Greenland
960 km (600 miles) SSE of Tasiilaq (Angmagssalik), Greenland
975 km (610 miles) SW of REYKJAVIK, Iceland
1275 km (790 miles) ESE of NUUK (GODTHAB), Greenland

reply to post by MoorfNZ


and a follow up to that one:


Magnitude
4.8
Date-Time
Tuesday, December 07, 2010 at 20:41:23 UTC
Tuesday, December 07, 2010 at 06:41:23 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
57.581°N, 33.474°W
Depth
27.3 km (17.0 miles)
Region
REYKJANES RIDGE
Distances
800 km (495 miles) ESE of Qaqortoq (Julianehab), Greenland
915 km (570 miles) SSE of Tasiilaq (Angmagssalik), Greenland
960 km (600 miles) SW of REYKJAVIK, Iceland
1230 km (760 miles) ESE of NUUK (GODTHAB), Greenland
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 22 km (13.7 miles); depth +/- 1.2 km (0.7 miles)
Parameters
NST= 40, Nph= 40, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=0.6 sec, Gp= 83°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=3

Does the atlantic have tsunami buoys?