Over 450 Earthquakes In One Week, New Eruption Is Expected

Nearly 500 earthquakes have been measured on the Reykjanes Peninsula since Monday, August 5th, reports RÚV. Most of the earthquakes were below magnitude 1, but on Sunday, August 11th there was an earthquake of magnitude 1.7, followed by an earthquake of 1.6 on Monday morning. Scientists expect an eruption.

The number of small earthquakes in the Sundhnúksgígar crater row is still increasing. These are all small earthquakes below magnitude 2, with the majority below magnitude 1. The earthquakes are measured scattered along the magma intrusion, south to Grindavík and north to Stóra-Skógfell. Minney Sigurðardóttir, a natural hazards specialist at the Icelandic Met Office, says there are no signs of volcanic unrest. The situation is similar to what it has been in recent days. “It’s similar to what we’ve seen over the weekend. There’s a slight increase in seismic activity, as we’ve seen in recent weeks,” says Minney.

According to Skjálfta-Lísa, over 450 earthquakes have been measured on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the past week. “There have been over 90 earthquakes in the last 24 hours,” says Minney. “There’s no unrest indicating anything specific right now, but we’re monitoring this closely.”

It’s been three weeks since the hazard level for the seismic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula was raised to danger level. Deformation data and model calculations show that ground uplift and magma accumulation under Svartsengi continue. This is a similar development to the weeks before previous magma intrusions and eruptions.

“We’re expecting an eruption in the coming days,” says Minney.

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