Earthquakes

News about earthquakes. The stronger events are edited manually by the author, but a part of the quakes are automatically detected and posted by the usgs.

Iceland: Strong earthquake swarm on Reykjanes

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The Icelandic peninsula of Reykjanes is again hit by a strong Earthquake swarm. The strongest single quake had a magnitude of 5.0 and manifested itself 1.6 km northwest of Fagradalsfjall, with a hypocentre at 10 km depth. Fagradalsfjall is the highest elevation on Reykjanes with a height of 385 m and lies east of Grindavik. In the end, the epicentre of seismic activity shifted a little to the east, starting from the quake spot north of Grindavik where most of the previous earthquakes occurred.

IMO recorded a total of 936 earth tremors in the Reykjanes area in the last 48 hours. 16 quakes had magnitudes greater than 3, some of them even stronger than M 4.0. I assume that the quakes are related to further magma intrusion. However, an IMO report on this is still pending. However, the Icelandic Meteorological Authority reports that the stronger earth quakes were felt in the southwest of Iceland.

Iceland: New earthquake M 4.1

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There was another strong earthquake in Iceland this morning. It had a magnitude of 4.1 and manifested itself on the Reykjanes Peninsula. The epicentre was located 4.1 km north of Grindavik and only about 1 km from the Blue Lagoon and Thorbjörn Volcano. The depth of the hypocentre is estimated to be only 2.5 km. This makes it the closest surface earthquake of this magnitude since the swarm earthquakes started on the peninsula. The local residents should have been well shaken. It remains exciting to wait and see whether reports of crevice openings will come in. Just 2 minutes earlier, there was a quake of magnitude 3.2 at a depth of 2.3 km. Further weaker earthquakes followed. In total IMO registered 40 tremors on Reykjanes in the last 48 hours.

Andaman: Earthquake M 6.1

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The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were shaken by an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1. The hypocentre was 10 km deep. The epicentre manifested 236km east of Port Blair. The Indian Ocean archipelago belongs to India, but geographically it is closer to Myanmar. An aftershock of magnitude 5.6 followed at a depth of only 2 km. There had also been several aftershocks in the 4-magnitude range. Seismologists have been expecting a strong quake in the region (Andaman Sea) for some time, which could trigger a tsunami.

The quake was automatically detected.

Mayotte: more earthquakes

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Unlike in the Pacific South Seas, there are no floating pumice carpets or pronounced manifestations of volcanism on the water surface off the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. On the other hand, the ongoing earthquake activity indicates that the probably largest submarine volcanic eruption of modern times is continuing. Yesterday there was an earthquake of magnitude 3.1 at a depth of 32 km. The quake is part of a swarm quake that has lasted since last May and is associated with magma ascent.

Vesuvius: earthquake M 2.1

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Yesterday evening a weak earthquake of magnitude 2.1 occurred on Vesuvius near Naples (Italy). The hypocenter was at a depth of 0.35 km. The epicenter manifested itself in the crater. After the earthquake there were several earthquakes in the area of microseismics. A total of 13 earthquakes were registered by the INGV Napoli. The last earthquake to date had a magnitude of 1.3. Such earthquakes occur again and again on Vesuvius and are still no cause for concern. While some researchers see the earthquakes as signs that magmatic fluids are moving underground, other scientists see them as signs of shrinking processes as the volcano continues to cool. If you want to get your own picture of the data situation, you can do so on the new Vesuvius live page.