Two powerful earthquakes shook the Bárðarbunga caldera over the weekend. The first, a solitary 3.5 magnitude quake hit the eastern part of the caldera at 3:53 in the morning of Saturday. The second, a 3.6 magnitude quake on Sunday morning in the Northern part of the caldera was accompanied by a swarm of smaller quakes, including three relatively strong tremors of 2.4-2.7 magnitude. According to measurements by the Icelandic Meteorological Office, a total of 16 quakes have been detected in Bárðarbunga in the past 48 hours.
Read more: All of Iceland‘s major volcanoes showing unusually high levels of activity
The quakes over the weekend are only the latest in the current wave of high levels of seismic activity which started in the fall of 2016, when seismologists started noting activity picking up and the frequency of relatively powerful quakes increasing.
The system has seen constant seismic activity since the 2014-2015 Holuhraun eruption. Dozens of powerful earthquakes, larger than 3 on the Richter scale, have been detected. The seismic activity is most likely caused by the re-filling of the magma chambers of the sub-glacial Bárðarbunga, which is the heart of the most powerful volcanic system in Iceland.
Two powerful earthquakes shook the Bárðarbunga caldera over the weekend. The first, a solitary 3.5 magnitude quake hit the eastern part of the caldera at 3:53 in the morning of Saturday. The second, a 3.6 magnitude quake on Sunday morning in the Northern part of the caldera was accompanied by a swarm of smaller quakes, including three relatively strong tremors of 2.4-2.7 magnitude. According to measurements by the Icelandic Meteorological Office, a total of 16 quakes have been detected in Bárðarbunga in the past 48 hours.
Read more: All of Iceland‘s major volcanoes showing unusually high levels of activity
The quakes over the weekend are only the latest in the current wave of high levels of seismic activity which started in the fall of 2016, when seismologists started noting activity picking up and the frequency of relatively powerful quakes increasing.
The system has seen constant seismic activity since the 2014-2015 Holuhraun eruption. Dozens of powerful earthquakes, larger than 3 on the Richter scale, have been detected. The seismic activity is most likely caused by the re-filling of the magma chambers of the sub-glacial Bárðarbunga, which is the heart of the most powerful volcanic system in Iceland.
