Uncertainty level declared on Hekla volcano - Hekla waking up.

Hello ATS! Heads up!

Uncertainty level has been declared on Hekla volcano due to strange earthquake activity in it for the past week or so. But in total of seven earthquakes where recorded in Hekla volcano at the depth of 11 to 12 km. This is highly unusual for Hekla volcano. People are advised against going up to Hekla volcano while uncertainty level is in force. It is also dangerous to be too close to Hekla volcano. Since if an eruption starts, it is going to start without any warning at all.

One of Iceland's most prominent and active volcanoes, Hekla lies near the southern end of the eastern rift zone. Hekla occupies a rift-transform junction, and has produced basaltic andesites, in contrast to the tholeiitic basalts typical of Icelandic rift zone volcanoes. Vatnafjöll, a 40-km-long, 9-km-wide group of basaltic fissures and crater rows immediately SE of Hekla forms a part of the Hekla-Vatnafjöll volcanic system. A 5.5-km-long fissure, Heklugjá, cuts across the 1491-m-high Hekla volcano and is often active along its full length during major eruptions. Repeated eruptions along this rift, which is oblique to most rifting structures in the eastern volcanic zone, are responsible for Hekla's elongated ENE-WSW profile. Frequent large silicic explosive eruptions during historical time have deposited tephra throughout Iceland, providing valuable time markers used to date eruptions from other Icelandic volcanoes. Hekla tephras are generally rich in fluorine and are consequently very hazardous to grazing animals. Extensive lava flows from Hekla's historical eruptions, which date back to 1104 AD, cover much of the volcano's flanks.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office has changed the aviation colour-code of Hekla volcano from green to yellow, signifying elevated unrest above a known background level during the last weeks. The Icelandic Civil Defence together with the Police in Hvolsvöllur have declared a level of uncertainty for Hekla. The change from green to yellow is a precautionary step due to increased earthquake activity. To date, there are no observable signs that an eruption of Hekla is imminent.

Link to news source

Live webcam stream from Hekla

Yay,


Thank you for the update. The Canaries are wiggling, Etna has been very feisty lately, all kinds of other stuff popping up, now this. It will be Katla next. This weekend is thought to be a big time for seismic activity due to planetary alignments and the 188 day cycle, and right on time, everything seems to be waking up.

I do not have a clue what Hekla volcano is up to at the moment. But this is highly unusual activity for this volcano. Since normally there are no earthquakes in Hekla volcano until just before an eruption takes place in it. For the moment. The only thing that can be done now is to monitor what is taking place in Hekla volcano.

More on the situation in Mt. Hekla:

Since 10 March 2013, at least seven micro-earthquakes, ranging in size from magnitude 0.4 to 1, have been detected over a small area ~4.5 km to the north-east of the volcano's summit. Sourced mainly at 11 to 12 km depth, these earthquakes have a high-frequency character suggestive of brittle fracturing rather than magma movements. At Hekla, such a clustering of earthquakes in time and space is unusual in between eruptions.

Continuous measurements of borehole strain and ground-based GPS show no changes in crustal deformation. The only measurable change is increased earthquake activity, although the earthquake rate is too low to assess whether this episode has peaked already.

This is nothing to worry about, Hekla erupts often and it is nothing out of the ordinary. She is overdue and will erupt sooner than later. The lead volcanologist here in Iceland has said theses earthquakes are not typical Hekla earthquakes and believes it is unrelated to eruption, however, the alarm is on because Hekla and the surrounding area is very popular tourist area.

For live earthquakes and eruption new from Iceland, follow this link: en.vedur.is...

reply to post by Waldy


Cant say that every ten years is "often", but i do agree on you that she is well overdue for an eruption.

reply to post by Hithe Merinos


Wouldnt it be often geologically, what is the average interval between eruptions in active volcanoes?

More Icelandic activity today. I'm trying to find the report of a 5.4 at Katla that I saw earlier today, but here is a blog from someone on the ground, so to speak.

Icelandic volcano blog