The Icelandic Meteorological Office today reported around a thousand new earthquakes since last midnight near the town of Gindavíkin the southwest of the island, and although the tremors did not exceed a magnitude of 3, the danger of a volcanic eruption in the coming days is increasing.
“Since the morning of November 11, seismic activity in magma intrusion remains fairly constant. Since midnight on November 12, around a thousand earthquakes have been recorded within the limits of the dam, all of them with a magnitude of less than 3.0″, according to the statement updated at 12:30 GMT today.
A volcanic dam are intrusions of volcanic material, in a liquid state, that solidifies in a slow process.
It specifies that “the greatest seismic activity occurred from the center of the corridor to the north and south, under Grindavík”, in the southwest of this island in the North Atlantic, and that “most earthquakes take place at a depth of between three and five kilometers at the bottom of the magma intrusion.”
“GPS measurements from the last 24 hours show that the deformation associated with the magma tunnel that formed on Friday, November 10 has slowed down,” which “suggests that the magma is moving closer to the surface,” it adds.