Earthquake strikes major volcano site in Iceland

April 2016 – ICELAND – There was a major earthquake on the northern edge of the Bárðarbunga volcanic craters at around midnight last night. The quake measured 4.2 on the Richter scale and is therefore the largest quake to have hit the famous volcano since it stopped erupting in February last year. According to Bjarki Fries, a natural disasters specialist with the Icelandic met office, the earthquake emanated from 3.5 kilometers underground. Around 15 aftershocks have already been measured, the most powerful of which was a 3.5 quake at 01.00 this morning.

Met office earthquakes specialist Martin Hensch told RÚV that there is no evidence of lava movements or of any eruption activity connected to the earthquakes, but that the situation will be monitored carefully. There were two quakes in the same location on April 3, measuring 3.4 and 3 on the Richter scale. The recent eruption at Bárðarbunga, often known as Holuhraun, lasted from late August 2014 to late February 2015, and despite not affecting aviation or physically threatening any human settlements, it caused dangerous levels of pollution around Iceland and produced more new lava than almost any other eruption in Iceland since the Vikings first arrived. –Iceland Review