Iceland earthquake swarm, over 20,000 in 10 days

[Warpy]

I don't know how many armchair geologists have been following this, but it looks as though the lava field on Reykjanes Peninsula, 27 KM southwest of the capital city, is about to open up. It's unlikely to be explosive, more like what happened on Hawaii, and historic lava fields have been on the smaller side. The problem is that historically, once it opens up, it erupts for a century or two.

If you're keeping up with this, I recommend these videos, the man is a photographer with a side interest in geology.

Pro tip to the townies: when the ground starts shaking like jelly, it's generally time to get out of Dodge.

You can always return if it quiets down.

[Siwsan]

1. That's not all that far from where I was stationed, in Keflavik

We used to drive out to that area to visit Gulfoss - a magnificent waterfall.

[thucythucy]

2. I love Iceland.

Reykjavik in the wintertime is beautiful, but tough to get around in a wheelchair.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks for the alert, and the interesting link. There should be some very anxious people there....

Gullfoss waterfall (Golden Circle), mentioned by Siwsan in your thread. Had never seen this.

Thanks, Warpy.

[Warpy]

4. In an earlier video, he grumbled about trying to write with frequent shaking

Nobody knows any sort of timing for this thing, the last eruption was 800 years ago and lasted about 2 centuries.

Ground deformation shows them the likeliest spot but so far no cracks have appeared in that area and Mother Earth has thrown curve balls before. The 1973 eruption in the Westman Islands happened with no warning earthquakes. I knew a guy whose parents sent him for a semester in Boston when that happened.