6.1 quake in Iceland, just on MSNBC

[havocmom]

here's a quake monitor site

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

Any volcanologists in the house? Are things getting hotter than normal in Iceland?

[shain from kane]

1. Shakin' loose some icebergs.

Actually, Greenland has the ice, and Iceland has the green.

[Doityourself]

14. Yeah, ain't that something...

[Trajan]

2. 6.1 in Iceland ?

The Land of Fire and Ice ?

Being a HUGELY active volcanic region, this little tremor probably stirred their coffee, and nothing more ....

[eShirl]

4. little tremor, huh?

if you say so

[Trajan]

6. As a former Californian who endured decades of such quakes ....

I wouldn't be putting my pajamas back on ...

I would be re-arranging my knickknacks and trudging on to work, and expecting everyone else to show up as well .....

These rarely cause damage (in state's that build to earthquake standards), and may even be missed by many who mistake the shake for a bus or truck driving by the house ....

[eShirl]

7. it's the volcanic stuffs I'd be concerned about with a quake

I don't think there's much of that in California

[Trajan]

11. According to the science of plate tectonics

Earthquakes AND volcanism are physical phenomena caused by the same processes that exist in a planet with a molten core.

The molten compounds, driven by thermal activity, push against continental plates, whose movement cause quakes, and if exposed to the near surface environment, volcanism.

The same active processes cause both ....

[eShirl]

17. yes.

[kestrel91316]

19. Oh? Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, Mammoth........we've got volcanic possibilities

here. Every weekend I have been hiking up in the Santa Monicas here in Los Angeles and there are weird onion-like boulders of volcanic origin all over the place.

And there's that prominent cinder cone right by the highway on the way up to Lone Pine......

[eShirl]

21. ok, did not know that

I lived in the L.A. area

[havocmom]

22. Yes, there are some volcanos IN California, But Iceland IS a volcano

Not as much land as CA and all that smaller land mass is on a thin crust over magma, is it not.

Earthquakes near volcanos mean something different than your general San Andres Fault movement, unless it is a lot more than 6.1 on that fault.

[havocmom]

10. Grew up in Calif myself, but most of that shakin state is not on top of volcanos

Iceland, on the other hand...

[Trajan]

12. Iceland has regular events like this ....

Most all volcanic events are preceded by 'harmonic tremors', which, since earthquakes are such a regular event in such regions, may or may not indicate the imminence of an eruption .... Places like Iceland experience earthquakes on a regular basis, but they are ALWAYS watching their volcanoes with a wary eye, whether there are earthquakes or not ....

My point about California quakes is that a 6.1 is not considered a huge event, and would not cause but minor disruption ....

[havocmom]

20. Right, 6.1 is usually not much in CA. But Iceland is not CA

thus my question if there were volcanologists in the house who could enlighten us as to what 6.1 may signify IN ICELAND. California is totally irrelevant.

[bbernardini]

3. Bjork's warming up the ol' vocal cords again, I see.

Seriously, though, hope everybody's okay.

[shraby]

5. They have a volcano there and maybe it's starting

to rumble.

[Trajan]

8. A volcano ?

Hmmmmm ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanism_in_Iceland

Volcanism in Iceland

Iceland has a high concentration of active volcanoes due to unique geological conditions. The island has about 130 volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since the settlement of Iceland. Over the past 500 years, Iceland's volcanoes have erupted a third of the total global lava output.{citation needed} Although the Laki eruption in 1783 had the largest eruption of lava in the last 500 years, the Eldgjá eruption of 934 AD and other Holocene eruptions were even larger.

Geologists explain this high concentration of volcanic activity as being due to a combination of the island's position on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and a volcanic hotspot underneath the island. The island sits astride the boundary between the Eurasian and North American Plates, and most volcanic activity is concentrated along the plate boundary, which runs across the island from the south-west to the north-east of the island. Some volcanic activity occurs offshore, especially off the southern coast. This includes wholly submerged submarine volcanoes and even newly formed volcanic islands such as Jólnir.



Iceland exists over the main Atlantic rift ridge .... They have more active volcanoes per sq mile than ANY other nation on earth ....

[shraby]

27. Guess I misunderestimated Iceland.

I remembered reading about the one that developed off shore and another that almost buried a town in ash, but never investigated further.

[eShirl]

9. was watching PBS's Secrets of the Dead last night about Herculaneum

IIRC, they think an earthquake precipitated Vesuvius' eruption

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/video-chapters/herculaneum-uncovered-chapter-1

[BrotherBuzz]

26. The precursor earthquake they spoke of was seventeen years before eruption

It took all that time for the magma to work up to the surface and build pressure. They had no knowledge that Mount Vesuvius was going to erupt until it did, in fact they didn't even know it was a volcano. Interesting program.

[Clark2008]

13. Hey - does anyone have that global map that

shows everything that's happening from terrorist events to earthquakes to car wrecks?

Thanks!

[ensho]

16. here tis

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/?area=&lang=eng

[Clark2008]

23. Cool...

Thank you both!

[cephalexin]

18. You mean this one I think...not sure how accurate or complete it is

http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?lang=eng

[kestrel91316]

15. I thought the USGS website listed it as a 6.7 (Northridge-sized).

Fortunately, Iceland is minimally developed and has a tiny population.

[havocmom]

25. Likely upgraded, as frequently happens after time to analysis data

Initial report on the news was 6.1. Initial reports often updated.

Iceland's tiny population is amazing in how it manages its resources and turns a liability (volcanoes) into an asset (steam heat and greenhouses that grow a lot of food)

[Gato Moteado]

24. we just had three days of quakes in southern costa rica

monday was a 6.4 and the next two days there were after shocks. that was according to the newspaper here.

i was in the south on sunday but back up in the central valley by sunday night so i didn't feel any of it.