<p>The Reykjanes Peninsula in south-west Iceland straddles the North-America - Eurasia plate boundary and hosts several active volcanic systems, including the Svartsengi volcanic system. The last eruption in this area took place around 1240 CE, with eruptive episodes recurring every 800-1000 years, affecting one volcanic system at a time, but spanning multiple systems &#160;with activity spaced ~100 to 200 years. In January 2020, unrest was identified in Svartsengi, characterized by intense seismicity and inflation at a rate of 3-4 mm per day. This area is located within 5 km of several important infrastructures: a) the town of Grindav&#237;k; b) the Svartsengi geothermal power plant; c) and the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, which had over a million annual visits before the Covid pandemy.</p><p>&#160;</p><p>Two continuously recording GNSS stations were installed in the Svartsengi geothermal area in 2013-2015 to monitor geothermally-induced subsidence.&#160; Coinciding with the onset of an earthquake swarm starting on January 21 (M<4), uplift of about 3-4 mm/day was noticed in automated GNSS and InSAR results. The uplift rates in this first inflation phase decreased after January 31 and reverted to slight subsidence in early February. Interestingly, the most intense seismicity was offset from the uplift center by about 2-4 km to the southeast. Geodetic source models from the initial two weeks indicate the deformation is the result of a sill intrusion at a depth of about 4 km &#160;with a volume change of approximately 3 &#160;million m<sup>3</sup>. The resulting stress changes from this intrusion act to increase seismicity at the sill edges, thus offering an explanation for why the seismicity is offset from the center of uplift. The location of the sill coincides roughly with a crustal volume with a high V<sub>p</sub>/V<sub>s</sub> ratio.</p><p>&#160;</p><p>Two more inflation-deflation episodes have occurred at Svartsengi in 2020 and the total uplift amounts to approximately 12 cm. Additionally, at least one inflation episode occurred in the Reykjanes system, in February 2020, and inflation started in the Kr&#253;suv&#237;k system in mid-July 2020, culminating in a M5.6 earthquake on October 20. The Fagradalsfjall system, between Kr&#253;suv&#237;k and Svartsengi, has shown high seismicity in 2020, but does not display detectable inflation nor deflation. Therefore, the volcano-tectonic activity in 2020 spans the entire western part of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The stress changes for each of these events are too small to explain the cross-system activity, hence we suggest the entire unrest is &#160;by deep magma migration beneath the entire western Reykjanes Peninsula.&#160;&#160;</p>
Non-eruptive uplift and subsidence episodes remain a challenge for monitoring and hazard assessments in active volcanic systems worldwide. Sources of such deformation may relate to processes such as magma inflow and outflow, motion and phase changes of hydrothermal fluids or magma volatiles, heat transfer from magmatic bodies and heat-mining from geothermal extraction. The Hengill area, in southwest Iceland, hosts two active volcanic systems, Hengill and Hrómundartindur, and two high-temperature geothermal power plants, Hellisheiði and Nesjavellir. Using a combination of geodetic data sets (GNSS and InSAR; Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar, respectively) and a non-linear inversion scheme to estimate the optimal analytical model parameters, we investigate the ground deformation between 2017–2018. Due to other ongoing deformation processes in the area, such as plate motion, subsidence in the two geothermal production fields, and deep-seated source of contraction since 2006, we estimate 2017–2018 difference velocities by subtracting background deformation, determined from data spanning 2015–2017 (InSAR) or 2009–2017 (GNSS). This method highlights changes in ground deformation observed in 2017–2018 compared to prior years: uplift signal of ∼10 km diameter located in the eastern part of the Hengill area, and geothermal production-related temporal changes in deformation near Húsmúli, in the western part of the Hengill area. We find an inflation source located between the Hengill and Hrómundartindur volcanic complexes, lasting for ∼5 months, with a maximum uplift of ∼12 mm. Our model inversions give a source at depth of ∼6–7 km, located approximately in the same crustal volume as an inferred contracting source in 2006–2017, within the local brittle-ductile transition zone. No significant changes were observed in local seismicity, borehole temperatures and pressures during the uplift episode. These transient inflation and deflation sources are located ∼3 km NW from a source of non-eruptive uplift in the area (1993–1999). We consider possible magmatic and hydrothermal processes as the causes for these inflation-deflation episodes and conclude that further geophysical and geological studies are needed to better understand such episodes.
Fagradalsfjall Lava Fountain Acoustics the lava fountain sequence. Finally, we propose that higher acoustic amplitudes, in addition to a wider conduit in late May, indicates higher gas flux through the conduit culminating in shorter lava fountain events. This study highlights the value of deploying acoustic sensors for providing additional constraints on eruption dynamics and source parameters during effusive fissure eruptions in Iceland and elsewhere.
<p>Geodetic observations during volcanic eruptions are important to constrain from where the eruptive products originate in the sub-surface. Some eruptions are sourced from magma reservoirs shallow in the crust, whereas others may tap magma directly from the mantle. The 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption took place on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, during March 19 to September 18, resulting in approximately 0.15 km<sup>3</sup> of erupted basaltic lava. A wide-spread crustal subsidence and inward horizontal motion, centered on the eruptive site, was observed during the eruption. Nearest to the emplaced lava flows, additional localized subsidence is observed due to the loading of the lavas. The regional subsidence rate varied during the eruption: it was low in the beginning and then increased, in broad agreement with changes in the bulk effusive rate. In this study we use GNSS and InSAR data to model the deformation source(s) during different periods of the eruption, primarily aiming to resolve the depth and volume change of the magma source. We furthermore calculate crustal stress changes during the eruption and compare to the regional seismicity.</p>
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