Seismic unrest at El Hierro Island (Canary Islands): updates Jan-March 2013
New earthquake swarm
Update Mon 18 Mar 18:27
A powerful new earthquake swarm accompanied by volcanic tremor has started under the western part of the island. So far, the quakes are mostly at about 20 km depth. A plausible cause is that another magma intrusion from the mantle into the crust under the island has just started. | ||
 Location of today's quakes at EL Hierro (IGN) | |  Seismic signal from El Hierro (IGN) |
Update Sun 10 Feb 12:51
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 Depth vs time of recent quakes under El Hierro |
Second submarine eruption during 2012 ?
Update Fri 08 Feb 09:25
Some new data suggest that a second submarine eruption might actually have occurred at El Hierro occurred at the sea floor SW off El Hierro Island during the strong seismic crises in end of June - July 2012.
Evidence of this claimed eruption were sonar images which, according to the researchers, showed volcanic material erupted in an area less than 2 NM from the coast and at depths of 64 to 88 meters. The material formed a plume that rose up to a depth of 48 meters. However, some doubts about this evidence remain because while the earthquake swarm was very intense, there were no shallow earthquakes associated with the possible opening of a new eruptive vent. Read all.
Read more about the June-July 2012 seismic activity.
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 Earthquake depth distribution 1 June - 23 Aug 2012 showing the strong seismic swarm at around 20 km depth end of June-early July and the smaller swarm at around 10 km depth in mid August |
Update Mon 28 Jan 17:06
Slightly elevated earthquake activity continues. |
 Time and depth of recent earthquakes at El Hierro |
New earthquakes
Update Sat 26 Jan 12:51
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 Map of recent earthquakes at El Hierro |
Update Fri 04 Jan 10:30
It seems that the swarm has already ended.Inflation visible, suggesting magma intrusion
Update Thu 03 Jan 11:54
Earthquakes continue under in the eastern El Golfo area. GPS station HI00 in the NE part of the island shows a clear inflation, which suggests that some magma intrusion has been taking place. The tremor signal recorded by IGN is low. | ||
 GPS data from El Hierro - note the inflation visible at station HI00 | |  Location of GPS stations (IGN) |
New seismic swarm
Update Wed 02 Jan 09:58
A new swarm of earthquakes started on 31 Dec. Most quakes are located at 15-20 km depth under El Golfo and seem to propagate slowly towards the east. On 31, 57 quakes of magnitudes 1.4-2.4 were registered, on 1 Jan, 43 with magnitudes up to 2.6. | ||
 Locataion of recent quakes (IGN) | |  Time and depth of recent quakes under El Hierro |
Part 5: updates Aug-Dec 2012
Part 4: updates Apr-Aug 2012
Part 3: updates Mar-Apr 2012
Part 2: updates Dec-Feb 2012
Part 1: updates before Dec 2011 on El Hierro News page
