Some notable earthquakes in Iceland have been during earthquake swarms with several earthquakes having very similar magnitude and contributing to human injury, death and/or property damage. Accordingly, the largest earthquake may be shown on this page rather than ones that also contributed to the notability. Notable earthquakes in Iceland tend to be close to population centres and therefore do not reflect the full distribution of the high local seismic activity. This distribution includes the transform faults in the South Iceland seismic zone (SISZ) and Tjörnes fracture zone, as well as activity in volcanic rift zones.

Geology

Iceland lies on the spreading axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) where it is influenced by the Iceland hotspot, a major mantle upwelling. The active spreading axis of the MAR is moving westward with respect to the hotspot. This means that the active rifts above the hotspot have progressively jumped towards the east, causing the development of two major transform zones in the north and south of the island. To the south is the approximately wide SISZ, which is quite active for earthquakes, and this has a west–east trend. Most earthquakes in this zone are associated with movement on north–south trending right lateral strike-slip faults, although there is also evidence of WSW–ENE trending faults.

According to historical records, there have been 33 damaging earthquakes in the SISZ from the 11th century up to June 2000, with the latest being in 1896 and 1912.

Notable earthquakes

Date Location MMI Deaths InjuriesCommentsRef.2023-11-10Southern Peninsula5.3 MwwV1 missingSevere damage to Grindavik with evacuations. Earthquake swarm commenced 24 October 2023 2022-07-31 Southern Peninsula 5.4 Mww VII Moderate damage 2021-02-24 Southern Peninsula 5.6 Mww VII 1 mild injury Mild damage 2008-05-29 Hveragerði, Selfoss 6.3 Mw VIII 30 Rockslides 2000-06-21 Hesfjall, Southern Peninsula 6.5 ML X Severe damage 2000-06-17 Hella, Southern Peninsula 6.6 ML 3 Severe damage 1976-01-13 Kópasker 6.4 Ms Moderate damage 1968-12-05Kleifarvatn, Southern Peninsula6.0 MsVIIIModerate damage in Hafnarfjörður 1934-06-02 Dalvíkurbyggð6.2 Ms VIII Major damage, 200 people homeless ,1929-07-23Brennisteinsfjöll, Southern Peninsula6.5 MsAround 100 minorModerate damage in Reykjavík 1912-05-06 Hekla, Southern Peninsula 7.5 XI 11 1896-09-05Southern Peninsula6.0, 6.5 and 6.03Three major earthquakes with short intervals. (Around 3.000 houses or farms destroyed) 1896-08-27 Skarðsfjall, Southern Peninsula 6.7 X 1 1896-08-26Rangárvallasýrsla, Southern Peninsula7.0XMajor damage, many farms destroyed 1872 Húsavík, Norðurþing 6.5 Heavy damage 1784-08-14 Southern (Suðurland) X Severe damage 1734 Southern lowland 9 Severe damage / Many homes destroyed 1706-04-20 Selfoss X 999 Severe damage 1211Southern (Suðurland)X18Severe damage 1182 Southern (Suðurland) X 11 1164 Grímsnes X 19 1013 Southern (Suðurland) X 11 Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. A compilation exists, for details of Icelandic earthquakes up to 2014 as some have been without significant damage, even if high magnitude events.

See also Geology of Iceland Lists of earthquakes

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links Earthquakes in Iceland magnitude 4 and greater, 1706–1990