Science is Fun Fridays!

 

Iceland is no stranger to volcanic and seismic activity, but recently a crack started to spread through the town of Grindavik.  It sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, where the Fagradalsfjalls volcano is gearing up for an eruption.

The cracking was caused by what's called a dike, a vertical sheet of magma within the crust.  Vincent Drouin, with the Icelandic Meteorological Office, says the dike has stopped propagating, but at the time was moving more than 2km an hour.

As the magma cracks through and advances under the surface, it creates earthquakes.  Scientists had some idea of what would happen as they noticed some deformations and then a cluster of seismic activity in a repeated pattern.

Researchers at the Global Seismographic Network (BORG) in Reykjavik have transformed seismic frequencies into audible pitches.  These recordings are from early November.