A peculiar cluster of seismicity near the tip of Sandfellsjokull on the eastern flank of Katla volcano in southern Iceland has been analyzed in detail using data from a temporary seismic network. A total of 300 events were detected between July 2011 and August 2013, most of them from a swarm between December 4th and 12th, 2011. The sparser permanent network detected a small fraction of these events, but also a larger swarm in November 2010. When seismic activity started in this area is uncertain because of changes in the detection capability of the network over time. The events are of low magnitude (-0.5 < ML < 0.5) and the b-value of their magnitude distribution is high (1.6 +/- 0.1). Based on their frequency content (4-25 Hz) and clear P and S arrivals, the events are classified as volcano-tectonic. Two multiplets probably with different source mechanism are identified in their population. The events locate at approximately 3.5 km depth. Most of them are tightly clustered according to double difference relative locations in a volume that is only about 400 m in diameter in all directions. Several events are scattered up to 800 m beneath this volume. There is some suggestion of elongate structure in the cluster with a NNE/SSW strike and a dip of 60 degrees. We argue that these events cannot be due to a glacial or a broad tectonic process. Possibly, a localized source of fluid pressure, e.g., a small magma body at depth may be the source of these events.

The crust-mantle boundary (the Moho) is a first order interface in the Earth and the depth to the Moho is therefore well studied in most regions. However, below regions which are covered by large ice sheets, such as Greenland and Antarctica, the Moho is only partly known and seismic data are difficult to obtain. Here, we take advantage of the global gravity model EIGEN-6C4, together with the Parker-Oldenburg algorithm, to estimate the depth to the Moho beneath Greenland and surroundings. The available free-air gravity data are corrected for the topographic effect and the effect of sedimentary basins. We also correct for the effect on gravity due to the weight of the ice sheet and the accompanying deflection of the Earth's surface, which has not previously been taken into account in gravity studies of currently glaciated regions. Our final Moho depth model for Greenland has an associated uncertainty of +/- 4.5 km for areas with sedimentary basins and 4 km for areas without sedimentary basins. The model shows maximum Moho depths below east Greenland of up to 55 km and values less than 20 km offshore east Greenland. There is a marked increase in Moho depth of 10-15 km from northern to central Greenland, indicating a significant change in geology. A deep Moho at the northern coast of Greenland towards Ellesmere Island might be related to the location of the hot-spot track. Our Moho model is consistent with previous models, but has a higher lateral resolution of 0.1 degrees and covers the entire area of on- and offshore Greenland.

Much of the seismic activity of northern Sweden consists of micro-earthquakes occurring near postglacial faults. However, larger magnitude earthquakes do occur in Sweden, and earthquake statistics indicate that a magnitude 5 event is likely to occur once every century. This paper presents dynamic analyses of the effects of larger earthquakes on an upstream tailings dam at the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden. The analyses were performed to evaluate the potential for liquefaction and to assess stability of the dam under two specific earthquakes: a commonly occurring magnitude 3.6 event and a more extreme earthquake of magnitude 5.8. The dynamic analyses were carried out with the finite element program PLAXIS using a recently implemented constitutive model called UBCSAND. The results indicate that the magnitude 5.8 earthquake would likely induce liquefaction in a limited zone located below the ground surface near the embankment dikes. It is interpreted that stability of the dam may not be affected due to the limited extent of the liquefied zone. Both types of earthquakes are predicted to induce tolerable magnitudes of displacements. The results of the postseismic slope stability analysis, performed for a state after a seismic event, suggest that the dam is stable during both the earthquakes.

Katla is a threatening volcano in Iceland, partly covered by the Myrdalsjokull ice cap. The volcano has a large caldera with several active geothermal areas. A peculiar cluster of long-period seismic events started on Katla's south flank in July 2011, during an unrest episode in the caldera that culminated in a glacier outburst. The seismic events were tightly clustered at shallow depth in the Gvendarfell area, 4 km south of the caldera, under a small glacier stream at the southern margin of Myrdalsjokull. No seismic events were known to have occurred in this area before. The most striking feature of this seismic cluster is its temporal pattern, characterized by regular intervals between repeating seismic events, modulated by a seasonal variation. Remarkable is also the stability of both the time and waveform features over a long time period, around 3.5 years. We have not found any comparable examples in the literature. Both volcanic and glacial processes can produce similar waveforms and therefore have to be considered as potential seismic sources. Discerning between these two causes is critical for monitoring glacier-clad volcanoes and has been controversial at Katla. For this new seismic cluster on the south flank, we regard volcano-related processes as more likely than glacial ones for the following reasons: 1) the seismic activity started during an unrest episode involving sudden melting of the glacier and a jokulhlaup; 2) the glacier stream is small and stagnant; 3) the seismicity remains regular and stable for years; 4) there is no apparent correlation with short-term weather changes, such as rainstorms. We suggest that a small, shallow hydrothermal system was activated on Katla's south flank in 2011, either by a minor magmatic injection or by changes of permeability in a local crack system.

Glacially induced intraplate faults are conspicuous in Fennoscandia where they reach trace lengths of up to 155 km with estimated magnitudes up to 8 for the associated earthquakes. While they are typically found in northern parts of Fennoscandia, there are a number of published accounts claiming their existence further south and even in northern central Europe. This study focuses on a prominent scarp discovered recently in lidar (light detection and ranging) imagery hypothesized to be from a post-glacial fault and located about 250 km north of Stockholm near the town of Bollnas. The Bollnas scarp strikes approximately north-south for about 12 km. The maximum vertical offset in the sediments across the scarp is 4-5m with the western block being elevated relative to the eastern block. To investigate potential displacement in the bedrock and identify structures in it that are related to the scarp, we conducted a multidisciplinary geophysical investigation that included gravity and magnetic measurements, high-resolution seismics, radio-magnetotellurics (RMT), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Results of the investigations suggest a zone of low-velocity and high-conductivity in the bedrock associated with a magnetic lineament that is offset horizontally about 50m to the west of the scarp. The top of the bedrock is found similar to 10m below the surface on the eastern side of the scarp and about similar to 20m below on its western side. This difference is due to the different thicknesses of the overlying sediments accounting for the surface topography, while the bedrock surface is likely to be more or less at the same topographic level on both sides of the scarp; else the difference is not resolvable by the methods used. To explain the difference in the sediment covers, we suggest that the Bollnas scarp is associated with an earlier deformation zone, within a wide (> 150 m), highly fractured, water-bearing zone that became active as a reverse fault after the latest Weichselian deglaciation.

On 2008 May 29, two magnitude M_w ~ 6 earthquakes occurred on two adjacent N-S faults in the western South Iceland Seismic Zone. The first main shock was followed approximately 3 s later by the rupture on a parallel fault, about 5 km to the west. An intense aftershock sequence was mostly confined to the western fault and an E-W aligned zone, extending west of the main shock region into the Reykjanes oblique rift. In this study, a total of 325 well-constrained focal mechanisms were obtained using data from the permanent Icelandic SIL seismic network and a temporary network promptly installed in the source region following the main shocks, which allowed a high-resolution stress inversion in short time intervals during the aftershock period. More than 800 additional focal mechanisms for the time period 2001-2009, obtained from the permanent SIL network, were analysed to study stress changes associated with the main shocks. Results reveal a coseismic counter-clockwise rotation of the maximum horizontal stress of 11 +/- 10 degrees ( 95 per cent confidence level) in the main rupture region. From previous fault models obtained by inversion of geodetic data, we estimate a stress drop of about half of the background shear stress on the western fault. With a stress drop of 8-10 MPa, the pre-event shear stress is estimated to 16-20 MPa. The apparent weakness of the western fault may be caused by fault properties, pore fluid pressure and the vicinity of the fault to the western rift zone, but may also be due to the dynamic stress increase on the western fault by the rupture on the eastern fault. Further, a coseismic change of the stress regime-from normal faulting to strike-slip faulting-was observed at the northern end of the western fault. This change could be caused by stress heterogeneities, but may also be due to a southward shift in the location of the aftershocks as compared to prior events.

At 155 km, the Parvie fault is the world's longest known endglacial fault (EGF). It is located in northernmost Sweden in a region where several kilometre-scale EGFs have been identified. Based on studies of Quaternary deposits, landslides and liquefaction structures, these faults are inferred to have ruptured as large earthquakes when the latest ice sheet disappeared from the region, some 9500 yr ago. The EGFs still exhibit relatively high seismic activity, and here we present new earthquake data from northern Sweden in general and the Parvie fault in particular. More than 1450 earthquakes have been recorded in Sweden north of 66A degrees latitude in the years 2000-2013. There is a remarkable correlation between this seismicity and the mapped EGF scarps. We find that 71 per cent of the observed earthquakes north of 66A degrees locate within 30 km to the southeast and 10 km to the northwest of the EGFs, which is consistent with the EGFs' observed reverse faulting mechanisms, with dips to the southeast. In order to further investigate the seismicity along the Parvie fault we installed a temporary seismic network in the area between 2007 and 2010. In addition to the routine automatic detection and location algorithm, we devised a waveform cross-correlation technique which resulted in a 50 per cent increase of the catalogue and a total of 1046 events along the Parvie fault system between 2003 and 2013. The earthquakes were used to establish an improved velocity model for the area, using 3-D local earthquake tomography. The resulting 3-D velocity model shows smooth, minor velocity variations in the area. All events were relocated in this new 3-D model. A tight cluster on the central part of the Parvie fault, where the rate of seismicity is the highest, could be relocated with high precision relative location. We performed depth phase analysis on 40 of the larger events to further constrain the hypocentral locations. We find that the seismicity on the Parvie fault correlates very well with the mapped surface trace of the fault. The events do not align along a well-defined fault plane at depth but form a zone of seismicity that dips between 30A degrees and 60A degrees to the southeast of the surface fault trace, with distinct along-strike variations. The seismic zone extends to approximately 35 km depth. Using this geometry and earthquake scaling relations, we estimate that the endglacial Parvie earthquake had a magnitude of 8.0 +/- A 0.4.