Reykjanes-South Iceland Seismic Zone
Iceland · oceanic spreading ridge · 380.2 km of mapped active fault in 15 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 1 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.83 |
| Rate against normal | 1.20x |
| Largest | M5.3 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 302 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 10.07 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 380.2 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 15 |
| Tectonic setting | oceanic spreading ridge |
| Slip types | Spreading_Ridge, Sinistral_Transform |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | 63.23 to 64.49 latitude, -24.25 to -17.82 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 4 significant earthquakes attributed to this system since 1929.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 6.5, on 17 June 2000 (Iceland: Vestmannaeyjar, Hella).
The most recent entry is the 29 May 2008 magnitude 6.3 earthquake (Iceland: Reykjavik).
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 June 2000 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Iceland: Grimsnes, Selfoss, Eyrarbakki, Stokkseyri | 12 homes destroyed, $12 million damage |
| 17 June 2000 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Iceland: Vestmannaeyjar, Hella | 11 homes destroyed, $20 million damage |
| 29 May 2008 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | Iceland: Reykjavik | damage under $1 million |
| 23 July 1929 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | Iceland | - |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Who to listen to if you live here
Almannavarnir, Icelandic Civil Protection is the agency that tells people on this system what to do. https://www.almannavarnir.is/ (in Icelandic)
Other systems in Iceland
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.