On Friday Afternoon a Shallow M4.8 FORESHOCK struck in the Greenland Sea near Reykjavík (Iceland).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on November 10th, 2023. Last updated December 9th, 2023.

In the Greenland Sea 31 kilometer from Reykjavík, Iceland, a shallow MAG-4.8 foreshock occurred in the late afternoon of Friday November 10th, 2023.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Greenland Sea, right off the coast of Iceland (6 mi offshore), 31 kilometer west of Reykjavík in Capital Region. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Nov 10, 2023 17:30 (Reykjavik Time) - Nov 10, 2023 17:30 Universal Time.
Location:	31 km west of Reykjavík, Capital Region, Iceland. Coordinates 64°6'26"N 22°32'2"W.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 4.8 Detected by 115 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.054 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in Iceland . The closest significant population center near the earthquake is Hafnarfjörður in Capital Region, Iceland. Hafnarfjörður is located 29 kilometer (18 mi) west of the epicenter.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

This is likely a foreshock

This earthquake was followed by a stronger MAG-5.3 earthquake, classifying this earthquake as a foreshock.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

The risk of aftershocks decreases rapidly over time. Usually, aftershocks are at least one order of magnitude lower than a main shock.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since November 10th, 2023, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 45 km (28 mi) further south-southwest. An even stronger magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck on June 20th, 2020.

In total, 125 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.8 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every 29 days.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 09/12/23 01:48 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000la5q
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20231110_0000323
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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