Blog

Comparing the unique earthquake swarm occurring today with the mathematical continuation of Reykjanes Ridge and the relevant mantle convection rolls, this pattern emerges:

The earthquake swarm spans over an area within one quarter of the polygon. The faults pattern of the South Iceland Seismic Zone are shown for comparison. The faults continue into the Reykjanes Polygon, but due to the swaying effect of the central axis of the seismic zone system, the faults are likewise forced to appear farther to the south. The faults remain NS oriented within the Reykjanes part of the seismic system. Earthquake seem to occur mainly south of the central tectonic division line, as can clearly be seen on this map. The NS axis of the polygon is surprisingly decisive, resulting in a ‘1/4 pattern’ of the swarm.

Red lines show upwelling, blue lines show downwelling. The polygon is simplified and superimposed on a map from the National Land Survey of Iceland.

Extending the Reykjanes Ridge mathematically, it does cross the most powerful low temperature geothermal area of Iceland of Reykholtsdalur. A division line is found under the farm Reykholt.

The pool at Reykholt is quite famous. Snorri Sturluson, the most famous writer of Iceland, lived there in the 13th century.

The hot water flows into the pool Snorralaug, translated as Snorri’s Pool, from the hotspring Skrifla.

The system was quite advanced, because steam was led from this hotspring through a pipeline into Snorri’s farm, heating the floor inside it.

Snorri Sturluson was the richest and most powerful man in Iceland, and did choose a fabulous place as his home.

Japan is known for volcanoes and hot springs, and having a critical position between different tectonic plates. The conditions within the mantle should add to that story. Division between large convection rolls is expected to be located under Japan, affecting the smaller convection rolls of the asthenosphere.

One convection roll is highlighted here with red, because a large number of volcanoes happens to be located within that area. This volcanic roll, swaying towards NE, is found at the depth of around 120-265 kilometers. The rolls underneath, swaying towards NW, are at the depth of 265-410 km. Below 410 km, the large convection rolls of lower mantle are found. As the large scale lower mantle division line is found under the highlighted roll of the asthenosphere, the importance of that roll becomes more understandable. To fully understand the geology of Japan, both the tectonic drift of the converging plates and the relevant mantle currents have to be considered, to see how these factors interact with each other.

Note the location of Fuji, is directly above the division lines of two layers (and the division line of the lower mantle as well).

Many have noticed that the continents look somewhat similar, but it is difficult to say what. The northern part tends to be wider than the southern part. Comparing with the divisions found within the convection rolls model, a basic shape of North America be pointed out.

The coast of the Pacific Ocean is obviously more regular than the East Coast. The continent all the same follows this basic shape surprisingly well. This shape resembles the southern part of Africa as shown in another post.

The most apparent geothermal areas in Greenland are found around Scoresbysund. Considering the second layer of convection rolls, the areas in Greenland are found as a continuation of the volcanically and geothermally active zones of Iceland. No one expects underlying connection in that direction, because the upper most convection rolls mark the main trend of tectonic alignment in Iceland. In this way, the exceptional activity level in Iceland makes itself felt in Greenland too.

The basic map showing geothermal springs in Greenland is from https://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2010/0158.pdf.

The numbered convection rolls are leading to: 1) West Volcanic Zone, 2) Mid Iceland Belt, 3) East Volcanic Zone, 4) North Volcanic Zone.

The geothemal areas at Disko are subject to similar effect, being exactly 30° farther to the west. The area is much older, and the main division line there is weaker, as the rifting process of Baffin Bay ceased a long time ago, which is explained here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Arctic_Rift_System.