2008 Iceland Earthquake - Characteristics

Characteristics

Iceland straddles the mid-Atlantic ridge where the Eurasian and North-American tectonic plates move away from each other. Volcanic activity is common along such divergent boundaries but strong earthquakes are rare. In Iceland the ridge is somewhat off-set, creating two transform faults where plates move horizontally along each other. One is in the north of the country and one in the south, the strongest Icelandic earthquakes happen along those transform faults. The 29 May quakes are classified by geologists as typical Suðurlandsskjálftar (literally: Southern Iceland quakes) which happen on the southern fault.