Pre-existing structures control the orientation of strike-slip faulting
during the 2021 Fagradalsfjall dike intrusion
Abstract
The 2021 Fagradalsfjall dike intrusion marked the initiation of a new
era of volcanism on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. In this study, we
present a large automatic catalog consisting of more than 80,000
earthquake hypocenters spanning the full period of the dike intrusion,
which were derived from seismic data recorded by a dense network of
seismic stations. The 9 – 10 km long dike exhibits a two-segment
geometry of similar lengths. Linear regression on a relatively relocated
subset of over 12,000 earthquakes revealed a strike of 029° with a
standard deviation of 2° in the southern segment, and 046° with a
standard deviation of 1° in the northern segment of the dike. A total of
97 detailed fault plane solutions from relative relocations of selected
subsets of events provide new insight into the controls on faulting,
showing almost exclusively right-lateral strike-slip/oblique-slip
faulting associated with the dike intrusion, and a lack of left-lateral
strike-slip fault motion. The alignment of fault planes is consistent
with the orientation of pre-existing fractures, within uncertainty
estimates. In light of these observations, we conclude that the
likelihood of faulting being related to classical dike tip fracture of
new rock ahead of the dike tip is low. Instead, our preferred
explanation for the dominant controlling factor on the orientation of
dike-related faulting is the extensive network of pre-existing fractures
formed by the active transtensional plate boundary along the Reykjanes
Peninsula.