Volcanic eruptions generate continuous or episodic tremor, which can provide unique information about activity changes during eruption. However, the wealth of information in episodic tremor patterns is often not harvested and transitions between patterns remain obscure. The 2021 Geldingadalir eruption of the Fagradalsfjall Fires, Iceland, is an exceptional case, where the lava effusion caused continuous tremor, and 8696 tremor episodes spanning two orders of magnitude in duration and repose. Based on seismometer and video camera data, we associate several-minute-long, symmetrical episodes with an open vent system, where lava remains in the crater bowl during repose, connected to a shallow magma compartment. Ramp-shaped episodes, lasting several hours, are associated with a temporary closure of the vent system, where no lava remains in the crater bowl during repose and more time is required to resume effusion. The transition from continuous to episodic effusion is related to the cumulative time spent in effusion and repose, and to external factors like crater wall collapses.

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.