1

Infrastructure and Evolution of Ocean-Ridge Discontinuities in Iceland

Agust Gudmundsson
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
(rock.fractures@googlemail.com)

Journal of Geodynamics, 43, 6-29, 2007

Abstract
There are two main ocean-ridge discontinuities in Iceland: the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)
and the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ). The TFZ is a 120-km-long and as much as 70-
km-wide WNW-trending zone of high seismicity. It has three main seismic lineaments: the
Husavik-Flatey Fault (HFF), the Dalvik lineament, and the Grimsey lineament. The HFF, a
dextral strike-slip fault and active, as a transform fault for about 9 Ma, has a cumulative
transform-parallel displacement of some 60 km. Offshore, the HFF is marked by a transform
(fracture-zone) valley, 5-10 km wide and 3-4 km deep. Onshore the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula
the HFF is marked by a 3-5-km-wide zone of intense crustal deformation with numerous
strike-slip and normal faults, transform-parallel dykes, dense sets of mineral veins, and
subzones of completely crushed rocks, that is, fault cores. Where the HFF comes on land on
Tjörnes there is a similar, but much thinner, zone of crushed rocks. The seismic lineaments
are located a few tens of kilometres south (Dalvik) and north (Grimsey) of, and run
subparallel with, the HFF. Both lineaments are composed of sets of NNW-trending sinistral
faults arranged en echelon.
The SISZ is a 70-km-long and 10-20-km wide zone of almost continuous seismicity
located between the overlapping West and East Volcanic Zones. It produces the largest
earthquakes in Iceland, some of which exceed M7, during which the N-S width of the zone
may be as great as 50-60 km. The SISZ is partly covered with Holocene lava flows where the
seismogenic faults occur as dextral NNE-trending and sinistral ENE-trending conjugate arrays
with push-ups between their nearby ends. The same fault-segment trends occur in the
Pleistocene pile north of the Holocene lava flows.
The HFF is neither perpendicular to the nearby ridge segments nor parallel with the
spreading vector. As a consequence, the North Volcanic Zone has propagated to the north and
the Kolbeinsey Ridge to the south during the past 1Ma, resulting in the development of the
Grimsey and Dalvik lineaments. Similarly, the tip of the East Volcanic Zone has been
propagating rapidly to the southwest during the past 3 Ma. The tip has been at its present
location for no more than several hundred thousand years, thus making the SISZ less stable
than the HFF. If the propagation of the tip of the East Volcanic Zone continues, it will
eventually reach the Reykjanes Ridge, whereby either the West or the East Volcanic Zone
becomes extinct. Then the SISZ dies out as a major seismic zone.

Keywords: transform faults, seismic zones, overlapping spreading centres, propagating rift
zones, earthquakes, seismotectonics

1. Introduction
Iceland is the surface expression of a mantle plume. But Iceland is also located at the
junction between two mid-ocean ridges: the Reykjanes Ridge in the south and the Kolbeinsey
Ridge in the north (Fig. 1). Each junction is an ocean-ridge discontinuity: the South Iceland
 2

Seismic Zone (SISZ) in South Iceland and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ), or its main
structure, the Husavik-Flatey Fault (HFF), in and offshore North Iceland. Each discontinuity
is marked by strike-slip faulting, normal faulting, and high seismicity. The largest earthquakes
in Iceland reach magnitudes M7.3-7.5; they occur on strike-slip faults in these discontinuities.
Both discontinuities form as a consequence of shear-stress concentrations between nearby
ends of ocean-ridge segments. Their infrastructure and development, however, are very
different. The main structure of the TFZ is the HFF, a real oceanic transform fault even if
partly exposed on land. The HFF is primarily a WNW-trending dextral strike-slip fault, with a
cumulative displacement of about 60 km. It has a major damage zone and several fault cores
of completely crushed rocks. By contrast, the SISZ is a complex zone of faulting, primarily
conjugate strike-slip faults. One set is composed of NNE-trending dextral segments, the other
of ENE-trending sinistral segments. Other fault trends, however, exist in the SISZ. The zone
as a whole trends E-W but has no major E-W fault.
This paper has two main aims. One aim is to review the infrastructures of the TFZ and the
SISZ. As regards the TFZ, the focus is on its main structure, the HFF. However, attention is
also given to the seismic lineaments of Grimsey and Dalvik, to the curved fabric, and to the
sites of transpression and transtension along and in the vicinity of the HFF. As to the SISZ,
the main focus is on the conjugate NNE-trending and ENE-trending seismogenic strike-slip
faults. The second aim is to explain the differences in infrastructure between the TFZ and the
SISZ in terms of their developments. It is emphasised that while there have been changes in
the configurations of the rift zones in North Iceland in the past million years, the main
structure of the TFZ, the Husavik-Flatey Fault, has been comparatively stable for most of the
past 7-9 Ma. By contrast, the SISZ has continuously changed its position as a consequence of
the rapid propagation of the East Volcanic Zone to the southwest during the past 3 Ma.

2. Structure of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ)

The Tjörnes Fracture Zone consists of 3 main WNW-trending seismic lineaments: the
Grimsey lineament, the HFF, and the Dalvik lineament (Fig. 2). If the Grimsey lineament
marks its northeast margin, and the Dalvik lineament its southwest margin, then the TFZ is
about 75 km wide. The central length (E-W) along the HFF, between the Kolbeinsey Ridge
and the Theistareykir Volcanic System, is about 100 km, but when measured along the
Grimsey lineament, the E-W length of the TFZ is as much as 120 km. While there is some
seismicity, and occasionally large earthquakes, on the Dalvik lineament, most of the
seismicity occurs on the Grimsey lineament and the HFF (Fig. 2).

2.1 The lineaments of Grimsey and Dalvik

The Grimsey lineament, trending about N52°W, has been seismically highly active during
the past decades, including several earthquake swarms. One such swarm occurred on 16
December 1975, just four days before the initiation of the 1975-1984 rifting episode in the
Krafla Volcanic System. Another swarm was associated with the first rifting event of the
1975-1984 episode when most earthquakes occurred in the fjord of Axarfjördur, at the
junction between the off-shore extension of the Krafla Volcanic System and the Grimsey
lineament (Björnsson et al. 1977). From 1975 to 1984, several tens of rifting events and
earthquake swarms occurred in the Krafla Volcanic System, but none reached the Grimsey
lineament.
The swarm in late 1975 and early 1976 lasted 11 weeks, the main activity being confined
to the first 7 weeks. The earthquakes occurred along the Krafla System, but turned northwest
at its junction with the Grimsey lineament, following the lineament for about 15 km (Fig. 2).
A M6.4 earthquake on 13 January 1976, with an estimated source depth of 12 km, was the
largest event in the swarm and so far on the Grimsey lineament. It has been interpreted as
being related to dextral slip on a NW-trending strike-slip fault (Einarsson, 1991). Recent
 3

microseismic data, however, suggest that it may have been caused by sinistral slip on a NE-
trending fault (Rögnvaldsson et al., 1998).
The seismicity gives the Grimsey lineament a clear west-northwest trend. Nevertheless,
the main structures associated with the lineament, such as normal faults and 5-20-km-wide
grabens, strike north-northwest and run parallel with the on-land trend of the northernmost
part of the Fremri-Namur Volcanic System (Fig. 2). At the junction with the Grimsey
lineament, there is an abrupt change in the trend of tension fractures and normal faults
associated with the Fremri-Namur Volcanic System. South of the junction, the fracture-
frequency distribution peaks at N2°W, but north of the junction the peak is at N20°W
(Gudmundsson and Bäckström, 1991; Gudmundsson et al., 1993). Apart from this stress-
related change in trend of the fractures, the Grimsey lineament has no on-land continuation or
effects.
In recent decades, most of the seismic activity of the Dalvik lineament has been
associated with its northwestern part and may have included the M7 earthquake at the mouth
of the fjord of Skagafjördur in 1963 (Fig. 2). Earlier there were major earthquakes along the
eastern part of the lineament; best studied is the 1934 M6.3 earthquake near the town of
Dalvik at the east coast of the Tröllaskagi Peninsula (Fig. 2).
Fault-plane solutions for the 1934 earthquake suggested dextral strike-slip movement on
an east-west trending fault. Based on the recent microseismic data (Rögnvaldsson et al. 1998),
as well as on-land observations (Langbacka and Gudmundsson 1995), it is more likely,
however, that the 1934 earthquake occurred on a north-trending sinistral strike-slip fault.
One of the basic structural elements supposed to support the Dalvik lineament being a
WNW-trending strike-slip fault is the valley of Dalsmynni (Fig. 2) which coincides with that
trend. A systematic search for WNW-trending strike-slip faults has been made in this valley,
but none were found. The northwestern channel of Fnjoska, the main river in the valley of
Dalsmynni, is a canyon dissected into a Tertiary basaltic lava pile. Many basaltic dykes can be
traced across the canyon without any strike-slip offset. No evidence exists for any large-scale
faulting in the canyon that could be related to a major WNW-trending strike-slip fault. There
are some minor faults (with displacements of the order of centimetres or less) in the lavas
inside and surrounding the canyon (Bergerat and Angelier, 2006); although some of the minor
faults strike west-northwest, their dominant strike is north-south. The valley of Dalsmynni is
formed by glacier erosion, presumably along a structural weakness in the crust that is related
to a major flexure zone in the area of Dalsmynni (Fjäder et al., 1994).
A systematic search for a west-northwest trending major faults has also been made on the
east coast of the Tröllaskagi Peninsula (Fig. 2), in the vicinity of the town of Dalvik. Again,
no such faults were found (Langbacka and Gudmundsson, 1995). There are abundant fault
planes in the vicinity of Dalvik, but most faults have northerly trends and are interpreted as
sinistral strike-slip faults. It seems likely that the M6.3 earthquake that occurred in Dalvik
1934 was generated by slip on some of these north-trending sinistral faults. Such a mechanism
is in agreement with field observations, the observed northward propagation of the rupture
zones during the earthquake (Langbacka and Gudmundsson, 1995), and the recent
microseismic activity in the Dalvik area (Rögnvaldsson et al., 1998).

2.2 The Husavik-Flatey Fault

The HFF, the main structure of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone, is partly exposed on land on
the peninsulas of Tjörnes and Flateyjarskagi (Fig. 2). Offshore of Flateyjarskagi, a 3-to-4-km-
deep graben runs parallel with the HFF. The graben, partly filled with sediments, gives rise to
a pronounced negative Bouguer gravity anomaly. The HFF may have been active for as long
as 7-9 Ma (Saemundsson, 1974; Gudmundsson et al., 1993; Bergerat et al., 2000; Garcia et
al., 2002, 2003; Garcia and Dhont, 2005; Bergerat and Angelier, 2006).
Tjörnes. On the Tjörnes peninsula, the HFF extends from the coast just north of the town
 4

of Husavik to the western margin of the Holocene rift zone, a distance of some 25 km, and is
composed of en echelon, dominantly right-stepping, dextral strike-slip fault segments (Fig. 3).
Near Husavik, the fault separates Tertiary rocks to the north from Upper Pleistocene rocks to
the south (Saemundsson, 1974; Garcia et al., 2003).
On the coast near Husavik, the fault rocks are crushed and altered in a zone that is as wide
as 300 m. Partly a damage zone, partly a core, this wide zone consists of cataclastic rocks
ranging from crush-breccias to microbreccias as well as hematite-coated minor fault planes
and veins of zeolites and calcite. Vertical displacement on the HFF near Husavik is more than
200 m and may be as much as 1400 m (Gudmundsson et al., 1993). This displacement is
partly due to the fault being oblique-slip, partly due to its dip-slip reactivation as a result of
extension.
On Tjörnes there are extensional and compressional structures associated with the HFF.
Examples of extensional structures are the sag ponds (pull-apart basins) lake Botnsvatn and
lake Höskuldsvatn (Figs. 3, 4). Both are attributable to a dilational bend in the trace of the
fault; that is, when the fault trace steps to the north (right), the crust is extended so as to form
either normal faults or pull-apart basins. When the fault trace steps to the south (left),
however, the crustal segment in the overlap is compressed. The compression gives rise to
uplifted terrains and pressure ridges. These are especially common along the eastern part of
the HFF, where some associated faults may be reverse, in agreement with its left-stepping
character in this part of Tjörnes.
Flateyjarskagi. The HFF has its main on-land exposure on the north coast of the
Flateyjarskagi Peninsula (Young et al., 1985; Gudmundsson, 1993; Fjäder et al., 1994; Garcia
et al. 2002, Garcia and Dhont, 2005). There the fault is marked by a 3-5-km-wide damage
zone of crustal deformation that is more intense than anywhere else at the surface of Iceland
(Fig. 5). The damage zone is characterised by numerous small-scale strike-slip and dip-slip
faults (Fig. 6). There are also transform-parallel fault cores of completely crushed rock, tilted
lava flows (Fig. 7), extensive sets of mineral veins (Fig. 8; Gudmundsson et al., 2002), and a
swarm of transform-parallel dykes (Fig. 5). Elsewhere on the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula the
mean attitude of the 10-13 Ma old basaltic lava flows is N50°W/10°SW but within the
damage zone N20°E/40°NW, with some lava flows dipping as steeply as 44° (Figs. 5, 7).
While local dips of this magnitude occur in some extinct central volcanoes, regional dips of
this magnitude are unknown elsewhere at the surface of Iceland. In the damage zone tilting of
the lava flows in excess of the regional tilting during lava accumulation is as much as 35°.
Part of the intense crustal deformation in the fault-damage zone at the coast of
Flateyjarskagi is accommodated by numerous minor faults with striated surfaces, that is,
slickensides. Displacements on individual minor faults are of the order of centimetres or less.
Some of the minor faults are strike slip; others are dip slip. In a population of 296 faults, 42%
have striation plunging 0-30° so that they are strike-slip, 33% have striations plunging 31-60°
so that they are oblique-slip, and 25% have striations plunging 61-90° so that they are dip-slip
(Fig. 9). About 60% of the strike-slip faults have a sinistral sense of slip; 40% have dextral
sense of slip. Most of the dip-slip faults are normal faults.
The on-land deformation in the damage zone is also partly accommodated by faults with
displacements ranging from one metre to several tens of metres (Fig. 6). Although most are
normal faults, there are also many reverse and strike-slip faults. The faults trend either
northeast, in a direction perpendicular to the spreading vector, or northwest, parallel with the
transform fault, and dip mostly 50°-90° (dip slip) or 70°-90° (strike slip). Many faults formed
later than the main tilting of the lavas and the emplacement of the transform-parallel dyke
swarm.
The mineral vein sets in the damage zone (Figs. 7, 8) consist mainly of calcite, quartz and
zeolites in extension fractures (mode I cracks). The veins dissect the basaltic lava flows and
also some of the transform-parallel basaltic dykes. For 150 basaltic dykes, the mean thickness
 5

is 4 m, maximum thickness 23 m, mean dip 72°, and mean strike N83°W. The dykes strike
subparallel with the HFF (Fig. 5) and the dip-direction of the lava flows and indicate
considerable crustal extension across the transform fault. For comparison, the general trend of
dykes on Flateyjarskagi south of the damage zone is N10°E which coincides with the general
strike of dykes (Fig. 5) and volcanic systems (Fig. 2) in North Iceland.
The fault-zone cores are composed of completely crushed rocks (Fig. 7). These zones are
commonly 10 m thick and run parallel with the transform fault and, occasionally, the
transform-parallel dykes.
Tröllaskagi. The 10-12 Ma old basaltic lava flows in the north part of the peninsula dip
14°-16°SW, with a mean dip of 22°, whereas elsewhere on the peninsula the dip is about 10°
west, southwest, or south. Thus the Tröllaskagi Peninsula, like the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula,
has a dome-like structure.
In the northernmost part of Tröllaskagi there are NW-striking (mostly) normal faults and
mineral veins (mostly extension fractures) that form a part of an oblique, curved fabric (Fig.
10). Curved fabric of this kind is a common feature at ridge-transform junctions worldwide
(Fox and Gallo, 1986; Gudmundsson, 1995b).

3. Infrastructure of the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ)

The SISZ (Figs. 1, 11) is subject to rupture sequences with major earthquakes at intervals
of 80-120 years, the last one being in 1896 (Einarsson, 1991; Stefansson et al., 2000;
Bergerat, 2001). The zone produces earthquakes that may reach M7.3-7.5 (Tryggvason, 1973;
Björnsson, 1975; Bergerat, 2001). The last major single earthquake in the area was the M7
earthquake in 1912 (Bjarnason et al., 1993; Angelier et al., 2004a; Bellou et al., 2005), in the
easternmost part of the zone, but the most recent strong events in the SISZ are the two June
2000 M6.6 earthquakes (Stefansson et al., 2000; Angelier and Bergerat, 2002; Bergerat and
Angelier, 2001, 2003; Jonsson, 2003; Pedersen et al., 2003; Clifton and Einarsson, 2005). All
large earthquakes in South Iceland are associated with strike-slip faults. Many seismogenic
faults have surface traces consisting of complex zones of secondary fractures and push-ups
(Fig. 12), particularly in the part of the South Iceland Seismic Zone that is covered by basaltic
lava flows of Holocene age.

3.1 Pleistocene exposures

Many faults in South Iceland are also exposed in Pleistocene rocks (Fig. 11). In a study of
large-scale faults in the Pleistocene rocks, about one-third turned out to be strike slip or
oblique slip (Gudmundsson, 1995b). The strike-slip faults form conjugate sets, one striking
N0-30°E, the other N60-90°E (Figs. 11, 13), with most faults in the NNE-set being dextral
and most in the ENE-set being sinistral. As is indicated below, the same sets are observed in
the Holocene lava flows in general and in the June 2000 earthquakes in particular (Fig. 12).
Most strike-slip faults are steep and with horizontal displacements of 1-15 m (Fig. 14).
There are indications of larger displacements, but these have been difficult to confirm. Fault-
core breccia is common; its thickness is normally less than 0.6 m. Slickensides indicate that
many faults form by repeated slip where the sense of slip was variable; some fault planes have
both dextral and sinistral movements.

3.2 Holocene exposures

The main seismogenic faults in the Holocene lava flows (Fig. 11) are in that part of the
SISZ where most earthquakes recorded during the past decades have occurred (Fig. 15;
Stefansson et al., 1993). This part, 70 km long (east-west) and 10-20 km wide (north-south),
coincides with the zone of greatest strain accumulation in the region, as determined by current
Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements (Sigmundsson et al., 1995). During major
earthquake sequences in historical time, however, the surface ruptures of the faults have
 6

reached several tens of kilometres north of this narrow zone. Thus, major evens are
presumably associated with faults with strike dimensions as long as 50-60 km (Gudmundsson
and Brynjolfsson, 1993; Gudmundsson, 1995a).
Arrays of seismogenic fractures in the Holocene lava flows in South Iceland are observed
in a zone that is up to 60 km wide from north to south and 70 km long from east to west (Figs.
1, 11). Einarsson (1967) and Tryggvason (1973) attributed these arrays to the South Iceland
earthquakes and interpreted them as being related to slip on hidden NNE-trending dextral
faults buried by the Holocene lava flows, that is, to a Riedel-type fracture pattern as obtained
in analogue experiments (Riedel, 1929). This interpretation is supported by the 0.8-2.5 m
maximum dextral displacement on the faults associated with the large earthquakes that
occurred in 1896 and 1912, by the trend of the dextral strike-slip faults in the nearby
Pleistocene rocks, and by the observed displacements and trends of the June 2000 earthquakes
(Stefansson et al., 2000; Angelier and Bergerat, 2002; Bergerat and Angelier, 2003; Pedersen
et al. 2003; Clifton and Einarsson, 2005).
In the Holocene arrays there are several meters high hillocks or push-ups between the
nearby ends of the en echelon tension fractures (Figs. 12, 16; Bjarnason et al., 1993;
Gudmundsson, 1995a; Belardinelli et al., 2000; Bergerat et al., 2003; Angelier et al., 2004a;
Bellou et al., 2005; Bergerat and Angelier, 2006). These hillocks can be explained in two
ways. They may be related to the shear stresses that develop between the nearby ends of en
echelon fractures when loaded in tension perpendicular to the array trends. Alternatively, the
hillocks may be pressure ridges generated by dextral slip on the buried strike-slip faults. Most
tension fractures of the NNE-trending arrays strike northeast (Fig. 12; Bjarnason et al., 1993;
Gudmundsson, 1995a; Belardinelli et al., 2000; Bergerat and Angelier, 2001, 2003; Bergerat
et al., 2003; Angelier et al., 2004a; Bellou et al., 2005).
Sets of ENE-trending sinistral faults are conjugate to the NNE-trending dextral faults
(Fig. 12). The sinistral fault segments are well presented by the June 2000 earthquakes (Fig.
17), as well as by the older fractures, such as from the 1912 Selsund earthquake (Bjarnason et
al., 1993; Angelier et al., 2004a; Bellou et al., 2005) and in the Pleistocene rocks (Figs. 11,
13). For example, among the northernmost segments of the 1912 earthquake fractures at the
farm Selsund there are three sinistral arrays of tension fractures. Two of these trend N51°E
and N69°E, respectively, and are here regarded as conjugate faults to the dextral NNE-
trending segments.
Similarly, the sinistral system at the summerhouse of Bitra from the June 2000
earthquakes (Fig. 17) consists of push-ups and tension fractures associated with several
segments. One segment, north of the summerhouse, trends N51°E whereas a segment south of
the summerhouse trends about N41°E (Fig. 17). The latter segment is curved so that its
southernmost part trends N7°E, even if sinistral, and thus similar in trend to one sinistral
segment at Selsund, as indicated below. The author’s studies show that, in total, the two
segments at the Bitra summerhouse contain 246 fractures, mostly pure tension fractures
although some have vertical displacements, making them mixed-mode fractures (open normal
faults).
Similar to the southernmost part of the sinistral segment at Bitra, one sinistral segment at
the Selsund farm has a northerly trend, or N14°E. This trend coincides with that of the dextral
faults in the area. This segment is 40 m long and includes 5 major tension fractures that trend
between N10°W and N7°E, the average being roughly N3°W. This trend of sinistral segments
is rare elsewhere in the Holocene lava flows, but was observed in the June 2000 earthquakes,
as indicated above; it exists also in the Pleistocene rocks (Gudmundsson, 1995a; Bergerat et
al., 1998; Bergerat and Angelier, 2006). Thus, while most of the Holocene and Pleistocene
sinistral faults are ENE-trending and conjugate to the NNE-trending dextral faults, some
sinistral faults, both in the Holocene lava flows as well as in the Pleistocene rocks, trend
north-northeast. Furthermore, a few fractures, of unknown type, trend WNW (Fig. 12;
 7

Bergerat et al., 1998).

4. Evolution of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone

4.1 Formation
The location of the TFZ is the result of stress concentrations between the nearby tips of
the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the North Volcanic Zone (Figs. 1, 2, 18). The spreading or plate
pull (as the plates are pulled apart) produces a zone of high shear stresses between the nearby
ends of the ridge segments within which the transform zone, and particularly the HFF, has
developed. This mechanism of shear-fracture formation is well known (Lange, 1968); it has
been used as a formal explanation of transfer faults at various scales (Gudmundsson et al.,
2003), including transform faults (Pollard and Aydin, 1984; Gudmundsson et al., 1993).
The model in Fig. 18 assumes the nearby tips of the ridge segments to be at the same
latitude. However, essentially the same formal results are obtained when the exact present
geometrical configuration of the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the North Volcanic Zone are used
(Gudmundsson, 1993; Gudmundsson et al., 1993). The general evolution of the stress field
between nearby, propagating ridge segments (or any extension fractures) is discussed in detail
by Gudmundsson et al. (2003). The detailed local stresses associated with a major fault zone
such as the TFZ in general, and that of the HFF in particular, are complex. This follows from
the contrasting mechanical properties of the fault-zone rocks, particularly between the fault
cores and the fault damage zones (Figs. 6-8). Abrupt changes in directions of principal
stresses are common at contacts between rocks of different mechanical properties, such as
rocks with widely different Young’s moduli (Gudmundsson, 2006; Gudmundsson and
Philipp, 2006). Field and model studies indicate such local stress changes within the HFF
(Angelier et al., 2000). Despite abruptly varying local stresses within HFF, numerical models
such as the ones in Fig. 18 may be regarded as a formal, general explanation as to why and
where such fault zones form.
All the model results indicate that uniaxial tensile loading parallel with the spreading
vector broadly explains the shear stress that is responsible for the strike-slip faults and
associated earthquakes such as occur within the HFF. Uniaxial tension, however, is not
sufficient to explain all the structures of the HFF. These include (1) transform-parallel
fracture-zone grabens, (2) numerous transform-parallel normal faults and dykes, and (3) the
oblique tension fractures and normal faults that form the curved fabric at the ridge-transform
junction. In particular, the curved fabric is most easily explained if there is, occasionally at
least, a biaxial tensile loading associated with the HFF, that is, ridge-parallel as well as ridge-
perpendicular (plate pull) tensile stress (Gudmundsson, 1995b). While near-surface biaxial
tension may be produced by several mechanisms, the one assumed here is ridge migration
(Gudmundsson, 1995b).
The general model in Fig. 19 shows that, for biaxial tension, the stress trajectories at the
junction between the ridge segments and the transform fault become curved in a way that
provides a formal explanation for the curved fabric. Furthermore, biaxial tension unlocks and
make slip easier along the transform fault and, when the ridge-parallel tension dominates,
explains the formation of transform-parallel grabens, normal faults, and dykes.

4.2 Tectonic effects

The HFF has significant tectonic effects on its surroundings. These effects include the
curved fabric at the ridge-transform junctions (Fig. 10) and part of the doming of the
peninsulas of Tjörnes, Flateyjarskagi, and Tröllaskagi (Fig. 20). The curved fabric was
described above. The doming of the peninsulas of Tjörnes, Flateyjarskagi, and Tröllaskagi is
 8

partly original (Langbacka and Gudmundsson, 1994; Gudmundsson and Fjäder, 1995). Partly,
however, doming of Tjörnes, Flateyjarskagi, and Tröllaskagi may be related to transpression,
that is, compressive stresses transferred from HFF when loaded to failure (Fig. 20).
The general uplift of the northern part of the Tjörnes Peninsula is well documented and is
likely to be partly due to the transpression effects of the HFF (Fig. 20). Marine sediments
exposed on the coast of the Tjörnes Peninsula indicate gradual uplift for a period that extends
back at least 1-2 Ma, with a maximum uplift of around 600 m (Saemundsson, 1974;
Einarsson, 1994). One result of this uplift, for which the peninsula may be referred to as a
horst, is that the fault pattern is more complex than in other parts of the North Volcanic Zone.
This pattern is particularly clear in the eastern part of the peninsula which is characterised by
near-orthogonal intersecting sets of normal faults (Figs. 3, 21).

4.3 Development of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone

The HFF fault may have been active for 7-9 Ma and is here regarded as the oldest of the
three lineaments. The HFF strikes N55°W near its junction with the North Volcanic Zone but
about N64°W offshore the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula, near its junction with the Kolbeinsey
Ridge. The spreading vector in North Iceland, however, trends about N74°W (N106°E) at the
location of the HFF. Near the HFF the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the North Volcanic Zone (the
Fremri-Namur Volcanic System) trend about N5°E. Thus, the present trend of the HFF is
neither perpendicular to the nearby ridge segments nor parallel with the spreading vector.
The present configuration of the HFF is thus somewhat unstable and likely to change in
the future so as to be more nearly parallel with the spreading vector. For this to be possible,
the nearby ridge segments must propagate as indicated schematically in Fig. 22. In the present
model this propagation has already been in progress during the past 1 Ma and generated the
lineaments of Grimsey and Dalvik.
In this model, the formation of the Grimsey lineament is related to the propagation of the
Fremri-Namur Volcanic System (FNVS) to the north (Figs. 2, 22. The stress field generated
by interaction between the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the FNVS results in the northernmost part
of the FNVS bending towards the Kolbeinsey Ridge (Fig. 22). The en echelon systems of
grabens and horsts which constitute the currently active Grimsey lineament (Gudmundsson,
1993) form a part of the bent and overlapping extension of the FNVS. Most earthquakes
associated with the Grimsey lineament occur on N-trending sinistral faults (Rögnvaldsson et
al., 1998), and there is, as yet, no through-going WNW-trending fault parallel to the
lineament.
The propagation of the Kolbeinsey Ridge to the south is here regarded as the main reason
for the formation of the Dalvik lineament (Figs. 2, 22). This propagation is not as well
established as the propagation of the FNVS to the north. Nevertheless, field studies along the
well-exposed on-land parts of the Dalvik lineament indicate mostly N-trending sinistral faults
and provide no evidence of a through-going WNW-trending fault (Rögnvaldsson et al., 1998).
Observed earthquake ruptures (Langbäcka and Gudmundsson, 1995) and seismic studies
(Rögnvaldsson et al., 1998) also suggest that most earthquakes on this lineament are
associated with N-trending sinistral faults. Thus, the Dalvik lineament appears mechanically
similar to the Grimsey lineament.

5. Evolution of the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ)

5.1 Formation
The model in Fig. 23 indicates that the SISZ developed because of shear-stress
concentration between the overlapping parts of the West and the East Volcanic Zone. The
SISZ, however, has migrated to the south during the past 3 Ma because of southwest-ward
propagation of the East Volcanic Zone (Fig. 24). The propagation rate of the East Volcanic
 9

Zone is estimated at several centimetres per year (Gudmundsson and Brynjolfsson, 1993). It
follows that the total propagation during the Holocene is only several hundred metres, which
is too small to cause any significant stress changes within the present SISZ. In other words, if
the propagation rate estimates are correct, the present stress conditions in South Iceland are
likely to have been maintained for at least many tens of thousands of years and, at most, a few
hundred thousand years.
The present configuration of the SISZ is the one given in Fig. 23. This simple numerical
model (Fig. 23) indicates that, in formal terms, the main seismic activity in the SISZ is where
shear stress concentrates between the nearby and overlapping volcanic zones. The shear stress
is a direct result of the spreading (plate pull). The principal stress trends inferred from this
model explain the formation of conjugate strike-slip faults (Figs. 11-13, 17), and are also in
agreement with those obtained from focal mechanisms (Stefansson et al., 1993; Angelier et
al., 2004b; Vogfjörd et al., 2005) and palaeostress studies (Bergerat et al., 1998).
In the past decades several models have been suggested for the SISZ in addition to the
one presented in Figs. 23 and 24. For example, many authors have proposed that the SISZ is
an E-W trending, sinistral transform fault connecting the East and West Volcanic Zones (e.g.,
Ward et al., 1971; Einarsson et al., 1981; Hackman et al., 1990). However, detailed field
studies in the SISZ during the past decade, summarised above, show that the SISZ has none of
the structural characteristics of an oceanic transform fault (in contrast to the TFZ). There are
no E-W trending transform-parallel grabens and strike-slip faults, nor are there rotated and
tilted blocks of the lava pile (Figs. 11, 12).
More recently, a kinematic “book-shelf” model has been proposed for the SISZ
(Einarsson, 1991; Sigmundsson et al., 1995). Since the model is kinematic, it cannot really
explain the formation of the seismogenic faults, for which mechanical considerations are
necessary; primarily, considerations of material properties and stresses. Essentially what the
book-shelf model proposes is that the displacement and seismicity on the NNE-trending
strike-slip faults is due to their being rotated counter-clockwise. The rotation is such as to
produce dextral slip on these faults.
While the book-shelf model is appealing in its simplicity, it fails go agree with several
field observations. Here I mention two points. First, the model fails to explain the common
conjugate faults in the SISZ. Conjugate faults are observed throughout the Pleistocene rocks
of South Iceland (Figs. 11, 13; Bergerat et al., 1998) and occur also in the Holocene lava
flows (Fig. 12; Bjarnason et al., 1993; Belardinelli et al., 2000; Bergerat et al., 2003; Bellou et
al., 2005). Many conjugate fault segments formed in the June 2000 earthquakes, for example
at the farm Mykjunes, and were studied by the author and others (Bergerat and Angelier,
2003).
Second, if the NNE-faults are being rotated counter-clockwise, then all the other faults in
the area should be rotated in the same way and would be expected to show dextral
displacements. This includes the NE-trending (primarily) normal faults and the ENE-trending
(primarily) sinistral faults. In particular, it remains to be explained how the sinistral
displacements can be accounted for by the book-shelf model. ENE-trending sinistral faults are
common throughout South Iceland (Fig. 11), and many have been studied and measured in the
Pleistocene and Holocene rocks (Figs. 11-13; Bjarnason et al., 1993; Gudmundsson, 1995a;
Bergerat et al., 1998; Belardinelli et al., 2000; Bergerat and Angelier, 2003). Also, many
sinistral fault segments, some with surface displacements of about 1 m, formed during the
June 2000 earthquakes, as studied by the author (Fig. 17) and several others (Angelier and
Bergerat, 2002; Bergerat and Angelier, 2003; Clifton and Einarsson, 2005).
Here I propose that there are two main reasons why the SISZ has not developed a major
through-going E-W trending transform fault. The first is that the SISZ has been at its present
location for a comparatively short time. The East Volcanic Zone has been propagating to the
southwest for the past 3 Ma, a distance of about 150 km (Fig. 24). Thus, the SISZ has been at
 10

its present location for, at most, several hundred thousand years. Considering the
comparatively young age of the SISZ, Angelier et al. (2004a) and Bergerat and Angelier
(2006) suggest that part of its fault pattern may be formally similar to that obtained in Riedel-
type analogue experiments (Riedel, 1929). Similar suggestions have been made for the
individual dextral and sinistral fault-segment arrays in the SISZ, using analogue models
(Einarsson, 1967) and analytical models (Belardinelli et al., 2000).
The second reason why a major E-W fault does not presently exist in South Iceland is, I
suggest, the unfavourable structure of South Iceland. The NE-trending Hreppar Anticline
(Fig. 11; Aronsson and Saemundsson, 1975) is likely to be unfavourable to the development
of an E-W fault (Fig. 25), particularly since many NE-trending normal faults also exist in the
area (Fig. 13). For an E-W strike-slip fault to develop it would have to propagate through the
axis of the Hreppar Anticline (Fig. 11) and the associated dipping pile of lava flows and
hyaloclastite and sedimentary units (Fig. 25) as well as through numerous oblique normal
faults (Fig. 13), all of which would tend to arrest the fault-propagation front.
Field studies and numerical models indicate that rock fractures of any kind commonly
become arrested at transverse discontinuities, particularly at contacts between mechanically
dissimilar rocks (Gudmundsson, 2006; Gudmundsson and Philipp, 2006). Thus, in the
Pleistocene lava pile in South Iceland, with its many mechanically contrasting layers (lake
sediments, hyaloclastites, basaltic lava flows), contacts and normal faults striking roughly
northeast (Figs. 11, 13), there is a strong tendency to arrest E-W propagating strike-slip faults,
particularly in the upper part of the crust.

5.2 Development
There are at least two future possible scenarios for the evolution of the SISZ. One is
indicated in Fig. 26. In this view, the East Volcanic Zone propagates to the southwest until it
meets with the Reykjanes Ridge. At that stage either the West Volcanic Zone or the East
Volcanic Zone becomes extinct. Then the entire spreading shifts to the remaining volcanic
zone, and the present seismic zone of shear-stress concentration disappears.
The other scenario is that the present SISZ develops into a volcanic zone similar to the
one on the Reykjanes Peninsula. On the Reykjanes Peninsula there are NE to ENE-trending
volcanic systems and NNE-trending dextral strike-slip faults. These latter are very similar to
the strike-slip faults in the SISZ, whereas some of the ENE-trending and NE-trending faults
may have developed into volcanic systems. A similar development is seen in the vicinity of
the SISZ where the Hekla Fissure trends N65°E and is, very likely, originally a sinistral
strike-slip fault that has developed into a volcanic fissure (Gudmundsson and Brenner, 2003).

6. Discussion and Conclusions

It is remarkable, and geologically fortunate, that Iceland – the largest island associated
with the mid-ocean ridges – has well-exposed outcrops of the two basic types of ocean-ridge
discontinuities: a transform fault (the TFZ and, primarily, the HFF) and an overlapping
spreading centre (the West and East Volcanic Zones with the SISZ in between). Because these
on-land discontinuities are so easy to study, and because they are still active, detailed
information on their infrastructures and evolution should be of help in understanding the
development of the same basic structures at mid-ocean ridges.
The on-land exposures of the HFF and the SISZ show how widely different in character
these ocean-ridge discontinuities are. Their main characteristics and evolution, as presently
understood, may be summarised as follows:
(1) The TFZ is a 120-km-long WNW-trending zone, up to 70 km wide, with three
principal seismic lineaments. The main lineament is the HFF; it is a dextral strike-slip fault
which has been active as a transform fault for 7-9 Ma; it has a cumulative transform-parallel
displacement of about 60 km. Offshore, the HFF is characterised by a transform (fracture-
 11

zone) valley, 5-10 km wide and 3-4 km deep. Onshore the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula, the HFF
is marked by a 3-5-km-wide damage zone of intense crustal deformation with numerous
strike-slip and normal faults. This zone is located in a lava pile where the tectonic tilting of
the lavas exceeds the regional dip by 15-35°. In addition, the HFF contains transform-parallel
dykes, dense sets of mineral veins, and subzones of completely crushed rocks, that is, fault
cores.
(2) On the Tröllaskagi Peninsula, just south the junction between the HFF and the
Kolbeinsey Ridge, there is an extensive curved fabric, as is common at ridge-transform
junctions. On Tröllaskagi the fabric consists primarily of oblique-striking normal faults,
mineral veins, and tilted lava flows. On the Tjörnes Peninsula the HFF can be followed for 25
km as a clear dextral strike-slip fault scarp with pull-apart structures until it joins the
Holocene normal faults of the Theistareykir Volcanic System.
(3) Two other lineaments are located a few tens of kilometres south (Dalvik) and north
(Grimsey) of, and run subparallel with, the HFF. Both are composed of sets of NNW-trending
sinistral faults that are arranged en echelon.
(4) The SISZ, the site of the largest earthquakes in Iceland, is a 70-km-long (E-W) and
10-20-km wide (N-S) zone of almost continuous seismicity. During strong to major
earthquakes, however, the N-S width of the zone is as great as 50-60 km. It is located between
the overlapping West and East Volcanic Zones. The SISZ is partly covered with Holocene
lava flows where the seismogenic faults occur as conjugate arrays of dextral NNE-trending
and sinistral ENE-trending segments with push-ups between their nearby ends. There are also
some NNE-trending sinistral segments, as well as some NW-trending fractures, but these are
rare.
(5) Although the present tectonic configuration in North Iceland is more stable than that
in South Iceland, the North Volcanic Zone has been propagating to the north during the past
million years. By contrast, the Kolbeinsey Ridge has been propagating to the south during this
time. In terms of the present model, the northward propagation has resulted in the
development of the Grimsey lineament whereas the southward propagation has lead to the
development of the Dalvik linament. Both lineaments consist primarily of N-trending
seismogenic faults with sinistral movements. Neither the Grimsey lineament nor the Dalvik
lineament are through-going WNW-trending faults.
(6) The SISZ occupies the zone of maximum shear stress between the overlapping parts
of the West and East Volcanic Zones. The tip of the East Volcanic Zone has been propagating
to the southwest during the past 3 Ma. It follows that the shear-stress zone generating the
SISZ is unlikely to have been at its present location for more than, at most, several hundred
thousand years.
(7) The rapid propagation of the East Volcanic Zone makes the SISZ less stable than the
HFF. Consequently, the SISZ and the HFF have very different infrastructures. Whereas the
HFF is a through-going fault with clear damage zones and fault cores, the SISZ consists of
conjugate sets of NNE and ENE-trending dextral and sinistral faults with no major through-
going E-W fault. If the East Volcanic Zones continues its propagation to the southwest, it will
eventually joint the Reykjanes Ridge, whereby either the West or the East Volcanic Zone
becomes extinct. So long as the East Volcanic Zone propagates, the SISZ continues its
migration to the south, gradually becoming offshore and changing its trend from the present
E-W to a future N-S. When, eventually, the East Volcanic Zone meets with the Reykjanes
Ridge, the SISZ dies out as a major seismic zone.

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the EU project Prepared (EVG1-CT-2002-00073). I thank
the reviewers Francoise Bergerat and Jacques Angelier, and the Guest Editors, Wolfgang
Jacoby and Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, for helpful comments and Gabriele Ertl and Steffi
 12

Burchardt for help with figures.

References
Angelier, J., Bergerat, F. 2002. Behaviour of the 21 June 2000 earthquake in South Iceland as
revealed in an asphalted car park. J. Struct. Geol. 24, 1925-1936.
Angelier, J., Bergerat, F., Homberg, C., 2000. Variable coupling across a weak oceanic
transform fault: Flateyjarskagi, Iceland. Terra Nova, 12, 97-101.
Angelier, J., Bergerat, F., Bellou, M., Homberg, C. 2004a. Co-seismic strike-slip fault
displacement determined from push-up structures: the Selsund Fault case, South
Iceland. J. Struct. Geol. 26, 709-724.
Angelier, J., Slunga, R., Bergerat, F., Stefansson, R., Homberg, C. 2004b. Perturbation of
stress and oceanic rift extension across transform faults shown by earthquake focal
mechanisms in Iceland. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 219, 271-284.
Aronsson, J. L., Saemundsson, K. 1975. Relatively old basalts from structurally high areas in
central Iceland. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 28, 83-97.
Belardinelli, M.E., Bonafede, M., Gudmundsson, A. 2000. Secondary earthquake fractures
generated by a strike-slip fault in the South Iceland Seismic Zone. J. Geophys. Res.
105, 13,613-13,629.
Bellou, M., Bergerat, F., Homberg, C., Angelier, J., 2005. Geometry and segmentation
mechanisms of the surface traces associated with the 1912 Selsund earthquake,
Southern Iceland. Tectonophysics, 404, 133-149.
Bergerat, F. 2001. Historical seismicity in Iceland: geological aspects, environmental and
social impacts. Examples in the South Iceland Seismic Zone. C. R. Geoscience 333,
81-92.
Bergerat, F., Angelier, J. 2001. Mechanisms of the faults of 17 and 21 June 2000 earthquakes
in the South Iceland Seismic Zone from the surface traces of the Arnes and Hestfjall
faults. C. R. Geoscience 333, 35-44.
Bergerat, F., Angelier, J. 2003. Mechanical behaviour of the Arnes and Hestfjall Faults of the
June 2000 earthquakes in Southern Iceland: inferences fro the surface traces and
tectonic model. J. Struct. Geol. 25, 591-609.
Bergerat, F., Angelier, J., 2006. Immature and mature transform zones near a hot spot: the
South Iceland Seismic Zone and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (Iceland). Tectonophysics
(in press).
Bergerat, F., Angelier, J., Gudmundsson, A., Torfason, H. 2003. Push-ups, fracture patterns,
and palaeoseismology of the Leirubakki Fault, South Iceland. J. Struct. Geol. 25, 591-
609.
Bergerat, F., Angelier, J., Homberg, C., 2000. Tectonic analysis of the Husavik-Flatey Fault
(northern Iceland) and the mechanisms of an oceanic transform zone, the Tjörnes
Fracture Zone. Tectonics, 19, 1161-1177.
Bergerat, F., Gudmundsson, A., Angelier, J., Rögnvaldsson, S. T. 1998. Seismotectonics of
the central part of the South Iceland Seismic Zone. Tectonophysics 298, 319-335.
Bjarnason, I. T., Cowie, P., Anders, M. H., Seeber, L., Scholz, C. H. 1993. The 1912 Iceland
earthquake rupture - growth and development of a nascent transform system. Bull.
Seismol. Soc. Am. 83, 416-435.
Björnsson, A., Sæmundsson, K., Einarsson, P., Tryggvason, E., Grönvold, K. 1977. Current
rifting episode in north Iceland. Nature 266, 318-323.
Björnsson, S. 1975. Earthquakes in Iceland. Náttúrufræðingurinn 45, 110-133 (in Icelandic).
Brebbia, C.A., Dominquez, J., 1992. Boundary Elements: an Introductory Course.
Computational Mechanics, Boston.
Clifton, A., Einarsson, P. 2005. Styles of surface rupture accompanying the June 17 and 21
 13

2000 earthquakes in the South Iceland Seismic Zone. Tectonophysics 396, 141-159.
Einarsson, P. 1991. Earthquakes and the present-day tectonism in Iceland. Tectonophysics
189, 261-279.
Einarsson, P., Björnsson, S., Fougler, G., Stefansson, R., Skaftadottir, Th., 1981. Seismicity
pattern in the South Iceland Seismic Zone. In: Simpson, D.W., Richards, P.G. (Eds.),
Earthquake Prediction: An International Review. AGU Maurice Ewing Series 4,
Washington D.C., pp. 141-151.
Einarsson, Th. 1994. Geology of Iceland. Mal og Menning, Reykjavik.
Einarsson, T. 1967. The Icelandic fracture system and the inferred causal stress field. In:
Björnsson (Ed), Iceland and Mid-ocean Ridges. Visindafelag Islendinga, Reykjavik,
pp. 128-139.
Fjäder, K., Gudmundsson, A., Forslund, T. 1994. Dikes, minor faults and mineral veins
associated with a transform fault in North Iceland. J. Struct. Geol. 16, 109-119.
Fox, P. J., Gallo, D. G. 1986. The geology of North Atlantic transform plate boundaries and
their aseismic extensions. In: The Geology of North America (edited by Vogt, P. R. &
Tucholke, B. E.). The Geological Society of America, pp.157-172.
Garcia, S., Angelier, J., Bergerat, F., Homberg, C. 2002. Tectonic analysis of an oceanic
transform fault zone based on fault-slip data and earthquake focal mechanisms: the
Husavik-Flatey Fault zone, Iceland. Tectonophysics 244, 157-174.
Garcia, S., Arneud, N.O., Angelier, J., Bergerat, F., Homberg, C. 2003. Rift jump process in
Northern Iceland since 10 Ma from Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology. Earth Planet. Sci.
Lett. 214, 529-544.
Garcia, S., Dhonit, D. 2005. Structural analysis of the Husavik-Flatey Transform Fault and its
relationship with the rift system in northern Iceland. Geodin. Acta, 18, 31-41.
Gudmundsson, A. 1993. On the structure and formation of fracture zones. Terra Nova 5, 215-
224.
Gudmundsson, A. 1995a. Ocean-ridge discontinuities in Iceland. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 152,
1011-1015.
Gudmundsson, A. 1995b. Stress fields associated with oceanic transform faults. Earth Planet.
Sci. Lett. 136, 603-614.
Gudmundsson, A., 2006. How local stresses control magma-chamber ruptures, dyke
injections, and eruptions in composite volcanoes. Earth Sci. Rev.,
doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2006.06.006.
Gudmundsson, A., Backstrom, K. 1991. Structure and Development of the Sveinagja Graben,
Northeast Iceland. Tectonophysics 200, 111-125.
Gudmundsson, A., Brynjolfsson, S., 1993. Overlapping rift-zone segments and the evolution
of the South Iceland Seismic Zone. Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 1903-1906.
Gudmundsson, A., Brynjolfsson, S., Jonsson, M. T. 1993. Structural analysis of a transform
fault-rift zone junction in North Iceland. Tectonophysics 220, 205-221.
Gudmundsson, A., Fjäder, K. 1995. Dikes, minor faults and mineral veins associated with a
transform fault in North Iceland - Reply. J. Struct. Geol. 17, 1633-1636.
Gudmundsson, A., Brenner, S. L. 2003. Loading of a seismic zone to failure deforms nearby
volcanoes: a new earthquake precursor. Terra Nova 15, 187-193.
Gudmundsson, A., Philipp, S.L., 2006. How local stress fields prevent volcanic eruptions. J.
Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. Doi:10.1016/jvolgeores.2006.06.005.
Gudmundsson, A., Fjeldskaar, I., Brenner, S.L. 2002. Propagation pathways and fluid
transport in jointed and layered rocks in geothermal fields. J. Volcanol. Geotherm.
Res. 116, 257-278.
Gudmundsson, A., Gjesdal, O., Brenner, S.L., Fjeldskaar, I. 2003. Effects of linking up of
discontinuities on fracture growth and groundwater transform. Hydrogeol. J.11, 84-99.
Hackman, M.C., King, G.C.P., Bilham, R., 1990. The mechanics of the South Iceland Seismic
 14

Zone. J. Geophys. Res., 95, 17,339-17,351.

Johannesson, H., Saemundsson, K., 1998. Geological map of Iceland, 1:500,000, Tectonics.
Iceland Inst. Nat. Hist., Reykjavik.
Jonsson, S., Segall, P., Pedersen, R., Bjornsson, G. 2003. Post-earthquake ground movements
correlated to pore-pressure transients. Nature 424, 179-183.
Langbacka, B. O., Gudmundsson, A. 1995. Extensional tectonics in the vicinity of a transform
fault in North Iceland. Tectonics 14, 294-306.
Lange, F.F. 1968. Interaction between overlapping parallel cracks: a photoelastic study. Int. J.
Fract. Mech. 4, 287-294.
Pedersen, R., Jonsson, S., Arnadottir, T., Sigmundsson, F., Feigl, K. 2003. Fault slip
distribution of two June 2000 M(w) 6.5 earthquakes in South Iceland estimated from
joint inversion of InSAR and GPS measurements. Earth Planetary Sci. Lett. 213, 487-
502.
Pollard, D. D., Aydin, A. 1984. Propagation and linkage of oceanic ridge segments. J.
Geophys. Res. 89, 10017-10028.
Riedel, W., 1929. On the mechanics of geological fracture development. Zentralbl. F. Min.
Geol. Palaont., 8, 354-368 (in German).
Rögnvaldsson, S. T., Gudmundsson, A. & Slunga, R. 1998. Seismotectonic analysis of the
Tjörnes Fracture Zone, an active transform fault in north Iceland. J. Geophys. Res.
103, 30,117-30,129.
Saemundsson, K. 1974. Evolution of the axial rifting zone in northern Iceland and the Tjörnes
fracture zone. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 85, 495-504.
Sigmundsson, F., Einarsson, P., Bilham, R., Sturkell, E. 1995. Rift-transform kinematics in
South Iceland - deformation from Global Positioning System measurements, 1986 to
1992. J. Geophys. Res. 100, 6235-6248.
Stefansson, R., Bodvarsson, R., Slunga, R., Einarsson, P., Jakobsdottir, S., Bungum, H.,
Gregersen, S., Havskov, J., Hjelme, J., Korhonen, H. 1993. Earthquake Prediction
Research in the South Iceland Seismic Zone and the Sil Project. Bull. Seismol. Soc.
Am. 83, 696-716.
Stefansson, R., Gudmundsson, G. B., Halldorsson, P. 2000. The two large earthquakes in the
South Iceland Seismic Zone on June 17 and 21, 2000. Report of the Meteorological
Office, Reykjavik.
Tryggvason, E. 1973. Seismicity, earthquake swarms, and plate boundaries in the Icelandic
region. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 63, 1327-1348.
Vogfjörd, K., Hjaltadottir, S., Slunga, R. 2005. Volcano-tectonic interaction in the Hengill
region, Iceland, during 1993-1998. Geophys. Res. Abstracts, Vol. 7, 09947, European
Geosciences Union.
Ward, P.L., 1971. New interpretation of the geology of Iceland. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 82,
2991-3012.
Young, K. D., Jancin, M., Voight, B., Orkan, N. I. 1985. Transform deformation of Tertiary
rocks along the Tjörnes fracture zone, north central Iceland. J. Geophys. Res. 90,
9986-10.010.
 15

Fig. 1. Schematic presentation of the two ocean-ridge discontinuities in Iceland in relation to

the main volcanic zones. The Tjörnes Fracture Zone is an oceanic transform fault with a
transform-tectonised zone referred to as the Husavik-Flatey Fault. The South Iceland Seismic
Zone is a complex zone of faulting between the overlapping West and East Volcanic Zones.

Fig. 2. Main seismic lineaments of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone are those of Grimsey, Husavik-
Flatey, and Dalvik, partly exposed on the peninsulas of Tröllaskagi, Flateyjarskagi and
Tjörnes. The town of Dalvik is indicated, whereas the town of Husavik is shown in Fig. 3.
The western part of the Dalvik lineament on the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula follows the valley of
Dalsmynni (located in Fig. 21). Also shown is the seismicity in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone
during the period 1995-1997 (data from the Meterological Office, Reykjavik) and the inferred
1976 dyke emplacement (data from Björnsson et al., 1977).
 16

Fig. 3. Part of the Husavik-Flatey Fault comes on land on Tjörnes where the town Husavik is
located and runs as a major fault scarp across the southern part of the peninsula (modified
from Gudmundsson et al., 1993). Associated with the fault scarp are two major sag ponds
(pull-apart basins), lake Botnsvatn (Fig. 4) and lake Höskuldsvatn.

Fig. 4. View east-southeast, lake Botnsvatn (located in Fig. 3) is a sag pond on the Tjörnes
peninsula generated in a transtension area associated with a major bend in the trace of the
Husavik-Flatey Fault. The fault segments generating the lake are indicated in Fig. 3.
 17

Fig. 5. Main fault damage zone of the Husavik-Flatey Fault exposed on land (shaded) on the
north coast of Flateyjarskagi Peninsula. Within this zone, lava flows and dykes have entirely
different attitudes from those on the southern part of the peninsula. A = dyke strike, B =
normal-fault strike, and C = mineral-vein strike within the damage zone. D = dyke strike
south of the damage zone. Modified from Gudmundsson (1993).

Fig. 6. View west-northwest, a small normal fault within the damage zone of the Husavik-
Flatey Fault on the north coast of the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula. The fault strikes N60°W and,
therefore, runs parallel with the Husavik-Flatey Fault. The fault dip is 58°SW and its vertical
displacement is 2 m.
 18

Fig. 7. View west, completely crushed rocks of a fault core (a person stands near its left
margin) and the steeply dipping lava flows of the associated damage zone of the Husavik-
Flatey Fault on the north coast of the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula. The 10-m-thick fault core
strikes N62°W and trends parallel with the Husavik-Flatey Fault. The lava flows in the
damage zone, seen to the right (north) of the core, dip 40°NW (cf. Figs. 5, 8).

Fig. 8. Cross-cutting sets of mineral veins in a basaltic lava flow in the damage zone of the
Husavik-Flatey Fault on the north coast of the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula. About 80% of the
veins are pure extension fractures (cf. Figs. 5, 7; Gudmundsson et al., 2002).
 19

Fig. 9. Pitch of stria (in degrees) on minor faults in the damage zone of the Husavik-Flatey
Fault on the north coast of the Flateyjarskagi Peninsula (modified from Fjäder et al., 1994).

Fig. 10. Curved fabric on the north coast of the Tröllaskagi Peninsula (modified from
Gudmundsson, 1995b). The fabric consists primarily of small normal faults (Profiles) and
mineral veins (Sets). Also indicated are the profiles where the structures were measured:
profiles A-C contain the main curved-fabric elements, whereas profiles D-S-A2 do not contain
curved-fabric elements.
 20

Fig. 12. View south-southwest, an aerial photograph of a part of the dextral Leirubakki Fault
dissecting a Holocene lava flow in the South Iceland Seismic Zone. The surface rupture is
characterised by push-ups and pressure ridges (A) in transpression areas (Fig. 16), and tension
fractures and small sink-holes in the transtension areas. C denotes the main N-trending dextral
fault, D a conjugate NE-trending sinistral segment, and B a NW-trending fracture of unknown
type. The earthquake, of unknown age, that generated these fractures is estimated as at least
M7.1 (Bergerat et al., 2003).
 21

Fig. 13. Trends of large normal and strike-slip faults in the Pleistocene outcrops of South
Iceland. Most NNE-trending faults are normal and older than either the NNE-trending (mostly
dextral) and ENE-trending (mostly sinistral) strike-slip faults.

Fig. 14. Displacements on large strike-slip and normal faults in the Pleistocene outcrops of
South Iceland. All displacements exceeding 15 m belong to normal faults.
 22

Fig. 15. Minor and smaller (< M4) earthquakes in South Iceland are mostly confined to a 70-
km-long and 10-20 km wide zone which forms the central part of the South Iceland Seismic
Zone (data from the Meteorological Office, Reykjavik). The largest glacier in the area,
Myrdalsjökull, a site of considerable seismicity, is also indicated.

Fig. 16. Push-up, a pressure ridge, associated with the Leirubakki Fault (Fig. 12) in the South
Iceland Seismic Zone. The ridge is as high as 4 m.
 23

Fig. 17. Aerial view of sinistral segments at the summerhouse (upper central part of the
photograph) in the land of the farm Bitra formed in the M6.6 June 2000 earthquakes in the
South Iceland Seismic Zone. The earthquake fractures occur in a thin layer of moss and grass
on top of a Holocene lava flow. The sinistral displacement across the fault is about 1 m.

Fig. 18. Boundary-element model showing how uniaxial tensile loading generates a zone
shear stress concentration between the nearby ends of two ridge segments. This general model
may be used as a formal explanation of the Husavik-Flatey Fault as coinciding with the main
shear-stress area between the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the North Volcanic Zone; similar results
are obtained when the exact geometrical configuration of the ridge and the volcanic zone are
taken into account (Gudmundsson, 1993; Gudmundsson et al., 1993). The contours show the
magnitude of the von Mises shear stress, the outermost contour being 5.5 MPa, then 6.4 MPa,
and the innermost 7.3 MPa (Gudmundsson, 1995b). The short lines (ticks) show the trend of
the maximum principal compressive stress  1 (cf. Fig. 23). All numerical models in this
paper are made using the boundary element program BEASY, described by Brebbia and
Dominguez (1992) and on the BEASY homepage (www.beasy.com).
 24

Fig. 19. Simultaneous ridge-parallel and ridge-perpendicular (that is, biaxial) tension explains
the curved fabric in Fig. 10. This is a boundary-element model, with a host-rock Young’s
modulus of 10 GPa, Poisson’s ratio of 0.25, and biaxial tension of 6 MPa – all values suitable
for the Icelandic crust (Gudmundsson, 1995b). The ticks show the maximum horizontal
compressive stress  1 along which normal faults, dykes, and mineral veins tend to develop.

Fig. 20. When the Husavik-Flatey Fault is loaded to failure, there will be transpression in the
northernmost parts of the peninsulas of Flateyjarskagi and Tröllaskagi south of the fault, as
well as in the entire part of the Tjörnes peninsula north of the fault. The transpression in
Flateyjarskagi and Tröllaskagi may have contributed to their dome-shape structures – which,
however, are partly original – as well as to the overall deformation along their northern coasts.
The transpression affecting the Tjörnes peninsula has contributed to its uplift by as much as
600 m in the past million years (cf. Fig. 21).
 25

Fig. 21. View west, orthogonal normal faults in the eastern part of the Tjörnes Peninsula are
related to biaxial tensile stresses generated partly by plate pull and partly by the effects of
uplift as a consequence of transpression in the peninsula, possibly added to through ridge-
parallel extension (cf. Figs. 3, 20).

Fig. 22. Schematic model on how presently, and during the past million years, the North
Volcanic Zone is propagating to the north whereas the Kolbeinsey Ridge is propagating to the
south. The red ends of the Kolbeinsey Ridge and the Theistareykir Volcanic System indicate
the future propagation fronts. In this model, the Grimsey lineament is partly the consequence
of the northward propagation whereas the Dalvik lineament is related to the southward
propagation (cf. Fig. 2). 1= Holocene volcanic system, 2 = Tertiary central volcano, 3 =
Upper Pleistocene and Holocene rocks, 4 = Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene rocks, 5 =
Tertiary rocks, 6 = Normal fault (data from Johannesson and Saemundsson, 1998 and
Gudmundsson, 1993).
 26

Fig. 23. Present location of the South Iceland Seismic Zone is related to shear-stress
concentration between the main active rifting parts of the East and West Volcanic Zones.
During the past 1100 years (historical time in Iceland), the main spreading in the West
Volcanic Zone has been south of the Hengill Volcano (indicated) whereas that in the East
Volcanic Zone has been north of the Torfajökull Volcano (indicated). On this assumption, and
using a plate pull (tensile stress) of 6MPa parallel to the spreading vector, a Young’s modulus
of 5 GPa, and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.27, the resulting shear-stress concentration (black
contours in mega-pascals) covers the area where the present South Iceland Seismic Zone is
located (Gudmundsson, 1995a). The model predictions as to the trend of the maximum
principal compressive stress  1 (blue ticks), agree with the results of seismic studies
(Stefansson et al., 1993) as well as the common occurrence of conjugate NNE-trending
dextral and ENE-trending sinistral faults in South Iceland.

Fig. 24. Schematic model of the evolution of the East Volcanic Zone during the past 3 Ma
and in the future; figures a-d correspond roughly to the configurations A to D in Fig. 26. Also
indicated are the changes in the location of the main zone of shear stress concentration
(shaded) in South Iceland (cf. Gudmundsson, 1995a). The numerous NNE-trending and ENE-
trending seismogenic faults in the Pleistocene rocks far north of the present SISZ
(Johannesson and Saemundsson, 1998) support such a migration.
 27

Fig. 25. One possible reason why a through-going E-W fault has not developed where the
present South Iceland Seismic Zone is located is that such a fault would have difficulty in
propagating through the Hreppar Anticline (located in Fig. 11), the related lava pile and the
associated normal faults.
 28

Fig. 26. Schematic model on the evolution of the East Volcanic Zone during the past 3 Ma
and in the future. A indicates the location of the rift-zone front about 3 Ma ago, its current
location is between B and C, and in the future it will reach the island of Surtsey (D). The
broken, curved line from D to the Reykjanes Ridge indicates a possible future development,
the curved path being because of the local stress field (cf. Gudmundsson et al., 1993). In case
its tip meets the Reykjanes Ridge either the West or the East Volcanic Zone dies out and,
thereby, the zone of shear-stress concentration between the zones. In this scenario there will
be no South Iceland Seismic Zone at this stage.