Earthquakes in Iceland through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 13 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Iceland. The strongest was a magnitude 7 on January 22, 1910 (79 km N of Norðurþing, Iceland).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.3 on October 19 (116 km WNW of Höfn, Iceland).
What the record holds
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 17 here, back to AD 920. NOAA records deaths in 17 of the events here, 10,229 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.3 on May 29, 2008 (8 km N of Selfoss, Iceland). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 920 with an eruption (Katla). It grows thinner going back: 6 of the 17 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 6 tsunamis that began in or off Iceland. The highest water NOAA records here was 75 m, on January 15, 1967. NOAA lists 54 significant eruptions of 12 volcanoes in or off Iceland. The largest was Bardarbunga in February 1477, at 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Grimsvotn in April 1784, which killed 9,350 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- May 29, 2008Earthquake · M 6.38 km N of Selfoss, IcelandUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 21, 2000Earthquake · M 6.512 km ENE of Selfoss, IcelandUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 17, 2000Earthquake · M 6.525 km E of Selfoss, IcelandUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 15, 1967Tsunami · 75 m hereCentral-SouthNOAA NCEI
- March 28, 1963Earthquake · M 6.941 km W of Siglufjörður, IcelandUSGS
- May 6, 1912Earthquake · M 6.867 km E of Selfoss, IcelandUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 22, 1910Earthquake · M 7.079 km N of Norðurþing, IcelandUSGS
- April 1784Eruption · VEI 4Grimsvotn · 9,350 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 1477Eruption · VEI 6BardarbungaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 5, 1362Eruption · VEI 5Oraefajokull · 220 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 11, 1300Eruption · VEI 4Hekla · 600 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- AD 920Eruption · VEI 4KatlaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Iceland when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Iceland is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Iceland, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history