Monday Musings

Again, sorry about the paucity of posts. Getting prepared to move 3/4 of the way across a continent will do that. Look for the next Volcano Profile, this time for Erebus in Antarctica, to be posted sometime in the next week or so.

We did get some news over the weekend of a large eruption at Shiveluch. The volcano in Kamchatka has been active all summer, but on Saturday it produced a 5,000 meter / ~23,000 foot ash plume. This was accompanied by 170 earthquakes and multiple avalanches, likely produced by the collapsing dome on the summit of the volcano. There is a little more information about the new network of webcams that are being set up to watch some of the most active Kamchatkan volcanoes, including Shiveluch (although the article frustrating labels the picture included as "erupting volcano," without bothering to identify where in the world it is. Any ideas?)


Crater Lake, with Wizard Island, a post-caldera collapse basaltic scoria cone.

A few other bits of news:

  • Being a former NPS ranger at Crater Lake National Park (Oregon), I would say I am against this, but a company wants to stay flying helicopter tours around the caldera. One of the nicest things about the park is the tranquility of the area, and the idea of helicopters buzzing around the caldera every day does not appeal to me. Luckily, the FAA says it might take "years" to decide this issue. Hopefully, it withers on the vine.
  • We have some new images of Martian volcanism thanks to the Mars Express high resolution cameras. There appear to be abundant basaltic lava flows that stand out versus the dusty martian backdrop along the Ma'adim Vallis region of the planet.

More like this

Sally Sennert from the Smithsonian Institution sent me an email to say that this week's USGS/Smithsonian Institute Weekly Volcanic Report will be delayed due to the inclement weather in the Washington DC area. She can't connect with the server, so the report can't be updated on the Smithsonian…
For all of you going into withdrawal now that Eyjafjallajökull seems to have quieted down, there are two eruptions of note that aren't in the North Atlantic: Undated image of the Barujari cone at Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia. Arenal in Costa Rica - which is almost always sputtering away - had a more…
The next up in my Volcano Profiles Series, is one of the most remote volcanoes on the planet, yet also one of the more closely studied and monitored (albeit from afar). Joining Vesuvius, Hood and Rabaul is Mt. Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island in Antarctica and it definitely has some unique…
Shiveluch in Kamchatka experience a small eruption today. Russian authorities reported a ~4,500 meter ash column with associated local earthquakes, likely related to the eruption. In the same article, both Karymsky and Klyuchevskaya Sopka (also known as Kliuchevskoi) are erupting or showing…

I have no idea about the ID of that volcano, but as the site is mostly about Russia, might it be one of the frequently-active Kamchatkan ones.. Karymsky or Kliuchev?

Yup, Wizard Island, along with Merriam Cone (underwater) are both basaltic/basaltic andesite scoria cones that formed post-caldera collapse. The youngest feature in the caldera is the so-called Rhyodacite Dome, which is a little plug of rhyodacitic lava similar to previous Crater Lake material, but there sure in mafic lava in the caldera.

No problem on the link Erik

I am pretty sure the Russian Volcanos photo is Kamen and Klyuchevskoy. Klyuchevskoy being the one which is erupting in the photo of your link. I have seen that photo before but could not find it. So here is another.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10987410

By theroachman (not verified) on 27 Jul 2009 #permalink

Erik, that is something I'd love to hear more about. The evolution of the melt in magma chambers over time/eruptive volume. I have a very simplistic notion in my head of hot mafic material melting continental material over time, this getting erupted as rhyolite/andesite with the mafic material coming through (or not as the case may be) after the rhyolite is exhausted. The last Tarawera eruption was also basaltic if I remember rightly, in a rhyolite caldera setting. It appears to be a not unusual phenomenon. There are also some basaltic cinder cones in the Long Valley caldera.

On another note, I stumbled across a piece on the interaction between volcanism and human history yesterday while hunting for stuff on New Britain.
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/bboyd/bb_png.pdf
which is tantalisingly brief (if anyone knows of some other research from this area I'd be really grateful!!) but I hadn't realized quite how many major eruptions have occurred in this area in the last 10,000 years which also just happens to be one of the major centers of human development and trade in the same time frame.

...and on yet another note, the seismic trace at Redoubt has started picking up (a little!) again over the last 12 hours.

...and died down again.. Sorry! (probably just a storm)

Very nice picture! Your own work?

I followed the Ria Novosti link to see the article about Shivelech, then got distracted by the links to articles on pravda.ru: "Atlantis found under Antarctica" and "Russian fishermen catch squeaking alien and eat it". Why is Scienceblogs not reporting on these earthshaking events?

Field work at Mt Baker this week. Wasnt there some earthquake action there recently? Mt St Helens and others included in the field work for the next week. Have to keep a closer eye on the CVO updates page for the next month or two.

http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/cvo/current_updates.php

By theroachman (not verified) on 29 Jul 2009 #permalink

Origuy - Yeah, sometimes the Russian news sources link to some, ahem, interesting articles.

The Roachman - Haven't heard of any Baker EQ concerns. What sort of field work are you doing up on those Cascade peaks anyway?

Not my work Im in Denver. There was something about earthquakes at Mt Baker a few months back. Maybe March?

By theroachman (not verified) on 30 Jul 2009 #permalink

i want to see a mount blow