eklemetti | February 4, 2010
The plume from submarine volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba, erupting in February 2010.
Almost a year after the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai eruption, where an undersea volcano sprang forth from the deep - quite spectacularly, we have new footage of another undersea eruption. Fukutoku-Okanoba, off the coast of Minami Iwo, started to erupt yesterday (or, at least, erupt enough to manifest a plume out of the ocean). A Japanese coast guard vessel was able to capture the plume on video as it reached 100 m / ~300 feet. The plume appears to be dominated by white steam along with some grey ash mixed in.…
eklemetti | February 3, 2010With all the talk of the current Yellowstone earthquake swarm, I thought it would worth it to write a post on the the structure and caldera - and why we get earthquake swarms that are structurally rather than magmatically-related.
First off, lets think about why calderas formed. This is relatively simple - at least superficially. The land (or volcano) above a magmatic system is partially supported by that magma, especially because magma is hot and buoyant. The isostatic support by the magma holds up the land surface or volcanic edifice, so when an eruption expels a large volume of magma, this…
eklemetti | February 3, 2010
Steaming, gurgling mudpots in the active hydrothermal system of Yellowstone.
For those of you following Yellowstone (I think there might be a few of you), I've plotted up the earthquakes since 1/27 (see below) - and sure enough, although there is a lot of scatter, they are getting shallower - however what this exactly means is unclear. You can see my plots from 1/22-28 here. As many of you have mentioned, a caldera like Yellowstone is a big interconnected system, so a solely tectonic source of this is still possible as the displacement migrates through the fractured caldera rocks.
UPDATED…
eklemetti | February 2, 2010UPDATE 2/2/2010 7:30PM EST: Another report, this time placing the activity near Wham. This report is still vague about that is actually happening, saying people saw "flames of burning rocks on the top of the mountain over the last couple of days". The article also says the Headquarters of the Geological Survey of Pakistan has not returned any inquires on the event. My guess (and I emphasize guess) is this might be a misconstrued forest fire ... but this is about as strange a report of a volcanic eruption as you can get.
UPDATE 2/2/2010: A little bit more detail - the "volcano" in question is…
eklemetti | February 2, 2010
I've been seeing a lot of questions popping up in the comments - and for me, I find it difficult to answer them in the confines of post comments. Many of them are quite good and would probably be of interest to lots of Eruptions readers, so I thought maybe it is time for another Eruptions mailbag post.
So, without further ado, email me your burning volcano-related questions! Send them to by February 15, and I'll try to answer as many as I can in a mailbag post.
Looking forward to your questions!
eklemetti | February 2, 2010
Tungurahua erupting in an undated AP photo (although I think it is the current 2010 activity.)
It hasn't really made it to much of the English-speaking news, but the current eruptive activity at Tungurahua appears to be on the up-tick. Hugo Yepes of the Geophysical Institute of Ecuador suggests that a larger eruption is not out of the question (link in spanish), but right now the activity is confined to explosions (vulcanian?) and ash fall around the region, specifically on Pillates and Choglontus overnight (2/1) from the ~ 2 km / 5 000 foot plume. Looking at the specifics (link in spanish…
eklemetti | February 1, 2010First off, I wanted to thank all of the Eruptions readers for making January the most popular month ever on this blog. I suppose I should give an assist to Yellowstone, but really, thanks for coming to the blog, reading the posts and engaging in all the great discussions that go on within its (cyber)walls.
KÄ«lauea's east rift zone eruption site. Image courtesy of the USGS/HVO.
On to some news!
I suppose you've made the big time when you're in the New York Times, and sure enough, the current Yellowstone earthquake swarm is in the Old Grey Lady. Nothing much new to read, but summarizes the…
eklemetti | January 28, 2010Some news for the last Friday in January:
Volcanic lightning captured over Redoubt in March 2009.
Tungurahua in Ecuador continues to erupt. Yesterday, the volcano spread ash over much of central Ecuador. Apparently people in Ecuador aren't taking the hazard of ash too seriously, with many ignoring recommendations to wear masks when the ash is falling. Over 50 explosions have been recorded over the last 24 hours at the volcano according to the Ecuadorian Instituto GeofÃsico, most of them small to moderate.
We also have a new USGS/Smithsonian Institute Volcano Activity Report. Much of the "…
eklemetti | January 28, 2010There has been a ... ahem ... healthy discussion of Yellowstone's current earthquake swarm on Eruptions as of late. We've now reached ~1,500 measurable earthquakes over the last 11 days. The latest reports of the continuation of the swarm isn't going to make anyone happy, but still, there are no signs that (a) this is out of the ordinary and (b) indicates magma making its way to the surface. In fact, if you plot the earthquakes since the 22nd of January, the depth appears to getting, well, deeper:
This plot shows the earthquakes listed on the USGS earthquake page since January 22 (oldest to…
eklemetti | January 28, 2010
Bezymianny in Kamchatka, one of the many volcanoes in eastern Russia that will no longer be monitored by KVERT.
In some bad news for volcano watchers (and the general public, too), Russia has decided to stop funding KVERT (the Russian equivalent of the Alaska Volcano Observatory), the institute that monitors and researches volcanic eruptions on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands in the western Pacific. Here is the news release from KVERT:
Due to a loss of government funding beginning February 01, 2010, KVERT will no longer
distribute information regarding volcanic activity in…
eklemetti | January 27, 2010
Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park.
A few thoughts about faulting, earthquakes and eruptions:
The earthquakes at Yellowstone have been universally attributed to fault movement rather than magmatic activity by the USGS and the researchers at the University of Utah. This is likely based on the moment solutions for the earthquakes (i.e., the sense of motion on the earthquake - side to side, dilation, etc.) and the fact that there are no directly correlative volcanic/magmatic symptoms to go with them (such as pronounced, short-term bulging, excessive hydrothermal venting, etc.) Now…
eklemetti | January 25, 2010Two quick notes:
A Costa Rican farmer evacuating in early January 2010 after renewed activity of Volcan Turrialba.
Well, it appears that after a quiet night on Friday, the current Yellowstone swarm picked up where it left off. We're now up to 1,200 earthquakes since January 17th, with a pair over M3 today. Of course, people are still uppity about the swarm, especially after the earthquake in Haiti, but really, they're about as connected as worrying about the rainy day in Boston when there was a typhoon in Malaysia. Just to get people on the same page, YVO still says: "The swarm events are…
eklemetti | January 23, 2010
Outcrops of Obsidian Butte, California, near the Salton Sea.
A brief update on the two earthquake swarms making news right now:
Yellowstone
The earthquake swarm at Yellowstone is still rumbling along, reaching over 1,000 earthquakes measured over the last week. However, the swarm has begun to die down overnight - with no earthquakes between 10:41 PM (MST) on 1/22 and 6 AM on 1/23. However, although this is a longer, bigger swarm than normal, it still isn't out of the regular rumblings at Yellowstone caldera. The USGS continues to say this swarm is tectonic, rather than magmatic or…
eklemetti | January 21, 2010
Sakurajima in Japan, erupting in December 2009. Image courtesy of Photovolcanica.com
Richard Roscoe at Photovolcanica.com has just posted two great sites focusing on two of the most active volcanoes in Japan: Sakurajima and Suwanosejima. These volcanoes are almost constantly erupting with small strombolian events punctuated by occasional plinian eruptions.
Sakurajima is on the island of Kyushu (well, technically Kagoshima, but right off the coast of Kyushu) less than 10 miles / 20 km from the city of Kagoshima. The volcano has been erupting since 1955 with both explosive and effusive…
eklemetti | January 20, 2010This week's USGS/Smithsonian GVP Volcano Update!
Highlights include:
A volcano I had never heard of in the Kuril islands is showing signs of life: Kharimkotan. Satellite images show a thermal anomaly at the summit of the volcano - its last known eruption was in 1933.
Ash, sulfur dioxide and steam continue to erupt from Nyamuragira in the Congo, although lava flows have abated.
Crater C at Arenal had sporadic strombolian activity - which is par for the course for the Costa Rican volcano.
I must have missed this, but since December 14, the ash erupted at Gaua in Vanuatu has become denser and…
eklemetti | January 20, 2010Quick news updates for a Wednesday...
The island (and volcano) of Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean. It last erupted in ~20 B.C.
The earthquakes keep coming at Yellowstone - up to a M3.5 in the last 24 hours. Time has already put up an article wondering about whether people need worry about the swarm (there might be other things to worry about before this swarm). YVO's statement on the earthquake swarm seems pretty standard (as it should be): "At this time the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory does not consider the swarm to be unusual and the earthquakes are likely related to tectonic fault…
eklemetti | January 19, 2010
A hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. Image courtesy of the USGS.
Yesterday I left a little teaser about the current earthquake swarm going on at the Yellowstone Caldera. Eruptions readers have come through with even more information on the swarm. Over 250 earthquakes have occurred in the park over the last few days, most between 0.5-3.1 on the Richter Scale - and getting larger each day. The swarm is centered 10 miles northwest of Old Faithful, Wyoming and 9 miles southeast of West Yellowstone. However, before everyone gets too excited, Dr. Robert Smith of University of Utah (the go-to…
eklemetti | January 18, 2010Busy busy today with the first day of spring semester classes, but ...
Yellowstone is having a nice little earthquake swarm, eh? Likely it is nothing beyond fluid flow as the earthquake are shallow, but hey, it is still fun to see.
eklemetti | January 15, 2010
The collapse pit within the Halema`uma`u Crater at Kilauea taken January 7, 2010. Image courtesy of the USGS/HVO.
Eruptions reader Boris Behncke pointed out that things are afoot in the Halema`uma`u Crater at Kilauea. To steal his description: " the lava lake returned triumphantly to the active pit last night, and now it is filling virtually the entire field of the
Halema'uma'u Overlook webcam." Sure enough, checking out the webcam this morning, the field of view is dominated by a lava lake - albeit somewhat crusted over by hardened basalt lava. You can compare the current image with one…
eklemetti | January 14, 2010The weekly volcano report, brought to you by our friends at the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Highlights (not including Mayon, Nyamuragira and Turrialba):
Eruptions continue at Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island - heck, this would be the volcano news if it wasn't for all these other, more explosive systems getting in the way. Lava fountains, flows and pools were the order of the day in the SW Dolomieu crater until the 12th of January.
Chaiten in Chile continues to chug along - block-and-ash flows were seen and ash plumes continue to emanate from…