Sangay

The flu has retreated and I'm getting back on track. Huzzah! I'll get back to the blog by posting this week's new USGS / Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcano Report. Looks like some interesting stuff in it ... Looks like there were some small eruptions from Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania. The volcano is one of the few (only active?) carbonatite volcanoes in the world, erupting a lava composed primarily of calcium carbonate and sodium minerals with very little silica. It leads to the odd lava that erupt black (and cool ~ 500C) and cool to white, making it one of the…
We get a new update from the Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program ... Highlights (not counting Soufriere Hills or Gaua) include: The Weekly Report mentions the mystery eruption/noneruption of Karkar in PNG. Specifically, they report: The report also stated that ash had merged with a thunderstorm cloud and had become unidentifiable. Two ash plumes (11/25, 26) that reached at least 9.1 km / 30,000 feet were reported by the Darwin VAAC ... but as we know, it is far from clear that anything actually happened at Karkar last week. Activity has quieted significantly at Chaiten in Chile, with…
Somehow I missed a week of the SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Reports and almost missed another. Here is this week's update! Highlights (not including Chaiten, Soufriere Hills or Cleveland) include: The alert level at Galeras in Colombia was raised to Red after an explosion on September 30 and returned to orange ... and then yellow ... after activity tapered. Sakurajima in Japan produced 1.8-4.3 km / 6,000-14,000-tall ash-and-steam plumes, along with incandescent tephra that was thrown almost two kilometers from the vent. Multiple steam-and-ash plumes reached 4.3 km / 14,000 feet at Langila…
This is likely my last update until the end of next week sometime, so feel free to use it for any new volcano news you might see. Look for the Erebus Volcano Profile to be posted on Friday sometime, followed by the vote for the next Profile. Next time I post I'll be (back) in the eastern time zone! With that, I leave you with the latest USGS/SI Weekly Volcano Report. Highlights (not counting Shiveluch) include: Small ash plumes were spotted several times from Batu Tara in Indonesia. Explosions, ashfall and earthquakes were reported at Nevado del Huila in Colombia. There were reports of…
A wrap up of the week's volcanism, brought to you by Sally Kuhn Sennert and the USGS/SI Global Volcanism Program. Highlights, not including Sarychev Peak, Redoubt and Shiveluch (busy week in the north Pacific), include: A small ash cloud was spotted at Bagana in Papua New Guinea. The Tavurvur cone at Rabaul (PNG) continues to glow at night and produce small ash/steam plumes. The Santiaguito dome at Santa Maria in Guatemala produced 8,000-10,000 foot / ~2.9-3.3 km ash plumes, along with a lahar that carried blocks over 1.5 m downstream from the volcano. A 25,000 foot / 7.6 km ash plume was…