Volcanic Resources
eklemetti | March 24, 2010
The fissure vent eruption near Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. Image by Ãorsteinn Gunnarsson, March 22, 2010.
It has been hard to keep up with the flood of news from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland. Eruptions readers have done a good job with getting new images, videos and info up as they happen, so you might want to peruse the comments for those sorts of tidbits (along with discussion of what might be happening).
Here is the latest:
The eruption at Fimmvörduháls (considering the eruption is actually occurring between the ice caps) could last weeks to months, which isn't too…
eklemetti | March 7, 2010
Mt. Baker in the northern Cascades of Washington.
One of the best websites dedicated to any volcano is the Mt. Baker Volcano Research Center - hosted by Western Washington University. I've talked about it before, but David Tucker and his associates have put together an excellent resource on this (at least in my opinion) woefully underappreciated Cascade volcano.
There is a pile of news from the MBVRC and I thought I'd pass it along.
First off, the 2010 T-shirt design contest has kicked off. Last year the MBVRC raised much needed funds with a T-shirt sale and now you can try to design the…
eklemetti | September 4, 2009Lets get right to it!
"Manmade volcanoes": can they solve global warming?
It does indeed seem that something is happening beneath Kanlaon in the Philippines. PHIVOLCS reports that the volcano experienced 257 volcanic earthquakes from August 23 to September 1, well above the usually "background" level of ~20-30 a week. Most of this seismicity is centered on the northwest slope of the volcano, suggesting that if magma is moving, it is moving up under this side of the system. However, the seismicity doesn't necessarily have to be magma moving up to erupt. It could very easily be moving up in…
eklemetti | June 26, 2009
Drilling in Iceland lead by geologists from UC Davis hit magma this week. Image courtesy of Peter Schiffman, UC Davis.
Quick props to my officemate here at UC Davis, Naomi Marks, who happened to be part of a team (with UC Davis geology faculty Peter Schiffman and Robert Zierenberg) that drilled into active rhyolite magma in Iceland this week. Doesn't happen very often - this might be the third recorded time humans have drilled into magma - but when it does, it is very exciting. The magma was hit ~2 miles / 5 km below the surface and is likely an offshoot of a larger magmatic system nearby.…
eklemetti | June 3, 2009This week's edition of Wednesday Whatzits could have been called "Miércoles Materia" as all the updates are for South American volcano. Enjoy!
Tungurahua in Ecuador
(Note: all links in spanish)
INGEOMINAS in Colombia is reporting that Nevado del Huila experienced 343 earthquakes over the past week, suggesting that something is brewing at the volcano. This has been accompanied by gas emissions and ash from the fractured dome. The Volcano Observatory in Popayán mentions that more than half of the earthquakes are related to magma moving into the system. Huila remains at Level III (Yellow)…
eklemetti | May 6, 2009
The Geysers Geothermal Power Plant
Eruptions reader (and former hallmate at Oregon State) Ed Kohut sent me a message today pointing out that there is an ongoing earthquake swarm in the area of the Geysers in northern California. Now, I don't know what the normal seismicity is underneath the Clear Lake area and this area is part of the San Andreas fault system, so these earthquake are likely not volcanically related, but I post them here just as a reminder of how difficult it can be to deconvolve these geologic signals.
The Geysers are part of the Clear Lake volcanic region, which is still…
eklemetti | April 8, 2009
Canlaon volcano, Philippines
Geothermal energy is one of those sources of energy that might be able to solve a lot of the planet's energy problems - heck, the Earth has a lot of heat it is trying to get rid of, so taking that heat and turning into energy seems like an easy (and clean?) way to stop using fossil fuels and the like. Of course, like any supposed panacea, it has its problems.
However, one aspect that gets people are riled is whether drilling into areas of active magmatism might actually cause volcanism. Just in the last few weeks, a controversy was sparked in the Philippines…
eklemetti | September 26, 2008
It has been awhile since we've talked of Chaiten, so I thought I'd touch upon "the eruption of 2008" (really, no one else is close). Spring time has arrived in southern Chile, and the Patagonia area has cleaned up a lot of the ash from the eruption (but not the town of Chaiten). National Tourism Service says that most towns and parks in the region are ready for tourists and even some tourist companies near Chaiten are good to go.
As for the volcano itself, the latest USGS update reports ash columns still being erupted and reaching up to 12,000 ft (3,700 meters), along with a "thermal…
eklemetti | June 24, 2008
If Alaska wants to take a cue from Iceland, it might find itself with more power than it can use. That is, if the dreams of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas come true. They are planning to lease land on Mt. Spurr and possibly Mt. Augustine for geothermal exploration. Both of these volcanoes are active, with Mt. Spurr erupting last in 1992 (famously almost taking out a KLM 747 due to volcanic ash EDIT: Oops, this was not Spurr in 1992, but Redoubt in 1989. Luckily, AVO knew to warn aviation about the Spurr eruption thanks to the lessons learned from the near disaster at Redoubt) and…
eklemetti | June 19, 2008
The western Pacific basin is pockmarked with active and extinct volcanoes related to the subduction of the Pacific plate along almost all of its western boundary. An Australian National University research group recently discovered a pair of undersea volcanoes that would put any good mining geologist into a fit of joy. These volcanoes are spewing volcanic gases underwater that are very rich in metals like copper, lead, zinc and gold. All of these metals like to go into solution in acidic fluids like volcanic gases, and when these volcanic fluids meet the cold (and decidedly less acidic)…
eklemetti | June 13, 2008
Authorities in New Zealand have issued an alert for White Island. After a fairly sizable earthquake (M=5.4) near the island, the state agency that oversees volcanoes (GNS Science) is warning people to stay away from White Island for the next 48-72 hours on fears it might erupt. Normally, just because there is an earthquake near a volcano you don't instantly jump to the idea that it will erupt, but the 5.4 and subsequent earthquakes have been both near White Island and shallow (5-km depth), indicating it could very well be related to magma moving under the system.Â
White Island itself is a…
eklemetti | June 3, 2008
I've been trying to find information to post this week, but not much out their in the press this week.
I did like this article on the close relationship between Salvadoran coffee growers and Santa Ana/Ilamatepec Volcano. After being pressed into an emergency lecture yesterday here about the interactions between humans and volcanoes, this is case in point that a mere 3 years after an eruption helped wipe out their crops, coffee growers are back to planting near Santa Ana's crater. It is hard not to when the soils near the volcano are so fertile. You can see in the picture (above) how lush the…
eklemetti | May 29, 2008
The Oregonian reports on the on-going desire to develop geothermal power in the Oregon and California Cascades and backarc. There have been attempted (or at least exploration) to develop geothermal power at Newberry Volcano, Crater Lake and Medicine Lake, but none have ever panned out. Well, it seems like this time it might happen, and I, for one, think it is a good idea. Of course, there are a lot of folks who don't want a geothermal plant anywhere near Newberry, especially with its National Monument designation, but one of these days we'll have to choose between that and higher energy…