According to the USGS, magma is "molten rock underground", and lava is molten rock "that breaks through the Earth's surface". Right now, something is pushing magma up through the crust of the Earth at a number of key spots around the planet. On the island of Sicily, the "giant fountains of lava" that are coming out of Mt. Etna can be seen 30 kilometers away...
On the other side of the world, a constant stream of molten rock has been springing out of Guatemala's "Volcano of Fire" since February 25th...Giant fountains of lava could be seen sprouting from the volcano, located on the isle of Sicily, as far away as Catania, around 30 kilometres away, and the resort town of Taormina.
The Meteorological Observatory in Nunziata said: "You can clearly see the lava fountains, although currently modest, as it escapes from the crater in the southeast."
An orange air alert has been issued, meaning that airspace will remain open but authorities will continue to monitor the situation.
And in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a "firehose of lava" has been pouring out of the Kilauea Volcano since December 31st.Guatemala's Volcano of Fire erupted Saturday (Feb 25), spewing lava and sending up plumes of ash that rained down on nearby communities and could eventually reach the capital, civil protection authorities said.
The Volcan de Fuego, one of the country's three active volcanoes, is located about 45km southwest of the capital Guatemala City. It was the volcano's second eruption this year.
Meanwhile, a number of large volcanoes that have been dormant for a very long time all over the world have started springing back to life.
For instance, the only active volcano in India has suddenly started "spewing lava and ash" after being silent for 150 years...
At one time scientists would speak of "dead volcanoes", but now we learning that it really isn't safe to speak of any volcano as being completely "dead". So many of these long dormant volcanoes are roaring back to life, and why this is suddenly happening now is puzzling many of the experts.Barren Islands volcano, India's only active volcano, is reportedly spewing lava and ash after a gap of 150 years. It erupted for about four hours in January, scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) claimed.
The volcano is situated in Barren Islands in the Andaman & Nicobar archipelago. Some unsubstantiated reports even claim that it is South Asia's only active volcano.
Its first recorded eruption dates back to 1787. Since then, the volcano has erupted more than ten times, including the one this year.
And as you have seen, this isn't isolated to just one or two geographic regions. It literally is happening all over the globe.
Last month, Indonesia's Mount Sinabung in the southern hemisphere erupted seven times in the space of a single day, and meanwhile authorities in the northern hemisphere were warning us that four of Iceland's biggest volcanoes are preparing to erupt.
Indonesia and Iceland are about as far apart as you can get, and yet they are both being affected by this worldwide phenomenon.
Without a doubt, something definitely appears to be causing a significant increase in worldwide seismic activity.
Let's talk about earthquakes for a moment. A website known as the Big Wobble recently published an article that included two extraordinary maps. The first map showed the number of major earthquakes from January 1900 to January 1917, and the second map showed the number of major earthquakes from January 2000 to January 2017. The difference between the two maps was startling to say the least.
It is becoming extremely difficult to deny that something is happening to the crust of our planet, and many are becoming concerned about what we could soon experience if the level of seismic activity continues to rise.
We already talked about Mt. Etna, but a much greater threat in Italy appears to be awakening under the city of Naples. A massive supervolcano known as "Campi Flegrei" is close to a "critical state", and if it erupts the consequences will be beyond catastrophic. The following comes from National Geographic...
If that supervolcano were to fully erupt, millions could die, the skies in the northern hemisphere would be darkened for months and the resulting "volcanic winter" would cause famines all around the globe.A long-quiet yet huge supervolcano that lies under 500,000 people in Italy may be waking up and approaching a "critical state," scientists report this week in the journal Nature Communications.
Based on physical measurements and computer modeling, "we propose that magma could be approaching the CDP [critical degassing pressure] at Campi Flegrei, a volcano in the metropolitan area of Naples, one of the most densely inhabited areas in the world, and where accelerating deformation and heating are currently being observed," wrote the scientists—who are led by Giovanni Chiodini of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics in Rome.
And the same things could be said about the supervolcano that is awakening in North Korea too.
In the United States, we should be watching the volcanoes on the west coast for signs of trouble, and my regular readers know that I am particularly concerned about Mt. Rainier. There is an eruption of Mt. Rainier in "The Beginning Of The End", and it is in there for a reason.
Someday Mt. Rainier will erupt, and the horror that this will mean for the Northwest is beyond anything that I could put into words for you right now.
We live at a time when our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and a major natural disaster could change all of our lives in a single moment.
Just because our lives have been somewhat "normal" for an extended period of time does not mean that they will always be this way, and those that are ignoring the rumblings of our planet do so at their own peril.
Reader Comments
Yum Kaaks is not real.
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This article compares the numbers of large earthquakes at the beginning of this century to those at the beginning of the previous one. Similar comparisons of other types of natural phenomena are also presented in many other articles.
One thing that is never mentioned in any of these articles is that currently there is a much greater population (and pop density), many more "professional" observers (i.e., those whose livelihoods depend on there being such phenomena), much better observation/measurement technology, better communications, greater (and more sensational) media coverage, etc., etc. than at any other time in history. This leads me to surmise that a partial explanation for the cited "increases" in these phenomena is that there is a much greater opportunity, capability, and even motivation to observe and, more importantly, report on them now than in the past.
Is it not possible that there may be little or no actual increase in the rate/severity of these occurrences? Does anyone know if an objective study/analysis/evaluation exists which might explain just how much of these apparent "increases" are merely due to more and/or better observation/reporting rather than actual increased occurrences?
Munich RE, the world's biggest re-insurer, publishes the best data on it. Check the line "Number of events" at the link. And yes, Munich RE is smart enough to include both insured and uninsured events, and events that impacted people and those that did not. So it isn't "just the internet" as many like to claim to brush off the big changes that are happening. The hard-nosed insurance people will tell you it isn't just woo-woo people who have noticed that changes:
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From other data published by them over the years, the biggest increase has been in "Hydrological events," that is, floods and tsunamis. They are up 300% versus the 1970's, and have been steadily increasing just about every year.
Thanks.
Thundering Heard
I think mom is really getting ready to spit... fire and rains.
Right Exercise is a MUST....
Although I'll keep an open mind, I expect that this info will not be completely unbiased in the counting and/or evaluation of the actual phenomena in question, but will be limited to those events which are of interest to the industry. As a specific (hypothetical) example, a Richter 9 earthquake in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert a century ago might not even have been noted in the insurance industry database, while today, due to the build-up of much oil extraction & pipeline infrastructure, that same earthquake would certainly be noted as it might result in tens or hundreds of billions in insurance liabilities.
Dare I mention it would be a very good idea for readers to check their policy exclusions right about now. We had floods in my au.state lately in which Insurance Shysters had their names up in lights over refusal to pay out for damage. All sorts of wheezes in the policies. They're not allowed the luxury of fine-print in these parts, so they resort to tricks in form of or meaning of words. Who knew there was a difference between inundation and flood?:-) Many didn't. Obvious, I know, since anyone thick enough to build or buy on a flood plain probably wouldn't have a chance against the Insurance Shysters chicanery. Extreemely funny - the media, as always, is co-operating with it's better advertisers - now using descriptions of events as suggested by the I Shysters. Amazing.
And slightly off topic, the I Shysters are gearing up for refusal to pay out on motor vehicle accidents in which droogs of the prescription kind are involved. ie, Legal Droogs - just like tax-paid alcohol, (the precedent,) and soon tax-paid hooch for that chronic pain you've been belting your liver etc with rubbish pain killers for what, decades.
Read those policies, again and again. Might assist to get into a few real dictionaries, too.
Household insurance is fraught - little people can't insure against anything big people might do to fuck them over. And then there's the God acting thing.
Another 2 Cents caimed and instantly forgiven. HTH.
Thing is, the business model of insurance companies and pension plans are both doomed in the next few years as their actuarial investment expectations will never be met since, with the stock market and much-larger bond market both in bubbles, instead of the 7.5% to 8% annual investment pool gains that their business model requires, they will be lucky to have any gains at all and their investment pools will be drained by capital losses and payouts. Every week one hears of another pension fund or insurance company that can't meet obligations. Here's one from this week, one of those Long-term Care companies that can't meet the promises it made to those who got suckered into their policies:
The Next Ponzi: $4.6BN Long-Term-Care Insurer To Liquidate In Pa; Biggest Healthcare Failure Ever
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Of course, the execs of those companies will recognize the doom well before the public and they'll cash in their stock options long before the company ends up in liquidation. Then, if there is still a government around, they can become a lobbyist or regulator. A real scum parade.
The Earth has always been geologically active...sometimes more sometimes less.
All we can do is to be aware, move away from the dangers and enjoy the show and the sheer power of nature.