Volcanoes
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Chalkboard

Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes increasing across the planet

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If it seems like earthquakes and erupting volcanoes are happening more frequently, that's because they are. Looking at global magnitude six (M6) or greater from 1980 to 1989 there was an average of 108.5 earthquakes per year, from 2000 to 2009 the planet averaged 160.9 earthquakes per year: that is a 38.9% increase of M6+ earthquakes in recent years. Unrest also seems to be growing among the world's super-volcanoes. Iceland (which is home to some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet), Santorini in Greece, Uturuncu in Bolivia, the Yellowstone and Long Valley calderas in the U.S., Laguna del Maule in Chile, Italy's Campi Flegrei - almost all of the world's active super-volcanic systems are now exhibiting some signs of inflation, an early indication that pressure is building in these volcanic systems.

When they will erupt is guess work, but in the meantime, activity is growing in Central America's volcanoes such as Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano, Asia's volcanoes such as Kamchatka, Alaska and Indonesia are also more active. Magma chambers are growing as pressures increase, the numbers of tremors are increasing as are related 'quake-clusters'. If any one of these major volcanic systems has a large scale eruption, it would be a global event. Iceland is considered by many scientists to be the next likely place for a global level volcanic event. The last major event, actually relatively minor, was in 2010 when an Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajökull volcano) made headlines around the world by spewing mega-tons of ash into the atmosphere, cancelling and re-routing thousands of flights and costing airlines and passengers more than $7 billion+ in lost revenues.

Info

Hidden superchain of volcanoes discovered in Australia

Newly Discovered Volcanoes
© Drew Whitehouse, NCI National Facility VizLabScientists recently realized that separate chains of volcanic activity in Australia were actually caused by a single hotsput lurking under the Earth's lithosphere. The new superchain, called the Cosgrove Volcanic Track, spans 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers)
Scientists have just found the world's longest chain of volcanoes on a continent, hiding in plain sight.

The newly discovered Australian volcano chain isn't a complete surprise, though: Geologists have long known of small, separate chains of volcanic activity on the island continent. However, new research reveals a hidden hotspot once churned beneath regions with no signs of surface volcanism, connecting these separate strings of volcanoes into one megachain.

That 1,240-mile-long (2,000 kilometers) chain of fire spanned most of eastern Australia, from Hillsborough in the north, where rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef, to the island of Tasmania in the south.

"The track is nearly three times the length of the famous Yellowstone hotspot track on the North American continent," Rhodri Davies, an earth scientist at Australian National University, said in a statement.

Eye 1

Disappearing freedoms: U.S. city proposing ban on wearing short shorts and mini-skirts

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© Flickr/ ·júbilo·haku·
Short shorts and mini-skirts may be disappearing from one Alabama city.

The Dadeville City Council is considering an ordinance to ban the attire. The proposal comes after the City Council last month passed an ordinance banning saggy pants.

The council, however, didn't think men should be singled out when it comes to provocative clothing.

"My concern is it should be for everybody," said Councilwoman Stephanie Kelley during a council meeting on Tuesday. "I think for the girls, with these shorts up so high looking like under garments and dresses so short, I don't want us to be showing favoritism."

Dadeville City attorney Robin Reynolds is expected to have the ordinance ready by the next council meeting.

"It is about respect," Goodman said. "Who is going to respect you if you don't respect yourself? The reason I brought this up is I think people deserve respect when they are in public. I think slacking is disrespectful. I think it gives our younger generation the wrong impression of what is cool."

Comment: It's ridiculous for any government, small or large, to make laws banning people from wearing specific kinds of clothing. Soon we'll all be forced to wear one specific piece of attire for all occasions.


Bizarro Earth

Japanese volcano Mount Aso on island of Kyushu erupts

Mount Aso
© Reuters A video grab from the Japan Meteorological Agency’s live camera image shows an eruption of Mount Aso in Aso, Kumamoto prefecture, south-western Japan, on Monday.
Mount Aso, a volcano located on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, erupted on Monday, Japan's Meteorological Agency said, sending up huge plumes of grey ash and smoke.

Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - a horseshoe-shaped band of fault lines and volcanoes around the edges of the Pacific ocean - and is home to more than 100 active volcanoes.

Comment:




Alarm Clock

Two Mexican volcanoes erupt, shooting ash, smoke into sky

Colima Volcano
© Stringer / ReutersSmoke rises from Colima Volcano, also known as the Volcano of Fire, near the town of Comala

Two of Mexico's most active volcanoes are erupting, sending a spectacular mix of ash, smoke, and gas thousands of meters into the sky.

Comment: See also: The number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average!

Keep informed on the increasingly chaotic events from all around the world by viewing the monthly SOTT Earth Changes Summary.

SOTT Earth Changes Summary - August 2015: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Fire

This Indonesian volcano erupts electric-blue streams of molten sulfur

East Java molten sulfur
© Reuben Wu
Glowing blue rivers illuminate Java's Blue Fire Crater.

Visitors looking up at Kawah Ijen, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Java, are treated to a sight not often seen in the rest of the world: electric-blue rivers streaming out from underneath the volcano. Although it looks like bright blue lava, the streams are actually molten sulfur, which gives off a neon-like light at night.

"I've never seen this much sulfur flowing at a volcano," U.S. Geological Survey research geologist Cynthia Werner tells Brian Clark Howard for National Geographic.

Bright blue sulfuric flames aren't exactly rare around volcanoes. Sulfur has a relatively low melting point of 239 degrees Fahrenheit and small trickles and blue fires are often found near hot vents and during volcanic eruptions, Howard writes. However, Kawah Ijen is the largest "blue flame" area on earth, with jets of fiery sulfuric acid burning at over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and shooting 16 feet into the air, Christopher Jobson reports for Colossal.

Bizarro Earth

Lava erupts from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano


One of the world's most active volcanoes began erupting again on Hawaii's Big Island Thursday morning, sending a thick ribbon of lava from its summit down into the forests nearby.

The lava lake at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, located within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park near the southern end of the island, was still active Friday, according to officials with the U.S. Geological Survey office that monitors the volcano.

The volcano's lava flow posed no threat to surrounding communities at this time, they added, "but [they] are being monitored closely," as some of the lava flows "are marked by smoke plumes where lava is creeping into the forest."

Comment: The number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average! Other signs of increased volcanic activity recently include:
  • Huge columns of ash being spewed form the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador and Mexico's Colima volcano.
  • A series of avalanches on Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, with vulcanology expert Harry Keys stating "I've been up the crater lake a lot and I don't remember ever seeing so many avalanches in the crater."
  • Reunion Island volcano in the Indian ocean erupting again.



Fire

Reunion Island volcano erupts again


The volcano on Reunion Island erupted Monday after a dramatic increase in seismic activity throughout the day. The Piton de la Fournaise captured the world's attention last month when it erupted after beach cleaners found a piece of wreckage believed to have come from a missing airliner.

On Monday night tourists flocked to good viewing spots to watch the volcano's eruption. Local residents and tourists hiked about an hour up a nearby mountain at night to watch the volcano. The volcano erupted throughout the night spewing lava, fire and red smoke for hours.

Comment: Elsewhere, there has been increased activity recently at the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador which is spewing out huge columns of ash, as is Mexico's Colima volcano.


Info

Researchers find helium anomaly preceded Mount Ontake eruption

Mount Ontake
© Earthquake Research Institute, The University of TokyoMount Ontake is located 200 km west of Tokyo on the border of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures. This image shows the continued release of steam and gas from the volcano after the eruption.
University of Tokyo researchers discovered an increase in a helium isotope during a ten-year period before the 2014 Mount Ontake eruption in central Japan. The finding suggests that this helium isotope anomaly is related to activation of the volcano's magma system and could be a valuable marker for long-term risk mitigation concerning volcanic eruption.

Small quantities of the isotope helium-3 are present in the mantle, while helium-4 is produced in the crust and mantle by radioactive decay. A higher ratio of helium-3 to helium-4 therefore indicates that a sample of helium gas originates from the mantle rather than the crust. Previous research suggested that variation of helium isotopic ratios over time in crater fumaroles and hot springs correlates well with volcanic activity.

However, helium anomalies reported in these studies were all related to magmatic eruptions, and not to hydro-volcanic or phreatic eruptions, caused when a heat source such as magma vaporizes water to steam. Because phreatic eruptions are highly local phenomena, they are extremely difficult to predict. Mount Ontake, which erupted unexpectedly on September 27, 2014 just before noon, is believed to have been a phreatic eruption, and resulted in 58 deaths with 5 still missing.

Bizarro Earth

Erupting mud volcano resembles a gigantic human eye from the sky

mud volcano in Russia
© Caters News Agency
This mud volcano in Russia is watching. Always watching...

This bizarre piece of land may look like a gigantic eye from the sky - but is in fact an erupting mud volcano.

The rare flare-up recently occurred at the Pugachevsky mud volcano on the east Russian island of Sakhalin.

From above it appears that the centre of the volcano is the pupil, which is surrounded by a muddy brown iris.