Volcanoes
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Bizarro Earth

Offshore mud volcano erupts off Taman Peninsula, Russia


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 01:10 UTC
mud volcano off Taman peninsula
© Bogdan Cristel / Reuters
An abandoned autumn beach looking out on the Sea of Azov became a popular sightseeing attraction over the weekend, after mother nature created an incredible mud volcano, which formed a wide, flat island just a few dozen meters away from the shore.

Spewing a slurry made of water and gases mixed with sand and dirt, the mud volcano shot several meters into the air as it started forming an artificial island on Sunday, just off the coast of the Taman Peninsula.

The act of nature was recorded by local beach strollers who witnessed the mud volcano, most typically formed after hot water below the earth's surface begins to blend with mineral deposits, pushing the mixture to the surface. But unlike an actual volcano, the muddy imitation produces no lava.

Comment: Another sign of Earth 'opening up'? See also:

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Attention

Mexico's Popocatepetl pumps ash and smoke 2,500 meters into the sky


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 21:33 UTC
Image
© The Telegraph, UK
Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano put on a spectacular display as it spewed out huge clouds of ash in to the sky.

The volcano, which is 50 miles south east of Mexico City spat ash and smoke 2500 metres above the volcano's crater.

Mexico's volcano experts says the volcano had around 40 exhalations with a series a of rumblings in the past three months.

There are around 3000 volcanoes in Mexico, but only 14 are active. Popocatepetl is one of the biggest and spans across three Mexican states and is the country's second highest peak.

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Umbrella

Mexico's Colima volcano erupts twice, spewing ash and smoke


International Business Times
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:48 UTC
Image
Mexicos Colima volcano erupted twice - at 9.46am and 11am - on 15 October, spewing ash and smoke into the air, authorities reported. The plume of gas reached a height of 2,000m in the southern direction, with moderate ash content, the head of Mexico's emergency services, Luis Felipe Puente, said on Twitter.

Located in the south-western Mexican state of Colima, the Fire Volcano has been exhibiting activity since 9 July. Over the past months, nearby villages have been blanketed with thick coats of ash, prompting evacuations.

Officially known as the Colima Volcano, it was previously active in January and February of 2015 and is part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire. Mexico contains more than 3,000 volcanos but only 14 are considered active.

Major eruptions have included the 1953 eruption of the Paricutin Volcano in Michoacan, the 1982 eruption of Tacana Volcano in Chiapas and the 1986 eruption of the Colima Volcano.

The Colima Volcano has erupted more than 40 times since the 16th century and local authorities have an emergency plan that includes continuous observation of the volcano and mandatory evacuations, if needed.

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Info

Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador spews gas, ash 2km into the air


The New Zealand Herald
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 06:45 UTC
Image
Tungurahua volcano (2011)
A second volcano is once again spewing plumes of ash in the mountain chain near Ecuador's capital.

The country's Geophysics Institute says the Tungurahua volcano shot out several bursts of gas and ash over the weekend, with one reaching more than a mile (about 2 kilometers) above 16,475-foot (5,023-meter) summit. It also hurled incandescent rock onto its slope.

The Cotopaxi volcano closer to the capital was relatively calm Monday after several outbursts in recent days. It shot ash and gas about 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometers) above its crater on Sunday.

It poses a greater threat to populated areas, standing about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Quito. Tungurahua is 87 miles (140 kilometers) south of the capital.
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Arrow Up

Ecuador's Cotopaxi volcano coughs 2 kilometer high column of ash


Yahoo! News
Thu, 08 Oct 2015 02:16 UTC
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© AFP/Rodrigo BuendiaPicture taken from Quito of the Cotopaxi volcano spewing ash on October 8, 2015.
Ecuador's Cotopaxi volcano, which began erupting in August after being dormant for 138 years, on Thursday coughed up a two-kilometer-high column of ash, officials said.

The giant ash column was visible from Quito, 45 kilometers (30 miles) to the north of the volcano, considered one of the world's most dangerous because its snow cap is vulnerable in an eruption and because of its close proximity to densely populated areas.

Ecuador's security coordination ministry said ash rose 2,000 meters above the volcano's crater, and warned some could fall on Quito's southern neighborhoods.

Cotopaxi, one of eight active volcanoes in Ecuador, last erupted in 1877.

The government declared a state of emergency in August after the volcano roared to life and has been conducting evacuation drills among the population.

An estimated 325,000 people could be affected if the eruption triggers mudslides and avalanches, according to the authorities.

Comment: There have been many reports of volcanic eruptions or volcanic activity in the past month - a lot of them in the Ring of Fire:



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Arrow Up

Guatamala's Fuego volcano roars to life; spews gas, ash 4,800 meters


Yahoo! News
Thu, 08 Oct 2015 18:55 UTC
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© AFP/Johan OrdonezIn February, a powerful eruption at Fuego forced authorities to declare an alert and close the airport in the capital
A volcano near the Guatemalan capital roared back to life on Wednesday, spewing ash high into the air, disaster safety officials said.

The Fuego volcano, which is just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Guatemala City and its population of one million people, coughed out gas and ash 4,800 meters (16,000 feet) above sea level.

Despite at least two lava flows, Alejandro Maldonado, secretary of the disaster reduction office CONRAD, said the so-called "Fire Volcano" was not yet sufficiently dangerous to justify the evacuation of nearby villages.

Experts say the volcano -- one of the most active in Central America -- may become increasingly violent in the coming hours and could affect air traffic.

In February, a powerful eruption at Fuego forced authorities to declare an alert and close the airport in the capital.
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Arrow Up

Mexico's Colima volcano erupts again spewing ash, smoke, pyroclastic flows traveling hundreds of meters

Adam Justice
International Business Times
Tue, 06 Oct 2015 17:23 UTC
Image
© ibtimes.co.uk
Mexico's Colima volcano erupted late on 4 October and continued on until 5 October spewing ash and smoke into the air, authorities reported. According to Jalisco Civil Protection, the plume of gas and ash reached a height of 1,500m, heading north.

Along with the ash cloud and gas, the volcano expelled pyroclastic flows that travelled hundreds of metres down the slope. The day before, a spectacular explosion was recorded at 6.29pm, sending clouds of ash and smoke 2,500m above the crater.

Located in the south-western Mexican state of Colima, the Fire Volcano has been exhibiting activity since 9 July. Over the past two months, nearby villages have been blanketed with thick coats of ash, prompting evacuations.

Officially known as the Colima Volcano, it was previously active in January and February, and is part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire. Mexico contains over 3,000 volcanoes but only 14 are considered active.

The Colima Volcano has erupted more than 40 times since the 16th century and local authorities have an emergency plan that includes continuous observation of the volcano and mandatory evacuations.

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Info

Study finds volcanic eruptions affect flow of world's major rivers


Phys.org
Mon, 05 Oct 2015 08:31 UTC
Image
Up in smoke: This is the incredible moment that Volcano Calbuco blew its top sending a huge cloud of ash into the sky
Major volcanic eruptions can have a significant effect on the flow of the biggest rivers around the world, research shows.

In the first study of its kind, scientists sought to better understand how big volcanic eruptions, which can trigger a shortage of rainfall in many regions of the world, can impact on rivers. Their findings could help scientists predict how water availability in regions throughout the world might be affected by future eruptions.

Researchers sought to learn more about the impact of a process in which volcanoes give off aerosol particles that reflect sunlight, cooling the atmosphere and leading to reduced rainfall.

A team from the University of Edinburgh analysed records of flow in 50 major rivers. Their study spanned the dates of major eruptions, from Krakatoa in 1883 to Pinatubo in 1991. The team grouped rivers by region to help identify the influence of volcanoes, and used computer models linking rainfall with eruptions to predict where rivers were likely to be affected.

Comment: Increasing cometary and volcanic dust loading of the atmosphere (one indicator is the intensification of noctilucent clouds we are witnessing) is accentuating electric charge build-up, whereby we can expect to observe more extreme weather and planetary upheaval as well as awesome light shows and other related mysterious phenomena.

The importance of atmospheric dust loading, the winning Electric Universe model, Global cooling, and much more related information, are explained in the book Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk.
The accumulation of cometary dust in the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in the increase of tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes and their associated rainfalls, snowfalls and lightning.


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Attention

Scientists find evidence that sudden rapid collapse of Fogo volcano 73K years ago triggered massive tsunami


EurekAlert
Fri, 02 Oct 2015 02:00 UTC
boulder Fogo volcano
© Ricardo RamalhoThe tsunami generated by Fogo's collapse apparently swept boulders like this one from the shoreline up into the highlands of Santiago island. Here, a researcher chisels out a sample.
Scientists working off west Africa in the Cape Verde Islands have found evidence that the sudden collapse of a volcano there tens of thousands of years ago generated an ocean tsunami that dwarfed anything ever seen by humans. The researchers say an 800-foot wave engulfed an island more than 30 miles away. The study could revive a simmering controversy over whether sudden giant collapses present a realistic hazard today around volcanic islands, or even along more distant continental coasts. The study appears today in the journal Science Advances.

"Our point is that flank collapses can happen extremely fast and catastrophically, and therefore are capable of triggering giant tsunamis," said lead author Ricardo Ramalho, who did the research as a postdoctoral associate at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he is now an adjunct scientist. "They probably don't happen very often. But we need to take this into account when we think about the hazard potential of these kinds of volcanic features."

The apparent collapse occurred some 73,000 years ago at the Fogo volcano, one of the world's largest and most active island volcanoes. Nowadays, it towers 2,829 meters (9,300 feet) above sea level, and erupts about every 20 years, most recently last fall. Santiago Island, where the wave apparently hit, is now home to some 250,000 people.
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Attention

Active underwater volcano spewing methane gas found in southern Alaska

Ed Schoenfeld
Coast Alaska News
Thu, 01 Oct 2015 08:18 UTC
Alaska underwater volcano
© Canadian Geological SurveyA screen shot from a scientific sounding device shows the newly-discovered volcano and its plume of methane gas. The lower line is an echo, not another volcanic cone.
Scientists have found another underwater volcano in Southeast Alaska waters. And this one is active.

About two years ago, geologists studying an ocean channel near Ketchikan spotted something unusual. It was a submerged volcano, about 150 feet below the surface.

It was dormant. The experts estimated it hadn't erupted for about 10,000 years.

Now, scientists have discovered another underwater volcano, near Dixon Entrance, just north of Alaska's maritime border with British Columbia.

"Nothing like that had been mapped in the area before, so we knew then that we had discovered something new," said Gary Greene, a marine geologist working with the Sitka Sound Science Center.

He and a Canadian counterpart found the volcano Sept. 23 during a study of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System. That's been the epicenter of some recent earthquakes.

"We had just completed some survey work and we modified our line to go to another place to look. And as we were transiting, we came across this big plume and this big cone where the plume was coming out of," he said.

Comment: Other underwater volcanoes have been discovered in recent times off the coast of Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. In April this year, scientists were stunned by the apparent eruption of a submarine volcano, 'Axial Seamount' off the Northwest US coast (at a similar time to the devastating Nepalese earthquake and the massive eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile), which could explain the "unprecedented warming occurring over the last 13 years" of water in this area.

As the number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average, a comparable escalation in activity of their underwater counterparts seems logical.

It is estimated there are up to one million submarine volcanoes on our planet. Effects from this volcanic activity, combined with increased methane outgassing, radiation from the Fukushima disaster are probably also causing the ongoing devastation of marine life, mass fish die offs and strange migratory behaviour we are currently witnessing.

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