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Colima Volcano, Mexico's most active, has been erupting since 1998. The eruption began with several months of earthquakes beneath the volcano, followed by explosions and rockfalls at the summit lava dome as it began to grow.
Dome growth was accompanied months later by a series of lava flows which cascaded down the southwestern flank of the mountain, stretching up to 3,100 meters (10,000 feet) from the summit. Since then dome growth has continued, with a few periods of actively flowing lava. As of March 2010, the dome was growing about 2,000 cubic meters (70,000) cubic feet a day, leading to frequent small rockfalls and occasional ash plumes. In January 2011, local newspapers reported "dust plumes" rising over Colima, likely pulverized lava stirred up by landslides at the summit dome.
© AFPMount Shinmoedake has been belching smoke and ash into the air since late Wednesday
More than 600 residents of the town of Takaharu in Miyazaki prefecture, on the eastern outskirts of the erupting Mount Shinmoedake, were sheltering in school gyms and community halls, an official said.
Municipal authorities had issued an evacuation advisory for 1,158 residents in high-risk districts near the 1,421-metre (4,689-foot) volcano earlier Monday.
Shinmoedake Peak in Japan erupted last January 26, 2011, and alert level was raised to 3 as of January 27, 2011. This is because the volcano spurted lava, 2.5 km into the air.
The volcanic eruption was accompanied with powerful lightning display and lava ejections, sending residents within 1.2 mile radius to evacuate. This is according to National Geographic.
Watching it from afar provides an "awesome" view of the eruption with the vibrant colors emitted by the volcanic lightning.
The Shinmoedake Peak is a part of the famous Mount Kirishima Volcano group, and is located in Kyushu. Included in the volcano group are Mount Karakuni, Mount Shinmoe, and Takachihonomine. The highest peak is Mount Karakuni which is 1,700 meters above sea level.
The volcanic eruption was accompanied with powerful lightning display and lava ejections, sending residents within 1.2 mile radius to evacuate. This is according to National Geographic.
Watching it from afar provides an "awesome" view of the eruption with the vibrant colors emitted by the volcanic lightning.
The Shinmoedake Peak is a part of the famous Mount Kirishima Volcano group, and is located in Kyushu. Included in the volcano group are Mount Karakuni, Mount Shinmoe, and Takachihonomine. The highest peak is Mount Karakuni which is 1,700 meters above sea level.
© National GeographicVolcanic lightning flashes from Shinmoedake Peak.
A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.
The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.
The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.
© ReutersForce of nature: Lightning strikes as Shinmoedake erupts, scattering ash and rocks across a wide swathe of southern Japa
© ReutersVolcanic lightning or a dirty thunderstorm is seen above Shinmoedake peak as it erupts
© Unknown
Ash from rumbling Mount Bromo, a popular attraction in East Java province, had spread to the island popular with foreign tourists and surfers.
"We received information from Darwin that the ash from Bromo has reached 5,500 metres in the southeast direction and has affected some parts of Bali," transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan told AFP.
"As a safety precaution, we've sent out an advisory to airlines to warn them about the ash situation so air crew can avoid the affected areas," he added.
Indonesian aviation authorities were monitoring the situation but there were no plans to temporarily close the airport yet, he added.
"The airport is still open, some flights are still landing. We're checking how bad the situation is and how much worse it can get before deciding what the next step will be," Ervan said.
© esse Allen and Robert Simmon, EO-1/NASASatellite pictures of the Pakistani coast in February (left) and November 2010.
Pakistani fishers reported the new mud volcano in the Arabian Sea in late November, and NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite snapped a picture of it (above) on January 11. The volcano was not in a satellite picture of the same region taken last February.
According to NASA, mud volcano "islands" have appeared in the Arabian Sea before, and most have washed away within a few months. In fact, the January picture shows tan sediments steaming from the new mud volcano, suggesting it is eroding and will soon vanish.
Mud volcanoes, which can appear on land or underwater, form when underground layers of silt or clay become pressurized either by tectonic activity or by a buildup of hydrocarbon gases.
The Kirishima Volcano, located in Japan, erupted violently this morning hurling rock bombs and plumes of ash up into the atmosphere. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded since the 8th century.
The volcano is located in southern Japan, along the pacific ring of fire, and is uniquely situated directly above a tectonic plate boundary.
Kirishima has erupted 9 times during the past 100 years, 2 of which were classified as VEI-2 eruptions (Volcanic Explosivity Index). The last VEI-2 eruption was during 1959 when it pumped 3.2 million cubic meters of 'tephra' up onto the planet surface and into sky. Time will tell how this new eruption will be classified.
Volcanic Ash in the atmosphere will severely damage jet engines, and can cause global temperatures to decrease depending on quantity.
The volcano is located in southern Japan, along the pacific ring of fire, and is uniquely situated directly above a tectonic plate boundary.
© 373news.com
Volcanic Ash in the atmosphere will severely damage jet engines, and can cause global temperatures to decrease depending on quantity.
© RIA Novosti. M. PevznerKizimen Volcano
"Seismologists registered about 200 local tremors in the vicinity of the volcano over the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.
According to him, bad weather satellites cannot track the direction or the distance of the ash plume which has repeatedly caused falling ash in populated areas on the peninsula, including Petropavlovsk, where 60% of the Kamchatka Peninsula residents live.
However, the ash could affect the operations of aircraft. Particles of ash may get into the mechanisms of airliners and provoke an accident.
There are more than 150 volcanoes on Kamchatka, 29 of them active.
© University of Bristol / Lorraine FieldIndeed, Africa is starting to split apart. The first tear came in the last million years, resulting in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. And now the earth is opening up in a massive expanse of land stretching south from Ethiopia to Mozambique.
The fissures began appearing years ago. But in recent months, seismic activity has accelerated in northeastern Africa as the continent breaks apart in slow motion. Researchers say that lava in the region is consistent with magma normally seen on the sea floor -- and that water will ultimately cover the desert.
Cynthia Ebinger, a geologist from the University of Rochester in New York, could hardly believe what the caller from the deserts of Ethiopia was saying. It was an employee at a mineralogy company -- and he reported that the famous Erta Ale volcano in northeastern Ethiopia was erupting. Ebinger, who has studied the volcano for years, was taken aback. The volcano's crater had always been filled with a bubbling soup of silver-black lava, but it had been decades since its last eruption.
The call came last November. And Ebinger immediately flew to Ethiopia with some fellow researchers. "The volcano was bubbling over; flaming-red lava was shooting up into the sky," Ebinger told Spiegel Online.
The earth is in upheaval in northeastern Africa, and the region is changing quickly. The desert floor is quaking and splitting open, volcanoes are boiling over, and seawaters are encroaching upon the land. Africa, researchers are certain, is splitting apart at a rate rarely seen in geology.
© Mark Thiessen, National GeographicSteam rises from Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park's supervolcano just took a deep "breath," causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report.
The simmering volcano has produced major eruptions - each a thousand times more powerful than Mount St. Helens's 1980 eruption - three times in the past 2.1 million years. Yellowstone's caldera, which covers a 25- by 37-mile (40- by 60-kilometer) swath of Wyoming, is an ancient crater formed after the last big blast, some 640,000 years ago.
(See "When Yellowstone Explodes" in National Geographic magazine.)
Since then, about 30 smaller eruptions - including one as recent as 70,000 years ago - have filled the caldera with lava and ash, producing the relatively flat landscape we see today.
