Volcanoes

Pacific quake swarm sparked underwater volcano eruption

David Barber
Sacramento Bee
Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:53 UTC

A swarm of more than 150 earthquakes over two days last month caused a previously dormant volcano to erupt beneath the Pacific Ocean, a scientist said Monday.

The eruption of the Havre Volcano, about halfway between New Zealand and Tonga, is believed to have caused a floating island of pumice larger than 4,000 square miles that was encountered by a New Zealand navy ship last week.

Cornel de Ronde, principal scientist of New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, told Radio New Zealand the source of the pumice had been identified in cooperation with French researchers in Tahiti who monitor earthquakes in the southwest Pacific.

"When they looked at their physical records they saw that on July 17th and 18th, there were some 157 earthquakes of magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.8," he said.

Is The Super Volcano Taupo in New Zealand Awakening?

Twawki
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:12 UTC

1800 years ago Taupo volcano in New Zealand had the largest volcanic eruption in the world for the last 5000 years. Taupo ejected over 30 cubic kilometers of material including a pyroclastic flow that moved at 600-900km/hr, traveling up mountains to a height of 1500m .

But even that massive eruption was dwarfed by the huge Taupo eruption just 26,500 years ago which plunged the earth into a volcanic winter & wiped out 60% of the population. From Wikipedia;

The Oruanui eruption of the Taupo volcano was the world's largest known eruption in the past 70,000 years, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. It occurred around 26,500 years ago and generated approximately 430 km³ of pyroclastic fall deposits, 320 km³ of pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits (mostly ignimbrite) and 420 km³ of primary intracaldera material, equivalent to 530 km³ of magma. ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Modern Lake Taupo partly fills the caldera generated during this eruption.

Tephra from the eruption covered much of the central North Island with ignimbrite up to 200 metres deep. Most of New Zealand was affected by ash fall, with even an 18 cm ash layer left on the Chatham Islands, 1,000 km away. Later erosion and sedimentation had long-lasting effects on the landscape, and caused the Waikato River to shift from the Hauraki Plains to its current course through the Waikato to the Tasman Sea.

A New Island? Pumice Float Stuns New Zealand's Navy

Associated Press
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 02:03 UTC

A mass of small volcanic rocks nearly the size of Belgium has been discovered floating off the coast.

The stretch of golf-ball-size pumice rocks was first spotted this week by a New Zealand air force plane about 1,000 kilometres northwest of Auckland.

The rocks stretch for about 26,000 square kilometres.

A navy ship took scientists to the rocks Thursday night. Naval Lt. Tim Oscar says the rocks appeared a brilliant white under a spotlight, like a giant ice shelf.

He says it's the "weirdest thing'' he's seen in 18 years at sea.

"The rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white colour in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," he said.

Lt. Oscar said he had been briefed by GNS Volcanologist Helen Bostock the previous day when the ship first encountered an area of pumice from an undersea volcano.

White Island: Orange Flashes Light up Sky

Kristin Macfarlane
APN
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 21:27 UTC

A lightning storm at least 30km away from White Island had Bay of Plenty residents thinking the volcano was erupting when flashes of orange lights were seen above it.

Residents throughout the Eastern Bay of Plenty stood outside their homes and gathered near beaches last night to catch a glimpse of the show described as orange flashes similar to lightning, which was lighting up the gloomy sky above the island.

While GNS Science confirmed yesterday afternoon that White Island, which sits 48km offshore and is one of New Zealand's most active cone volcanoes, had erupted, last night's spectacular light show was in fact a lightning storm up to 40km away from the island. Ash from the volcano has drifted as far as Tauranga's coastline, and has coated homes and cars along Papamoa beach.

Volcanologist Brad Scott told The Daily Post last night there was no seismic activity recorded from White Island, which meant the light flashes were not part of the eruption. Instead, he said there was a lightning storm recorded for about four hours until 9.30pm.

"There's a lightning storm about 30 to 40km out behind White Island,'' Mr Scott said.

GNS Science volcanologist Mike Rosenberg was reported last night as saying the crater lake on White Island was drying out, which was causing less water to be pulled into the ash cloud.

That was creating static which was being discharged as lightning.

Magma Bubbles Under Mt Tongariro, New Zealand

Hayden Donnell
New Zealand Herald
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 21:22 UTC

Magma is bubbling under Mt Tongariro, indicating another larger eruption or a series of volcanic events is still a possibility, tests have revealed.

Gas readings taken during flights over the central North Island volcano this morning showed the presence of magma under the mountain at an unknown depth.

GNS Science volcanologist Craig Miller said the tests showed another larger magmatic explosion could take place.

It was a now "waiting game" to find out whether that would happen, he said.

"What is does confirm is there is a magmatic source at depth. Whether the magma is going to stay at those unknown depths or whether it's coming to the surface is the question."

If no magma was detected in this morning's tests, it would have meant another eruption was unlikely, Mr Miller said.

Details of New Zealand Eruption Emerge

OurAmazingPlanet
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:54 UTC

© Don Swanson, 1984 (U.S. Geological Survey)
The snow-capped Ngauruhoe cone of New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano is one of the youngest and more active parts of the volcano.

New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano, located in the central part of the North Island, erupted at 11:50 p.m. local time Monday night (Aug. 6).

Details were slow to emerge because of the lateness of the eruption and cloudy weather conditions that blocked some monitoring efforts, but as daylight broke, scientists were able to shed more light on what happened.

Michael Rosenberg, the duty volcanologist at GeoNet (run by New Zealand's GNS Science and the Earthquake Comission), wrote that the eruption at the Te Māri craters was a short-lived phreatic one. Phreatic eruptions are stream-driven eruptions that happen when water beneath or above the ground is heated up, potentially causing it to boil and "flash to steam," creating an explosion, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. These eruptions can send ash and rocks flying, which this eruption seemed to do.

Increased activity seen at volcanoes in Italy and Mexico

Volcano Discovery
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:46 UTC

Strombolian eruption from Etna's Bocca Nuova on 5 Aug

News have been dominated by Tongariro volcano's first eruption in 115 years (New Zealand). At the moment, the volcano is quiet, but eruptions could resume any time.

Etna (Italy): Strombolian activity continues at varying levels. Following a phase of weak activity during 4-6 Aug, an increase of activity was observed at the Bocca Nuova during the night 6-7 Aug.

Also in Italy, the activity at Stromboli (Eolian Islands) has been at relatively high levels over the past days. The number and size of explosions from the summit vents has increased.

Popocatépetl in Mexico: About 1 explosion occurs per hour, and strong glow is visible at night. A relatively powerful eruption late on 6 Aug sent ash to up to 30,000 ft (10 km) altitude.

The volcanoes in Guatemala have shown little changes in activity over the past days.

Update: Mount Tongariro eruption takes New Zealanders by surprise: volcanic lesson will be repeated many more times in the future

The Christian Science Monitor
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:35 UTC

A volcano quiet for more than a century erupted in a New Zealand national park, spreading thick ash for several miles and causing some residents to evacuate their homes. Some domestic flights were canceled Tuesday. Mount Tongariro spewed ash and rocks for about 30 minutes late Monday night after a few weeks of increased seismic activity. It didn't cause any injuries or damage in the sparsely populated central North Island region. Tongariro National Park has three active volcanos, is a popular tourist destination and was the backdrop for many scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies.

Mount Tongariro erupts in New Zealand- loud explosions, lightning, plumes of smoke; first activity in 100 years

NZHerald.co.nz
Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:39 UTC

The volcanic alert level for Mt Tongariro has risen from 1 to 2 after the central North Island volcano erupted for the first time in more than a century late last night.

GNS science is reporting that at approximately 11:50pm on Monday night ash fall began to be reported in the volcano's vicinity - it has since been reported as far east as SH5 near Te Haroto and in Napier.

GNS duty volcanologist Michael Rosenberg told Radio New Zealand that some people are reported to have left their houses on the southern shores of Lake Rotoaira, though no formal notices of evacuation have been issued so far by Civil Defense.

He said residents in the area have told GNS of hearing several loud explosions, lightning and plumes of smoke and police have been told by an onlooker that "a new hole in the side of the mountain" had formed.

They have also reported bright red rocks flying out of the mountain.

New Zealand's White Island volcano showing growing signs of unrest

Stuff.co.nz
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 10:08 UTC

White Island volcano is showing signs of increased activity, GNS Science says.

The volcano, about 49 kilometres off the coast of Whakatane, is a popular tourist spot, but GNS volcanologist Michael Rosenberg says those visiting it should be cautious even though the alert level for the island had not changed.

"Eruptions can occur at any time with little or no warning. The recent changes in activity suggest that the hydrothermal system has become unstable, and as a result the risk has increased," Rosenberg said.

GNS Science has changed the volcano's code from a "normal, non eruptive state" to "experiencing signs of elevated unrest above known background levels".

The volcano's lake level quickly rose by about three to five metres sometime between Friday and Saturday last week, exposing a "vigorous" flow of gas and steam into the air, Rosenberg said.

It has risen in the past, but took much longer than the 24 hours it took to rise three to five metres on Friday and Saturday, he said.

During the past few weeks there had also been some minor volcanic tremor, including several hours on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

Further proof which religion the free masons pertain to.

hotfood

If we had "time" I was musing on such recently, considering how there must be people who are "awake" and want to educate themselves more and be...

Animanarchy

I don't know Rick. Seems to me it is do or die time. I'm not looking for or expecting any divine intervention. The planet will do what it does...

Buffalo_Ken

LEt's see how far this gets.....TBC

JTF Truth

A willful policy for no autopsy and cremation of body is evidence of a conspiracy to hide criminal activity. The CDC and FDA launch an...

Carolina

Volcanoes

Pacific quake swarm sparked underwater volcano eruption

Is The Super Volcano Taupo in New Zealand Awakening?

A New Island? Pumice Float Stuns New Zealand's Navy

White Island: Orange Flashes Light up Sky

Magma Bubbles Under Mt Tongariro, New Zealand

Details of New Zealand Eruption Emerge

Increased activity seen at volcanoes in Italy and Mexico

Update: Mount Tongariro eruption takes New Zealanders by surprise: volcanic lesson will be repeated many more times in the future

Mount Tongariro erupts in New Zealand- loud explosions, lightning, plumes of smoke; first activity in 100 years

New Zealand's White Island volcano showing growing signs of unrest

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us