Volcanoes

Indonesian Volcanos Lokon and Gamalama Eruptions Prompt Government-Issued Warnings

The Extinction Protocol
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:36 UTC

Two of Indonesia's most active volcanoes erupted on Saturday, prompting the government to issue warnings to populations living near the affected mountains. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Sunday that new eruption started at Lokon in North Sulawesi and Gamalama at Ternate in North Maluku. Lokon generated a 1,500-meter high ash plume and violent strombolian (low-level) activity with some lava flow, while Gamalama produced a shower of ashes that covered the nearby city. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for BNPB, said on Sunday that Lokon, located in North Sulawesi's Tomohon area, erupted at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The explosion from the eruption shattered windows of the command post built to monitor the activities of the volcano, he said. The agency, Sutopo said, had issued warnings to local administrations to prepare precautionary measures, and called on people to remain alert. "The residents don't have to be evacuated but they must not do any activities within the range of five kilometers from the volcano," Sutopo said. He said that the BNPB had asked the Tomohon administration to raise the awareness of residents.

Does a dormant undersea volcano lie near Kalpakkam atomic plant?

Deccan Herald
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:42 UTC

Even as massive protests have stalled the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear plant, activists have now raised concerns over the safety of another nuclear site in Tamil Nadu. The activists claim that there is documentary evidence that the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam near Chennai sits near an undersea volcano. They have demanded a thorough investigation of the hazard potential of the volcano by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

In a book first published in Tamil in March and recently translated to English under the title Kalpakkam Nuclear Reactors and Submarine Volcano, V. Pughazhendi and R. Ramesh of the Peoples Movement for Nuclear Radiation Safety have amassed documentary evidence showing that a submarine volcano is located 156 km southeast of Chennai and 100 km east of Pondicherry that could pose a risk to the nuclear plant in Kalpakkam.

Besides the two power plants in Kalpakkam, there are also a fast breeder test reactor, and a fuel reprocessing facility. There will also soon be a 500-MW prototype fast breeder."Volcanic eruptions and submarine landslides have the potential to produce truly awesome tsunami waves," say the authors, who point out that the site of the fast breeder reactor, then under construction, was flooded when a tsunami struck the coast in 2004.

Japan finds another gap in its disaster readiness - Mount Fuji

Sophie Knight
Reuters
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:27 UTC

© REUTERS/Toru Hanai/Files
Japan's Mount Fuji, covered with snow and surrounded by cloud, is seen from an airplane in this February 2, 2010 file photo.

When Toshitsugu Fujii became head of a Japanese task force on disaster response at Mount Fuji, he was confronted with a startling oversight. Japan had no plan in place to deal with a disaster in which an earthquake sparks a volcanic eruption at the country's most famous landmark.

Fujii said a tremor "greatly increases" the chance of an eruption in a country that has experienced nearly 12,000 earthquakes since the magnitude 9.0 tremor that led to disaster on March 11, 2011.

"They always forget about the volcanoes," he said. "The government has never included Mt. Fuji in its earthquake scenarios."

Nicaragua volcanic activity: San Cristobal volcano acts up for the second time in a week

TheStar.com
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:20 UTC

Nicaragua boosted its responses to volcanic activity in the northwestern region Saturday, as the San Cristobal volcano acted up for the second time in a week. Authorities installed 43 radio communication stations along the Pacific coast to monitor San Cristobal and another volcano, Telica.

The radio posts aim to "ensure improved monitoring of seismic and volcanic behavior in the area," said civil defense chief Colonel Nestor Solis, enabling authorities to issue more accurate warnings sooner. A number of towns near San Cristobal, located some 135 kilometers (83 miles) northwest of the capital, were evacuated last week after the volcano began rumbling, sending a column of smoke and ash high into the sky, before subsiding.

On Saturday, the 1,745-meter (5,725-foot) tall volcano again spewed "abundant gas emissions moving toward the northeast" and increased seismic tremor and sulfur concentrations, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies, or INETER.

Guatemala's Volcano Of Fire Eruption Forces Mass Evacuation

Huffington Post
Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:03 UTC

© AP Photo/Moises Castillo
In this image with a cell phone plumes of smoke rise from the Volcan de Fuego or Volcano of Fire spews ash seen from Palin, south of Guatemala City, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012.

Guatemala's head of emergency evacuations says more than 33,000 people are fleeing the eruption of a long-active volcano just outside one of the country's most famous tourist attractions. Sergio Cabanas says the evacuees are leaving some 17 villages around the Volcano of Fire, which sits about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the colonial city of Antigua.

The agency says the volcano spewed lava nearly 2,000 feet (600 meters) down slopes billowing with ash on Thursday.

Seismologists also say a series of explosions have been coming from the 12,346-foot-high (3,763-meter-high) volcano.

Chamber of Molten Rock Inflates under Santorini

PhysOrg
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:38 UTC

A new survey suggests that the chamber of molten rock beneath Santorini's volcano expanded 10-20 million cubic metres - up to 15 times the size of London's Olympic Stadium - between January 2011 and April 2012. The growth of this 'balloon' of magma has seen the surface of the island rise 8-14 centimetres during this period, a team led by Oxford University scientists has found. The results come from an expedition, funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council, which used satellite radar images and Global Positioning System receivers (GPS) that can detect movements of the Earth's surface of just a few millimetres.

The findings are helping scientists to understand more about the inner workings of the volcano which had its last major explosive eruption 3,600 years ago, burying the islands of Santorini under metres of pumice. However, it still does not provide an answer to the biggest question of all: 'when will the volcano next erupt?' A report of the research appears in this week's Nature Geoscience. In January 2011, a series of small earthquakes began beneath the islands of Santorini. Most were so small they could only be detected with sensitive seismometers but it was the first sign of activity beneath the volcano to be detected for 25 years.

Highest volcano in Nicaragua erupts: 3000 Residents evacuated

NHK Reloaded
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 02:50 UTC

Indonesian Vulcanology Office Issues Warning for Tangkuban Perahu

Berita Satu
Jakarta Globe
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:00 UTC

The Indonesian Vulcanology Office issued a warning on Thursday for the public to take extra caution when visiting Mount Tangkuban Perahu just northwest of Bandung in West Java, after a series of tremors shook the mountain and put officials on edge.

"Tourist operators and tourists should understand that no matter how sophisticated the equipment, it's useless if the warnings are not heeded," Surono, the head of the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Agency (PVMBG) said.

Surono said that from 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday up until 4:20 a.m. on Thursday, a series of tremors shook the mountain, while poisonous gases seeped from the crater.

"Those inhaling the gas [will] not die . . . but can suffer from dizziness and nausea; therefore, we are recommending no activity whatsoever be held within a radius of 1.5 kilometers from the crater," Surono said.

Mount Fuji 'under more pressure than last eruption'

PhysOrg
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 08:56 UTC

Pressure in the magma chamber of Japan's Mount Fuji is now higher than it was the last time the volcano erupted more than 300 years ago, scientists say, according to a report Thursday. Tectonic shifts triggered by last year's huge 9.0 magnitude undersea quake have left the chamber under 16 times the minimum pressure at which an eruption can occur, researchers said. Researchers at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention studied the tectonic movements caused by the tsunami-triggering quake on March 11, 2011 and a magnitude 6.4 quake that rocked central Japan four days later, Kyodo News reported.

They estimated that 1.6 megapascals of pressure, equivalent to atmospheric pressure of some 15.8 kilograms per square centimetre (226 pounds per square inch), was being exerted on the magma chamber. Volcanic eruptions can be triggered by as little as 0.1 megapascals of pressure, and the reading of 1.6 megapascals is "not a small figure", said senior researcher Eisuke Fujita, according to Kyodo. Mount Fuji, an almost perfectly cone-shaped mountain that stands as one of Japan's national symbols, last erupted in 1707, after an earthquake struck and boosted the pressure on its magma chamber, the report said, citing researchers.

Flights on alert as volcano erupts in central America

The Extinction Protocol
Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:43 UTC

The Fuego volcano in central Guatemala is continuing to erupt, shooting lava and columns of ash into the air, and causing concerns of a possible ash cloud that could halt flights in the area. The volcano overlooks the tourist city of Antigua and is one of central America's most active volcanoes. Lava flows of around 1000m are being spewed out down the west and east sides of the volcano. No evacuations have been ordered, but aviation authorities have been alerted about a potential ash cloud, and air traffic is expected to be hindered. - AOL News