Volcanoes
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Volcano

Marapi volcano (Western Sumatra): sudden powerful explosion showered summit area with lava bombs

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The explosive eruption at the volcano persists.

A spectacular eruption took place from the summit crater early last night. At aboout 00:13 local time, a towering pillar of grey-to-black ash and glowing ejecta released from the vent could be seen via surveillance cameras in Agam.

The intense explosion sent incandescent pyroclastic material up to a considerable height, consequently showering the upper edifice with lava bombs. The ash column reached 4,400 meters altitude and drifted west-southwest.

In order to mitigate the current risk, people are advised to avoid the area within a 4.5 km radius of the Verbeek Crater.

The alert level for the volcano remains at Level III (Siaga) since 11 January.


Attention

Submarine volcanic activity bubbles up near Iwo Jima, Japan on March 16

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The Japan Coast Guard captured a video of bubbly, frothy water emitting large clouds of smoke and steam. What's going on? This is a highly active region for volcanic activity and this is the result of a submarine eruption.


Volcano

Mount Semeru in Indonesia erupts thrice within three hours

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Mount Semeru, located on the border of the districts of Lumajang and Malang in East Java, erupted three times on Saturday within a period of three hours.

The first eruption occurred at 5:44 local time followed by a second eruption at 7:28 local time and the third eruption at 8:07 local time, Mount Semeru Observation Post officer Ghufron Alwi noted in a written report received on Saturday.

"On March 23, 2024, Mount Semeru erupted at 5:44 local time, with the height of the eruption column observed to be around 600 meters above the peak (4,276 meters above sea level)," Alwi revealed.

The volcanic ash column was seen to be white to gray in color, with thick intensity towards the north. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph, with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 112 seconds, he added.

The second eruption occurred at 7:28 local time, with the height of the eruption column followed by volcanic ash observed at around 700 meters above the peak (4,376 m above sea level).


Info

Giant ancient volcano discovered on Mars

Ancient Volcano Mars
© Background: NASA / USGS; interpretation and annotations by Pascal Lee and Sourabh ShubhamThe newly discovered giant volcano on Mars is located just south of the planet’s equator, in eastern Noctis Labyrinthus, west of the Valles Marineris canyone system. The volcano sits on the eastern edge of a broad regional topographic rise called Tharsis, home to three other well-known giant volcanoes: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons. Although more eroded and lower than these giants, the newly discovered volcano rivals the others in diameter (red dashed circle).
It's not every day that a giant volcano is discovered hiding in plain sight. By reviewing satellite imagery from many missions, scientists have spotted the remains of a colossal volcano on Mars. The volcano, provisionally named Noctis Mons, had been imaged repeatedly since the early 1970s, but extensive erosion had concealed it from view. Researchers have also spotted hints at an adjacent glacier buried underneath the volcanic slopes.

Noctis Mons is located near the Martian equator, in the eastern part of the Tharsis volcanic province, sandwiched between the vast canyons of Valles Marineris and the fractured maze-like terrain of Noctis Labyrinthus. "In fact, it is eastern Noctis Labyrinthus that is the volcano," says planetary scientist Pascal Lee (SETI Institute and the Mars Institute) who announced the finding during the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The discovery adds yet another landmark to this intriguing region.

Volcano

Iceland in state of emergency after volcano erupts, fourth time in 3 months

This image from video provided by Iceland Civil Defence shows lava erupting from a volcano
© Iceland Civil DefenceThis image from video provided by Iceland Civil Defence shows lava erupting from a volcano between Hagafell and Stori-Skogfell, Iceland, on March 16, 2024.
Icelandic police declared a state of emergency on Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December.

A "volcanic eruption has started between Stori-Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula," said a statement from the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke.

Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management announced it had sent a helicopter to narrow down the exact location of the new fissure. The authority also said the police had declared a state of emergency due to the eruption.

According to the IMO, it occurred close to the same location as a previous eruption on February 8. Lava appeared to flow south towards the dykes built to protect the fishing village Grindavik, it said.


Fire

This Week in Volcano News: White Island volcano court case, advancing Lewotolok lava flow

Lewotolo Lava flow
Lewotolo volcano on March 3
During the last week, a lava flow advanced very close to but thankfully bypassed a village in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, a major court case was settled relating to the White Island volcano disaster in 2019. And, in Japan, the submarine Fukutoku-Okanoba volcano may have just produced a brand new but small volcanic eruption.

This video will discuss these stories and list the 45 volcanoes which are currently erupting around the planet.


Attention

Large ingenous events, cosmic impacts and crises in the history of life

Impact
© Randall Carlson Newsletter - March 2024
Last month, in the February 2024 issue of the Kosmographia Newsletter I reported on new research correlating a series of large-scale igneous events which produced the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the Siberian Traps with mass extinction episodes. On February 8 another paper was published in the journal Global and Planetary Change which further supports correlations between mass extinction episodes with gigantic volcanic eruptions and catastrophic cosmic impacts. The lead author of the paper is Michael Rampino, who has for decades been in the forefront of researching catastrophic events in Earth history. I have been following his work since the early 1980s and hold him in high regard as a scientist who is willing to think outside established paradigms of Earth history. The abstract to the paper begins:

"We find that Large Igneous Province (LIP) volcanism, mostly continental flood basalts (CFBs), along with the largest extraterrestrial impacts show significant correlations with mass-extinction events in the Phanerozoic geologic record. The ages of the 6 major marine mass extinctions (≥ 40% extinction of genera) of the last 541 MY ̶ the end-Ordovician (~444 Ma), late Devonian (~ 372 Ma), end-Guadalupian (~259 Ma), end-Permian (~ 252 Ma), end-Triassic (~201 Ma), and end-Cretaceous (66 Ma) extinctions are significantly correlated with high-quality U — Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar ages of 6 continental flood basalts (CFBs) ̶ the Cape St. Mary's, Viluy, Emeishan, Siberian, CAMP, and the Deccan Basalts.

U — Pb zircon dating (Uranium-lead) is a widely used method for dating metamorphic rocks typically employing a thermal ionization mass spectrometer. Zircon is used because it includes uranium and thorium atoms in its crystalline structure when forming but rejects lead, so any lead found in a zircon crystal is radiogenic, meaning it results from radioactive decay. Argon dating can measure Argon isotopes from a single mineral grain. The ratio of Argon 40 to Argon 39 yields the age of the sample.

The extinctions listed above are considered to be major events in the history of life on Earth. A number of less severe extinctions have taken place, although these events are somewhat more difficult to discern in the geologic/palaeontologic record. Nevertheless, a correlation can be discerned between these extinctions and both volcanic eruptions and cosmic impact.

Fire

Volcano on uninhabited Galapagos island erupts, sends lava flowing to sea

In this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
© Galapagos National ParkIn this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
A volcano on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos has begun erupting, lighting up the nighttime sky as lava tumbled down its sides toward the sea.

The La Cumbre volcano on Fernandina island began erupting Saturday around midnight in what officials with Ecuador's Geophysical Institute said could be its largest eruption since 2017. The 1,476-meter (4,842-foot) volcano last erupted in 2020.

Images shared on social media taken by visitors to the Galapagos show the volcano profiled against a crimson red sky.

While the eruption posed no risk to humans, the island is home to a number of species, including iguanas, penguins and flightless cormorants. In 2019, scientists found on the island a giant tortoise not seen in more than a century and had been feared extinct.

The La Cumbre volcano is one of the most active in the Galapagos Island chain, which is famous throughout the world for helping 19th century British scientist Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

Source: AP


Attention

Mexican volcano spews massive columns of ash and smoke, forcing flight cancelations

An enormous ash cloud from the 'Don Goyo' volcano, also known as Popocatepetl, is drifting towards Mexico City.
An enormous ash cloud from the 'Don Goyo' volcano, also known as Popocatepetl, is drifting towards Mexico City.
Mexico's most dangerous active volcano spewed ash and smoke on Tuesday, with photos showing massive columns of gray emissions - large enough to ground nearby flights.

The Popocatépetl volcano sits in central Mexico between the states of Morelos, Puebla and the State of Mexico.

Ash fall was reported in Mexico City and its surrounding region, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of the volcano, according to the National Civil Protection Coordination.

Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention said it recorded 77 discharges from the volcano and issued a level two volcanic threat level, which requires taking preventative measures and staying a distance away.


Fire

Mexico: New eruption at Popocatépetl volcano spews huge ash plume

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A new strong eruption was reported at Popocatépetl volcano near Mexico City on Tuesday, February 20. This video shows a huge ash plume seen from the capital.