Category: Volcanoes

Canaries volcano streams slow down, homes destroyed, thousands flee

9/20/2021

Lava flowing from Spain's Canary Islands' first volcanic eruption in 50 years has forced the evacuation of 5,500 people and destroyed around 100 houses but the streams were advancing slower than originally predicted, authorities said on Monday. The flow of molten rock will not reach the Atlantic Ocean on Monday evening as earlier estimated, an official said. Experts say that if and when it does, it could trigger more explosions and clouds of toxic gases. "The movement of lava is much slower than it was initially ... There has not been a large advance during the day," local emergency coordinator Miguel Angel Morcuende told a press briefing on Monday evening. He said the stream had made its way about halfway to the coast .This was just a few hours after Morcuende said that that the Carnarys were safe and that this was just a good show. - Reuters

Don’t Call It a Supervolcano

8/13/2021

Scientists dismantle the myths of Yellowstone: Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first and arguably most famous national park, is home to one of the planet’s largest and potentially most destructive volcanoes. The 50- by 70-kilometer Yellowstone caldera complex is so massive that it can really be appreciated only from the air. But although the caldera isn’t always visible on the ground, it’s certainly no secret: Copious thermal features like hot springs and geyser basins dot the landscape and have attracted people to the uniquely beautiful and ecologically rich area for at least 11,000 years. - EOS

Right - The movement of the North American tectonic plate over the Yellowstone hot spot has created a trail of volcanic activity across southern Idaho into Wyoming over the past 16.5 million years. Credit: USGS. Click image for larger version.

Eruption in Iceland May Mark the Start of Decades of Volcanic Activity

3/23/2021

After being shaken by 15 months of increasingly disruptive earthquakes, including about 50,000 in the past three weeks, Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula is finally experiencing the volcanic eruption that many geologists suspected was on its way. After nearly 800 years without an eruption, this southwestern strip of the country is experiencing lava flows that experts say have been a long time coming. - National Geographic

Ancient Eruption May Change Our Understanding of Modern Volcanoes

2/10/2021

Since volcanoes like Sunset Crater, called basaltic scoria cones, usually erupt only once, they don’t receive much of the attention their more active counterparts see. But the new research showed this eruption liberated disproportionally high amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur for the volume of material released, suggesting these scoria cones might be more impactful than previously thought. “What we’re finding here is that some of these volcanoes may actually be able to erupt in a similar manner to something like Mount St. Helens,” said Chelsea Allison, lead author on the new paper. “It’s really important that we can understand how that’s happening…so that in the future, if such an event were to occur, we’d be prepared for what might happen.” - EOS

Remains of Master & Slave Unearthed from Pompeii Ashes After ~2,000 Years

11/25/2020

Skeletal remains of what are believed to have been a rich man and his male slave attempting to escape death from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago have been discovered in Pompeii. Parts of the skulls and bones of the two men were found during excavation of the ruins from what was once an elegant villa with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city destroyed by the volcano eruption in 79 A.D. It’s the same area where a stable with the remains of three harnessed horses were excavated in 2017. Pompeii officials said the men apparently escaped the initial fall of ash from Mount Vesuvius then succumbed to a powerful volcanic blast that took place the next morning. The later blast “apparently invaded the area from many points, surrounding and burying the victims in ash,” Pompeii officials said in a statement. - NBC

Casts of the bodies of two men, a master and his young slave, after they were found during recent excavations of a Villa in Civita Giuliana in the outskirts of Pompeii.

From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea

10/2/2020

At Kīlauea Volcano, scientists are using unoccupied aircraft to monitor the new water lake, a possible harbinger of explosive activity, that formed after the volcano’s 2018 eruption. - EOS

Canaries volcano streams slow down, homes destroyed, thousands flee

Don’t Call It a Supervolcano

Eruption in Iceland May Mark the Start of Decades of Volcanic Activity

Ancient Eruption May Change Our Understanding of Modern Volcanoes

Remains of Master & Slave Unearthed from Pompeii Ashes After ~2,000 Years

From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea

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