Answers to the special sunday riddle!

Answers to the special sunday riddle Name that Lava #18

1. Teschenite sill
2. Isle of May in the Firth of Forth in Scotland,
Google maps link
3. The puffins and the grey seals.

The original image was this one:

Teschenite is explained here.
Quoting Ursula: “The Isle of May is not a volcano, it is a sill, so an underground intrusion of magma, which happened about 300 million years ago (carboniferous period). It is not a plug, as some people guessed. The stone is teschenite, sometimes also specified as analcime bearing gabbro.”
Ursula also provided a few links:
Wikipedia Isle of May.
Dive the Isle of May:

Geology/rock type can be found on the geologyviewer (by BGS, thanks to Alan for this link!).

Ilse of May NNr blog  blog of researchers who observe birds there,
here are some good puffin photos from this blog.
Puffins ( Wikipedialink) are animals which people of Volcancafe enjoy watching when they play around on the tiny icebergs of Jökulsárlón on the Mila Webcam.


Grey seals are common on the Ilse of May.

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Hope you enjoyed Ursula´s riddle

Here are the results:

One point for Sissel for grey seal and one for IngeB for puffin.
Talla and Lisa each get one point each for Isle of May, because of the confusion with the split-page of comments.
Last point for teschenite sill goes to Sissel.
Oh and here are 2 lighthouses on the isle of May for Sissel.

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Spica

Updated standings of Name that Lava after this riddle (by Ursula):

7 Spica
6 DFMorvan
5 Sissel
5 Ursula
4 Diana Barnes
4 Talla
3 Lughduniense
3 KarenZ
3 Cryphia
2 Doug Merson
2 Hattie
2 Schteve42
2 Irpsit
2 Stephanie Alice Halford
1 Inge B
1 Lisa
1 Jim
1 Luisport
1 Heather B
1 Jamie
1 Henri le Revenant
1 UKViggen
1 Alan C
1 Bobbi

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267 thoughts on “Answers to the special sunday riddle!”

    • Great job, your plots are improving day by day! :-)
      Can your program make the island transparent (and maybe to scale btw), just in case there are shallow earthquakes to be seen? In the last post you had a slower rotating plot, which I had an easier time to follow. But that might be just my slow perception.

      • Hi Chryphia (and Sissel)

        well thanks !

        To Sissel go to http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil it is the site of the french IGN and you can see quite a lot of things including the geological maps.

        Click on “données” (in the middle of the header) and scroll down to “cartes géologiques” for instance
        To Chryphia. Yes to both. But it takes computer time. I will solve the speed problem but I will do this, this night. To explain how the plots are made :
        - I have downloaded the data from Ign.
        Put it into csv in excel and decomposed the date.
        Load it into octave.
        Load data from another XL file to get the island profile.
        do the calculations to grid the data to get the island profile
        generate a new file (image) for every earthquake (that’s why it takes so long as it is a loop and octave does not like loops).
        assemble all the files into a video using ffmpeg (under linux).
        I was to re do the plot for the present swarm (from June 18th to present), but I put the laptop in sleep mode before doing the same with me ! So I will do this later. However I will integrate the transparent island, but I am not sure it will be easier to read.

        We’ll see !

        • Hi, thank you for the description! Would you please give the link for your island profile, which is obviously excel compatible, because I get lost at the IGN site. I´ve downloaded the profile in arc ascii, but I couldn´t find out so far how to convert that into an txt array.

          Btw, I think the transparent island works out nicely :-)

  2. Sissel was asking about the meaning of the English expression ‘dead heat’ in the previous post. It’s one of those things that we say all the time without thinking how weird it sounds if translated directly into another language. I’ve never thought about it before – but it seems that ‘dead’ (in addition to meaning ‘no longer alive’) means ‘complete’, ‘exact’ ‘absolute’ or ‘abrupt’ so we have ‘dead shot’ – an exact shot, ‘dead line’ – a line beyond which you cannot go, ‘dead centre’ – the exact middle, ‘dead drunk’ – completely drunk and ‘dead heat’ – exactly the same time in a race! I’m learning about my own language here! :-)

    • The reason for a heat to be called dead by the umpires is that all “bets are off”, so instead of people shooting the brokers, they instilled the rule of dead heat, all wagers to be paid back.

    • Dead Reckoning

      ded reckoning

      deduced reckoning

      “reckoning” – figuring out. Thinking it out.

      If you are doing 25 knots along a bearing of 230°, in 2 hours you will be 50 nautical miles along that track. 4 hours, 100 nautical miles.

      We all do it while puttering down the highway, mentally calculating at about what time we will arrive at a certain location.

      • Actually this one is due to the evil Vikings.
        Apart from stealing the magneto-needle concept from the Sumerians via the arabs and putting it onto a ship, they also came up with the concept of “död räkning”. Dead counting, but räkning is not only counting, it is also the entire concept of mathematics. So, they added drift, currents, and other assorted things into the simplistic version used on a fast motor-boat.
        Why the Död (dead), in this case it meant steady and/or assured, also giving dead mans grip as a phrase.
        Then came the blasted English navy and stole the concept and changed Räkning into reckoning, and död into dead… Next great naval navigation invention was the sextant and the chronometer.

        Yepp, we even have the phrase dödssäker, meaning that something is as assured as death itself. It is a good day to die was after all not the Klingon pro-verb, it was the viking proverb.

        • Carl enjoyed that as a descendant of Scots/Vikings Mom’s family name was Anderson
          and they were from Sutherland.-the Viking riviera as i understand. What a friend of mine said about that was:” The vikings found the women good looking but put up too much
          a fight to take back to the longboat=so they stayed..”

      • Thank you! Now I know even more! I was taught that ‘dead man’s grip’ or dead man’s handle was the control handle on a train or tram which had to be gripped all the time. If the driver died – and so relaxed his grip – the train would stop automatically.

        • Yepp, it transmuted.
          In the beginning Död mans hand (dead mans grip), was from when you roped yourself to the tiller (and roped the tiller stuck) it was supposed that even if the steersman died he would still steer the boat from beyond.

    • And I was thinking of “heat” meaning “warmth”. So I looked it up on Wikipedia, which gave 5 suggestions: 3 movies and 2 books titles! And then I had to ask. – A very pleasant way to learn! :)

  3. I might be a bit premature here. But I think something is happening SW of Kópasker.
    4 days ago we saw a rather brief swarm of earthquakes at the spot ending with a 2.6M. After that we have seen repeated, but strung out small earthquakes that over time has moved generally upwards, and increased in Strength, but still far from the 2.6M initial.
    During the day all north coastal SILs have picked up an increase in tremor. Leirhöfn has shown a staccato of what looked like Popcorn, small rhythmic pulses that look like small earthquakes.
    The spot WSW to SW of Kópasker is a part of the Theistareykjarbung fissure swarm.

    There is most likely magma moving in the swarm, I think it is going upwards now. If we are really lucky it might go from being a dyke/sill intrusion and break surface in a couple of days.

  4. I got my Fortran compiler up and running. (woot!)

    And I managed to get the krigging routine compiled…. now all I have to do is figure how to correctly feed it data. The biggest step was abandoning F-Secure and switching over to puTTy. F-Secure can shove their pricey package up their arse.

    Meanwhile.. since it is still the weekend… a musical interlude.

      • It has the most capability of doing realistic interpolation between sample points.

        As you know, you can fit a poly sheet to a set of discreet sample points, such as the elevation at lat-lon points, or quake energy release or borehole temperatures. When you re-grid the poly sheet, all you get is a best fit set of curves that describe a 3D surface. This surface can be a linear interpolation, or a quadratic sheet. Like poly curve fits to 2D points, the curve isn’t very authoritative in what it gives you.

        With Krigging, you can control the weighting and declustering of the sample data, and do significance tests to see how well it matches.

        There is an ass load of math theory to learn, and it’s gonna take a bit. The other part of the problem is that Krigging is one of those specialty fields where anyone making a decent run of it, would rather you hire them as a consultant rather than give you a bare bones “here is how it works.” Another issue, is that its not the most commonly used set of routines. It shows up in ArcGIS, and as a few routines in GSLIB, a Fortran package. MathLab has a few routines, as dos MathCad. I also know that it is addressed in the “R” language. “R” is handy if you want to do some nitty gritty statistical programing. It’s probably the modern equivalent of the niche that Fortran filled many years ago, though it’s sort of a C/C++/Pearl/Java/PHP like language.

        So far I managed to get the Fortran language put into my Linux box, and to get part of the GSLIB library to compile. Now I have to try and learn what the hell the inputs and outputs are..and how to tweak the parameters file to get it to spit out something useful.

  5. Well done to the winners.

    Also thank you Spica for summarising the answers so well and providing the BGS link.

  6. Well done winners. I have totally missed a Name that lava competition….again. This due to some sort of virus bug I may have picked up from the toddlers. I have done nothing but sleep and feel painfully achey.all over. (I always blame the kids!!!!) I hope it will go away by tomorrow.
    Good night to all……. May the sheep be with you and the Daleks bring you strength.

    • These days, children are MBWUs – Mobile Biological Warfare Units. It comes from women not breast-feeding long enough, 27 months recommended by the appropriate UN agency, one of the purposes of is to provide the child with antibodies while it’s own immune system is immature. Nowadays, women obsessed with either their career, their social contact net or their own bodies give the poor tykes six months, if that, then they’re chucked into the creche willy-nilly where germs feast.

      So don’t blame the children! As usual, they’re innocent.

      • They may be innocent, but they are the debtor of last resort.

        It doesn’t matter what sugar coat, glossy feel good sh#t the politicians put on it… the kids get stuck with the bill.

      • I agree 100% …… What a lovely description Mobile Biological Warfare Units……..They may be innocent but they are the source of my present grumpiness. I make an impatient patient!
        <<<<<<Starts looking on eBay for protective masks and overalls suitable for germ warfare :D

        • I still a bit guilty because my Grandma nursed me and my brother through Chicken Pox when we were children and as a result she got Shingles very badly. So rub it in to the little darlings that they made you ill and give them all a complex (I’m not sure how to do an evil grin so here’s the usual one : :-D )

          Get well soon, Diana! :-)

      • Well, they get teeth at 6 months for a reason…and early weaning and daycare in modern western society obviously does not lead to high child mortality.

        • So you think evolution has given the human child her first teeth at six months solely to bite the nipple and is the signal to stop breast-feeding altogether? The reason why there hasn’t been an increase in mortality is because of all the wonderful immunisation shots against the traditional child-killers plus antibiotics. If you take those away and take the child off the titty at a young age, not many would survive their first year.

          • You are so right! Teething is no reason to stop breastfeeding! Actually breastfeeding is also important for development of the palate and jaws .
            And what about the obesity problem ? Has a lot to do with artificial food. So maybe no instant early death but a slow and uneasy one.

          • And what to think about a lot of allergies, ADHD and other diseases… there has been so much research pointing at the benefits of breastfeeding for the childs health. Own experience tells the same. My sister, who had breastfeeding for a rather long period is as healthy as a fish in the water – and poor me, never had breastfeeding, could write a thick book about my health issues.

          • Don´t get me wrong. I am all for breastfeeding, it is wonderful for mother-child bonding. And it is important in the first 6 months for proper developement of the immune system, no question. But, my kids decided to stop on their own at about 11 months and I don´t feel bad about it. They are neither especially sick now nor warfare machines (don´t worry, no offence taken).
            Low child mortality is mostly a result of good nutrition and also immunisation shots, which is directly correlated to the wealth of a country. Extended breastfeeding is nice, but has at most a marginal effect on survival, if at all. IMHO that are luxury worries.
            A great tool to check facts is http://www.gapminder.org

        • Ummm, an interesting debate. I was told with my first child that as their is severe asthma on both sides of the family I should breastfeed for at least a year. I did this, actually for 13 months to be on the same side, and guess what? She still developed childhood asthma and also hayfever. The asthma though was mild and easily dealt with compared to my cousins and brother’s children who bottle fed and had very severe asthma at times requiring hospital intervention. For me the jury is out on the matter. One interesting point, breastfed babies (for at least a year) are thought to have a raised IQ level. Certainly my kids have very high IQ’s whilst I am merely slightly above average,

          • I fed both mine… the first for 9months…she has every allergy under the sun (Developed after young childhood) The Boy for only 3 months as he was a whopper and I couldn’t keep up… His constant crying stopped as soon as I started adding a little baby rice to his milk.. He grew to be 6 ft 4 ” (I am only 5 ft) he’s healthy, athletic and no allergies.
            I think we can discuss until the sheep come home. Breast is best (and costs nothing! ) I loved feeding my babies, so good for me, Everyone is different but I do think the anti bacterial thing is a salesman’s dream. There are antibacterials to clean your antibacterial hand cleansers. Antiseptic wipes to clean every possible surface that has a possible germ. Vegetables are also washed and sanetized, so much so they rot within a few days of purchase from the supermarket.
            Remember how the Martians in War of The Worlds died?

            It has been whispered to me that The Lizards control Procter and Gamble’s Marketing. GeoLoco can vouch for this!.:D

            PS My favourite soap is no longer available in the UK Probably because of EU directives GRRR. It’s the best garden dirt remover for hands….http://www.lavasoap.com/shop/
            I have to buy it on eBay!!!!

          • I doubt it’s due to EU laws – that’s usually the reason shop keepers give to keep people quiet! I have been told by loads of pub keepers, cafe owners etc. that EU law forbids dogs in premises that serve food. This is nonsense – but they are entitled to forbid entry to anyone they don’t like the look of – they just say ‘EU Law’ to take the onus off themselves. Same for a lot of other things. Usually the reason that an old, loved, brand disappears is because supermarkets can’t sell enough of the item to make it worthwhile to stock it. In the case of Lava Soap (great name!) it looks like it was bought by WD40 from Proctor & Gamble and so lost their marketing/merchandising clout. But I doubt P&G would have got rid of a brand that was still selling! Remember carbolic soap? Everyone likes sweet smelling hands these days!

          • @Diana, I think I breastfed as the whole issue of sterilising bottles and getting up making feeds at night was just so daunting! I think I am a slightly lazy individual, breast is easiest.
            @Talla, can’t quite remember carbolic soap as my mum hated the smell but I do remember the lovely smell of coal tar soap. Ah nostalgia! I buy the occasional bar and even my kids (grown up) like the smell.

  8. An update of the recent earthquake locations in regard to the previous swarms:

    There are some more earthquakes within the pre-Bob swarm. IGN fixed the locations of the recent shallow ones, which accumulate somewhere below the summit of El Hierro. I wouldn´t relax.

      • According to the IGN El Hierro boletin list in July 2012 there were 13 earthquakes above 4 km (2.2 ± 0.4 km, not counting those at 0 km). That is from sea level I presume. Wolframalpha shows that the ocean basin and the summit are 3 to 4 km below and 1.5 km above sea level, respectively.

        So these earthquakes are right within the volcanic body of the island, about 3.7 km below the summit. The average strength was weak (1.4 ± 0.4 mblg) so many don´t appear on the listado terremotos list.

        Here is a top view of these 13 shallow earthquakes. Although they are weak, they are really close together. Caveat: the locations might be off a bit because I am not 100% sure I did the alignment of the background image right.

        http://i47.tinypic.com/28qx6cj.jpg

        The map is from the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) http://www.marine-geo.org/portals/gmrt/

        • There have been some shallow EQs running through the entire sequence ever since July 2011.

          While I don’t know enough about the geology of the island to know what the minimum strength EQ is that we need to be concerned about, the higher magnitude ones have tended to be lower. Of those with mbLg of 2.5 or more, the minimum depth was 9.1km (to 19/07/2012); and, in the same time period, 8 with mbLg of 2 to 2.4 of which 7 had a min depth of 9km and one had a depth of 2.3km.

          • In the three days prior to the eruption of Bob (8.,9.,10. October 2011) 46 shallow earthquakes (1.4 ± 0.9 km) ocurred around that area. They had an average strength of 1.1 ± 0.4 mblg and the strongest one was 1.8 mblg.

            So it obviously doesn´t take so much to break through. But you have a point that we don´t know enough about the geology. So this clustering is just a heads up.

          • And of course the eruption site was below sea level, that means the Bob precursor earthquakes were effectively about 1 km deep instead of about 3 or 4 km now.

          • One of he hypothesis we made at the time was that it was a stress relief from island deformation. But let’s comapre a bit.
            During the october sequence, these shallow EQ were just before the eruption AND the depth of the vast majority of EQ was much shallower (less than 15 km or so). this time the EQ are still in the 20 km range. We see no upward trend for the moment. So I do not think it is time to be worried, just being watchful.

            Judith however supplied a link to an interview of Mr Ortiz. Something passed maybe unnoticed is that he claims that there was a eruption on the north side of the island in early novembre, albeit very deep so ot was not seen. Any comment on that ?

          • There have been shallow quakes in the North since July 2011. Don’t know the precise location of the eruptive activity though to compare.

            One thing to bear in mind over the shallow quakes immediately preceding Bob; Bob emerged to the S/E of most of those EQs.

          • Thinking about comparing the net depth, there were four earthquakes about 3 km below sea floor at Bob´s with max strength of 1.3 mblg. So strength is not the issue if the magma comes up that far I think.

            Dfmorvan, you are right that there doesn´t seem to be an average upward trend. But almost all the ones above 18 km are in the pre-Bob swarm. I wonder if we would notice much activity if magma ascents within old pathways. But on the other hand no HT.

            In November 2011 there were very few shallow earthquakes (net less than 10 km) on the north side but I cannot relate to sea floor until I find out how to get that Arc ascii or Geotiff I retrieved from http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org into txt.

            S/E appearence of Bob: Ramon Ortiz talked about an usual angle of magma ascent of 39 degrees.
            http://www.volcanesdecanarias.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243%3Aentrevista-especial-hierro-ramon-ortiz&catid=118&Itemid=122&lang=es

  9. Back to my desk again and no time to check back through all the comments. Did notice though the plot from Ruapehu. That kind of signal is actually pretty common there as the station seems very prey to noise, particularly during the skiing season (like now), just as Ngauruhoe seems very prey to the weather. You have to be careful with both of these stations.

    • Thank you. The eruption in the north was 10km offshore; there was stain on the satellite image that some people spotted on here which may have been related to it but cloud obscurred the point of origin, if I remember correctly.

      Interesting info for GeoLurking, Ramon Ortiz gives a figure of 3 – 4km for the magma (I assume that it is km^3).

      Ramon Ortiz also says that there are two systems in operation which make analysis of the data more complex. The two systems aren’t explained.

  13. I am just contemplating if it is me who is nuts, or if it is Mörk, Vigran and Hochuli who are nuts.

    I am happy that Alan has gone for vacation, otherwise he would break out the Purdey that all Royal Geologists are issued with and go for a personal auto dafé methinks.

    I have just read a paper of the above esteemed geologists where they happily informed me, the reader, that the normal constituent members of Permian Mud and Siltstone is Quartz, Mica and Olivines. They also happily say that having a 100 meter thick layer of sulphuric stone nodules is normal normal to be ontop of a siltstone mountain. They though never bothered to explain what those nodules are, just that it also contains the before mentioned mud-created olivines.
    After that they happily informed me, the reader, that it is fully normal for a part of the sedimentary bed to shoot up 2000 meters of the ocean bed. And that it also is very normal for 3 mountains to also being pushed up out of the before mentioned pushee micro-plate. The really amazing part is though how they avoided to explain all that pushing going around without any tectonic activity.

    So, feel happy that you now know that quartz and olivine are sedimentary rocks.

    Oh, I forgot, they only analyzed stone from the bottom half of the Mountains of Urd, Skuld and Verdandi.

    Doh!

      • Yes it did, the 3 Nornor from the forn-nordic mythology. The mountains was by the way named as late as 1974, and there has been only one expedition there. So, it might not be so odd that they are talking out of their asses regarding the content. But even a beginner geologist should not do those mistakes.

        • Yeah, i was just referring to the norns and Yggdrasil and Ratatosk and Nidhöggr. I once wrote an area on a MUD on those stories.

          • MUD, that was a long time since I saw that acronym.
            For those who was not around back then, a MUD has nothing to do with mud or mudstone.

          • It means Multi User Dugeon, but those had no grafic back then. Just descriptions. Thats how i learned Khi’Swahili ( and programming computers C++)

  14. @Iceland:
    All earthquake information is currently down due to the backbone server crashing after 05.22 local time. I hope that it will be up soon.
    The only volcanoes in Iceland currently showing displacement are Askja and Theistareykjarbunga. There might be a change in motion at Krysuvik from deflation to inflation, but the trendline is a bit short sofar. Otherwise the usual suspects (Hekla, Katla and Grimsvötn) are calm and not moving.

  16. Gurgle translated.

    The CSIC Research Professor Ramon Ortiz Ramis volcanology belongs to the IGEO-UCM Madrid and is part of the Scientific Committee PEVOLCA. Its main task is the investigation of methods for advanced forecasting eruptions volcanic instability. Over the past year, Ortiz was the only one who has publicly stated that the eruption of the island of El Hierro was still active. Since June 24, 2012 evidence of incipient volcanic activity have become more noticeable. Nature has again agree. Today, in an exclusive interview Volcanoes of the Canary Islands, reveals all the secrets behind the island of El Hierro.

    Short URL version

    http://tinyurl.com/cuclm6a

    Long URL Version.
    http://www.volcanesdecanarias.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243:entrevista-especial-hierro-ramon-ortiz&catid=118:noticias-volcanicas&Itemid=122&lang=es

    In this article, he makes mention of an eruption out to the north of the island in 3000 meter deep water that likely occurred in last year. If you remember, one of the jaunts of the research vessel was up there, and there was a line of quakes in my plots that took off in that direction.

    He also notes that generally feeder channels to the surface tend to be inclined about 39° at the shallowest from the center of inflation. Thats interesting. According to him it makes a 20km radius about the sea of calm as potential areas of eruption, and that you really need to monitor the volcano for at least as long as the episode has lasted in order to be certain that it has actually shut down… which at this moment, is not the case.

    • It can do pretty much anything it feel like… that 39° thing is just the hazard area. Sort of a cone of possible areas. Straight up is never out of the question.

      • Not at all !
        He only means that you have to follow up for that duration and if nothing happens, then the “crisis” is over.
        The fact I like in these “informal” discussions is that you have the input from the scientist (for once !) without filter on. Then we can see there is no catastrophism and that they are indeed stating Facts. I find that, even if the questions are a bit (like we say in french) “téléphonées”, meaning we have a lot of closed questions, the answer is pretty straight :
        “- Hey, we do not know all, let us work and find out things !”, which is fine by me.

    • Good evening GeoLurking and all, my understanding of Spanish makes me say that what he said is that you really need to monitor the volcanco for at least TWICE (double) the time that the episode lasted….so that´s a lot of monitoring for El Hierro, at this rate we will all be “old and grey” before we can relax…mind you maybe some of us are already old and grey!

      • oh I see RenatoRio already spotted that it was two years…I really need to F5 more often!

  17. Another interesting post about El Hierro this time by Joan Marti who it is said is one one of the worlds best experts in Volcanic geology.

    ,,There is a very significant increase in seismic activity, all located at a depth of 20 km but with an important epizonal variation.

    (2) There is a remarkable surface deformation, with a maximum about 10 cm vertically and that starts a few days after the seismicity.

    (3) There are some gravimetric anomalies significant and also compatible with the deformation.

    (4) In area anomalies in CO2 and in has not been observed With these data, it is difficult to think that the process is due to residual magma (if any) of the eruptive process above, since it does not justify its own volume nor the possible amount of gas that could generate by crystallization achieved overpressure to explain observed seismicity and deformation.

    The other option is to think of a new intrusion of magma at a depth of about 20 km, which corresponds to the base of the elastic lithosphere in this area, a few kilometers deeper than discontinuity mantle/bark, where magma accumulated again. This new intrusion it is not necessary to be large to cause anomalies detected. The last time were issued about 0.16 km3 of magma, but do not know accurately the volume that is intruyo under the iron. On this occasion, the instructed volume may be of the same order. In addition to their own on pressure exerted by the magmatic melt on the due box rocks the difference in density, must think that magma to the intruir in an area of cooler cools and begins to crystallize releasing gas, which if the system is little permeable causes a considerable pressure.,,

    This is only part of his comments the full report which will need to be translated can be read on :

    http://www.volcanesdecanarias.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=242%3Aentrevista-especial-hierro-joan-marti&catid=118&Itemid=122&lang=es

    • He is dangerous! Giggle:
      “Joan Martí is one of the world’s top experts in Volcanic Geology. He made ​​several explosive eruptions on the central island of Tenerife.”
      (Ha realizado numerosos trabajos sobre las erupciones explosivas de la zona central de la isla de Tenerife)

    • thanks to Judith, our expert digger !

      What I do find a wee bit strange is that these scientists speak in a non official media.
      What I think is that there is probably some inner fights in the scientific community, especially as there seems the CSIC has some big money problems right now.

      What a (welcome) change from the start. Information is getting loose !

      • Including money problems with Chie etc? Its not worked for me today.

        So how many diapirs of magma do the experst propose to date – three? one for each swarm? Like London buses.

        • Seriously I understand. Just keep on working on the presentation. Conciseness (is it an english term ?) is of the essence :grin:

        • You keep it up—you are a go getter (persistent) and I for one appreciate everything thing you tend to find/dig up—and I think there are lots of others that have benefited from your contributions! Thanks!!!!!

          • I find a lot of your findings very interesting, just would be nice if it were possible to help with the understanding – for not native English speakers or Spanish speakers, take out the Spanish words and replace it by English ones or improve the language of texts (Giggle) a bit, as sometimes it does get hard to understand. :)

    • Hi Judith, thanks for all that digging you are doing…one of the points in that interview reminded me of one of Carl´s posts a while back about the release of energy that it needed to push the magma to to surface- If my spanish is good enough, I think Marti is saying that he thinks that in all this process the magma has consumed almost nothing of it´s own energy in the form of heat…from what I remember,Carl said that the energy and the heat are necessary for an erruption, so what I don´t understand is, is there is loads of energy that is being accumulated and has not yet been released? or is the rock that resistant that it cannot break through..and if this is the case.where will all that energy go then?

      • Morning Debbie
        I just think that El Hierro has everyone completely guessing what is going to be the outcome mother nature seems will have the last say in this if anything at all will happen.
        Its just still so fascinating day by day to follow this and learn so much from other peoples comments and thoughts and thanks to everyone for their maps and plots.
        And now out of the blue there has been the earthquake North of Galicia.

      • Hm, would it be possible that snow melt water run-off was causing the tremoring in blue and green-frequencies?

      • Well this area is quite restless, as we all know it. Hamarinn had a couple of harmonic tremor events last year with even one major glacial flood. The authorities think there was a subglacial eruption that did not break through the ice (that was in July 2011). The minor tremor events still happen once in a while. But so far the activity remains stable, deep ocasional earthquakes, no one knows how much time until the next eruption in that region, but I guess a few years to a few decades left. What I mean is of course the region between Veidivotn and Hamarinn, not Laki or Eldgjá.

        • Also Hamarinn and Veidivotn region is quite underestimated by most people here at the blog :) Everyone focus in Hekla or Askja, but no one watches for Bardarbunga/ Hamarinn/ Veidivotn/ Torfajokull. These are actually of two of the most active volcanoes in Iceland, after Grimsvotn, Katla and Hekla, the last major eruption there was in 1902 and a larger one occurred in 1861. Not counting with countless unconfirmed subglacial eruptions (like one in 1996 following Gjhálp or another the last one in 2011). And, when they do erupt, they often produce large amounts of lava and ash.

  22. For the RUMINARIANs (it’s an invented word.. beats calling every one here “ruminants”)

    I know that guestimates about angles have been made, and that some thinking is in order to wrap your head around it.

    So… to assist, I have done a minor miracle in my point of view. Here is a surface transect that cuts across El Hiero, La Gomera, and Tenerife. It is essentially a profile cut, no data…. and the kicker is that I accounted for the surface curvature of the Earth so that spatially, it’s pretty damned close to 1:1.

    Here is an over view of the transect.. it’s the red line.

    http://i48.tinypic.com/2ec3y1i.png

    And here is a plot with some reference depths plotted. Feel free to print this out and scribble on it, exploring your ideas about what’s going on down there with relation to plume heads or magma flow.

    http://i46.tinypic.com/11rq0pw.png

      • i think the operative term… at least here in the Cafe, are “boluses”.

        Plume has a pretty specific meaning that doesn’t really apply here. Think “melt dribbling up” from the decending plate.

        A interesting pattern in that, is the semi-decending trend SW of the volcanic field that drops to about 35 to 40 km and sort of tracks with the lower Benioff zone. Dunno what thats all about.

  24. There has been an earthquake in the sea near Galicia this morning .

    ,,The earthquake registered offshore, to the Northwest of Galicia to the 03.35 hours of this morning will not cause a ‘tsunami’, according to the National Geographic Institute # IGN # that has lowered its magnitude of 5.9 degrees on the initial Richter scale to 4.7 degrees on the moment magnitude, “more standardized at the international level”.Thus, the director of the seismic network of the National Geographic Institute, Emilio Carreño, has explained to Europa Press there is a perpendicular line of earthquakes ranging from the center of the Atlantic to Galicia.
    Carreño has added that the earthquake has been felt in Galician, although in all different locations the case with intensity II, which is “mild”. Specifically, it has pointed out that you have you noticed in municipalities of La Coruña, Lugo and Pontevedra part, in Villagarcia de Arosa.,,

    The full report which will need to be translated can be read on :

    http://www.europapress.es/sociedad/noticia-terremoto-registrado-noroeste-galicia-no-provocara-tsunami-ign-rebaja-punto-magnitud-20120730135105.html

  25. I cant make the webcam of Mila not anymore greater what must i do herefore?? At first i did it with the right mouseclick but it is not working anymore. Strange cloud at Hekla Mila i wanted the sight/picture make bigger but it isn’t possible anymore Help! please thanks Deanne

    • I can get Hekla, Jokulsarlon and Katla on Mila but not Eyjafjallajokull, Gullfloss or Geysir.

      If you can’t get them, close your internet session and then restart it. If you still can’t get them, try later.

        • Hekla often has a cloud (or more of them) around her top – hence her name, which means “hood” in English. :)

          Re. the webcams: I can get Hekla and some others, but not Gullfoss. I think it is a rather long time now since the Eyjafjallajökull cam worked last. And Geysir has also very seldom been working for me.

  27. i can get Hekla and so on good but i can’t get the sight in bigger size that is what i meantthanks Karen

  28. and the cloud that i meant is that it was a strange cloud because it looks like it came out of the mountain it looks so but because i cant make it a greater size anymore i could not see how that was build up that was the reason

    • Dunno – Might be normal cloud formation on the mountain. I have seen similar in the Alps from either surface melt on snow / ice or humid air meeting a cooler mountain.

    • Dunno – but interesting location close to Hengill and what appear to be two other volcanic formations. Could be a local fault. Irpsit might know more, being local.

      • It’s at a well known local fault named “cross sprungur”. There are very often quakes there. (Triple junction between the western volcanic zone (WVZ) and the southern plains – the sprungur area, “sprungur”" meaning “fissure” in English.)

        And yes, there are even 3 other volcanic systems nearby: To the north the Grensdalur system, between the Ölfusá estuary (where these quakes took place) and the Hengill system: the Hrómundartindur system and to the west of the quakes Brennisteinsfjöll system.

        See paper about the situation at Hengill and the surroundings in 2002. http://www.raunvis.hi.is/~amy/JVGR_paper.pdf

        But it is also the place of the last big earthquake in the south of Iceland in 2008, magn. 6.9. See: http://publications.esc.cam.ac.uk:8080/1973/1/208_Brandsdottir_etal_Jokull_2011.pdf
        :)

  30. Just one higher than 1.0 Hengill the rest are very very tiny/ small but im not an expert not even an amateur
    Tuesday 31.07.2012 09:01:39 63.951 -21.161 5.5 km 1.399.0 5.6 km SSE

  31. Hi

    Irpsit,please I have a question for you, could you contact me ? it is for a colleague who comes to iceland tomorrow and arrives @ 12 pm.

    • Yes, you can contact me. ask Carl for my email or..
      I think its easier to just ask me directly here. I am at the blog until tonight.

  32. Re. the quakes in the Öxarfjördur region: http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/tjornes-small/
    Depending on this paper, I think now, they belong to Krafla. p. 1161 http://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2000/R0555.PDF
    And there has been a lot of tremor activity there, too, these last months. http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/kvo.gif
    But they also could be tectonic, because this is one of the tectonically most active regions of Iceland.

      • North Iceland surely had a notorious episode of rifting for a few years following 1975., with eruptions in Krafla and the earthquake in Kopasker in 1976.
        While this is already a while ago, I still don’t expect volcanic fissures to open in soon, as Krafla experienced a series of eruptions and Askja already experienced several eruptions for the last two centuries. But Theistareykjarbunga and Grimsnes did not experience any major earthquake of rifting, so they might be the next.

        It is in SW and SE Iceland that we have more tension accumulated, namely between Krisuvik and Thingvellir (no recent large quake there, for many decades as far as I am aware; also centuries since last eruption), also along the dead zone (last episode was Laki in 1783, but that was a very big one), and also north of Vatnajokull, between Bardarbunga, Kverfjoll and Askja (also no actvity there since 1862). These are the spots to look for next rifting. Also of course Katla and Torfajokull (no activity there since 1477 and 1918 respectively).

        • Krafla had subsidence since the last eruptions, but there was increasing activity eg. at the geothermal area at Námafjall – which I could observe myself, coming there year after year with tourists. Also they found active magma at an unexpected depth in the Krafla caldera (at 800 m instead of 3.000). And it is not necessarily so that a volcano which recently has had an eruption would not be next in line to erupt again – compare Hekla to Hengill eg.

          At Askja there was an eruption series from 1919 to 1938, and another eruption in 1961 http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1703-06=&volpage=erupt. Last known eruption in Kverkfjöll was in 1968. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1703-05=

          Torfajökull could be a candidate, but not in the very near future. They didn’t observe much inflation there nor any bigger earthquake swarms. There was on the contrary subsidence there, too, up to 2006. http://www.jfi.is/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/agrip_jfi_h2006.pdf (p.19) Which other volcanoes in the “dead zone” have been showing earthquake series, unusual gaz emissions or inflation lately? Bárdarbunga eg. could very well produce an eruption at Hamarinn, but that would be Vatnajökull. Most of her eruptions have not taken place in the dead zone, but at the central volcano itself. Same for Mýrdalsjökull / Katla…

          Who says where to look for the next spots for rifting episodes? Aren’t volcanoes unpredictable? (And if I hear now Hekla 2000 cited, a volcanologist living in Iceland that I could name, told me it was just by chance that they saw in time what was going on there).

          • Inge, I would though like to go public with stating that if Hekla 2000 had been Hekla 2012 it would have been emediatly picked up by IMO, and also here. Most likely we would in reality beat Hekla with making the call.
            Today the equipment is much more advanced and hooked up into a controll center, and to top it off we have hundreds of people in here constantly monitoring everything in Iceland. I would guess Hekla only get more than 100 people hours every day…
            And several in here is savvy enough to make the call to say that it is starting to erupt. We have after all spent an inordinate amount on studying it in here.

  34. This is too long (again). Please respect the rules of this blog:

    Rule 2: Do not quote entire pieces, pick the interesting parts only.
    Rule 3: Make a summary, or phrase it into a question so that we can have a discussion.

    Edited by volcanocafe2.

  35. Carl please can you let me know if this is ok and if I can post the final part of the interview.

    • Thanks Judith another good find…
      Has everyone noticed that these three articles all pose the same set of questions…
      So comparing the articles side by side, in a decent translation may be very informative…
      I’m sorry my Spanish is not even good enough to “clean up” an giggle translation :)

  36. The Hekla strain graphs are going “Furry” again.
    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/strain/1sec/index.html.
    Interestingly the wind is pretty strong right now at Heklubyggd.
    http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/vedurheklaen.html
    The strain meter readings are scaled up.
    I am determined to find out why the plot lines grow thick and furry on HEK and BUR. I am sure by rights wind shouldn’t really affect the readings The suggestion that the scale is lowered also doesn’t fit.

    PS I am still feeling worse than unwell…. I don’t even want chocolate Cake!!!!

    • Yes, it was a calm day, but just around 4pm the wind picked up significantly, suddently it became windy. This is probably local convection caused by the daily warm-up.

      • This is also related to the major storm located SW of Iceland, just approaching the UK within the next few hours. Bad weather for the Games.

        • Hi Irpsit: Our Met Office doesn’t think it will get as far as London – but it will get to Diana!
          Hi Diana: I noticed the furry lines as well and also the increased wind. It increasingly looks like the weather – but a couple more times should tell us. Get well soon – not eating chocolate cake is about as serious a symptom as you can get! :-D

      • Hi Diana, sorry to hear that you are still feeling unwell. Me, too, I hope you get in “cake-eating” form very soon again. :(

    • The scaling does not affect the longterm plot really. It is not the wind per see that does it, it is that wind gusts create pressure shifts that make the furiness.

      Try one of the Empires age old cures for everything, a sturdy Gin & Tonic. I have found that it is one of the few remedies that help against everything.
      One day I will rewrite English colonial history by writing a book about the Empire and GT. The quinine in GTs probably made the Britts a bit more sturdy against malaria than the other colonial powers, hence their success. Quinine is also good against all forms of fever diseases, up and unto including Ebola.

      • Sorry – Ebola is a haemorrhagic fever and there is nothing that cures, or relieves, it. (We study it where I work). Quinine is not good at all good for the liver. You are right about the Gin and Tonic though. Unfortunately there is little or no quinine in tonic these days.

          • Errrrrrm I am not one of those!! I was just commenting! A bit beyond the breeding stage here thank goodness!!!

          • Doctor gave me quinine once for severe muscle cramps, I took it for a week then was told by my brother living in Australia that doctors there wont prescribe it for that as it can be dangerous. ODD I stopped taking it anyway and used a homoeopathic tablet mag phos which worked remarkably well. Also worked for an elderly friend. ODD again as I am very sceptical and never expected it to work.

          • @Newby, probably anything would have worked equally well as the homeopathic tablet. One of the better remedies against muscle aches are actually juniper berries and alcohol.
            Other things that work is a bit of massage and a bunch of water to flush out the infection. Also, anything containing acylic acid works (as long as you are not allergic).

          • Also, just simply eating a few bananas may help with muscle cramps, because they contain K and Na. :-)

          • @volcanocafe. you said “@Newby, probably anything would have worked equally well as the homeopathic tablet. One of the better remedies against muscle aches are actually juniper berries and alcohol.”
            Mmmmm Juniper berries and alcohol! Isn’t that a good description of Gin? What a lovely remedy, must buy some next time I get cramps. :D

          • Muscle cramps are often caused by magnesium deficiency and are very easy to get rid of by taking a chelated magnesium supplement when needed.

        • I know, it was a kind of a joke. But quinine do alleviate the fever. As it does with almost all virologic fevers. But it does not cure more things than malaria.
          Then I know where you work. An ex of mine work with haemorhagic fevers too. Albeit more into collecting strains for other research (no, not a collegue of yours).

          Little known fact, quinine also gives you a distinct buzzing in the ears. Also, Tonic abroad has more quinine in it still.

          • I think there’s only a couple of places in the country that deal with Ebola (it’s not the sort of thing you leave lying about!). Luckily I’m in admin so don’t go near it! You are right about the buzzing in the ears – it’s a well known sign of overdose. It is also a poison – my brother caught hepatitis years ago and thought it was Malaria at first (high fever and aching back – first symptoms of both) but didn’t bother to go to the doctor until he went bright yellow after 4 days. At the same time several missionaries caught the same thing and went straight to the hospital where they were treated with quinine – they all died. Their livers couldn’t cope with the quinine and the hepatitis. It’s still the best thing for Malaria though – the bug quickly adapts to other medicines.

          • As I understand it (and could be proved wrong here), if you want a drink to fight off the effects of malaria then Vermouth (yeuck!) is a better bet. Far higher quinine content than what currently passes for tonic water.
            Mind you, to ingest a meaningful quantity of quinine to have any medicinal benefit you would have dissolved your liver several times over, whether its vermouth or G&T. There are, of course, worse ways to go.

          • As far as I know there are only two places that are licensed for that type of viruses in all of Europe, where you work and the FOI Eurohazzard (Equivalent to CDC).

          • @ Ukviggan and Volcanocafe: “You may say so, but I couldn’t possibly comment!” ;-)

          • P***** D*** has a sample of my blood from a vicious infection a few years ago. The diagnosis was, however, mundane.

          • Yes, someone has to deal with all the nasty and potentially nasty bugs that are around.

          • The same place where a person contracted Ebola (Sudan strain) from an infected needle in 76…
            Oh, I forgot, they also do research in Germany in the Marburg facility. Where a nurse pricked a finger with a needle in 2009.

            It is though a rather odd feeling having had your lunch in the same freezer as a couple of strains of Ebola. Long story really…

            I though drew the line with a spliced strain… even longer story…

          • Imagine a bunch of nervous new employees being shown around. The guide says “Behind this door is a category 3 laboratory – this is for Yellow Fever, Bubonic Plague, H1N1 and so on – all deadly diseases”. We all shuffle to the other side of the corridor. Then he says “Behind you is a category 4 laboratory”. Yikes! We all jumped! Luckily I work at the other end of the site and just shuffle bits of paper about in a very boring way.

  38. Here is a new view of the June July 2012 swarm. I added some comments.

    http://eruptionelhierro.blogspot.fr/2012/07/3d-video-october-2011-new-system.html

    3D video with mesh instead of surface, magnitude is proportional to dot size, there is also the date and nomber of counts.

    Selecting the 720 resolution will give you a better view.

    If you go to see the video in Youtube,you can play with the settings to set the speed faster or slower as you like.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq_h1WvpCnA&w=640&h=480%5D

  39. Swarm near Hengill: This swarm is natural and is tectonic. In 2008 there was a large earthquake (6.0-6.5) on the other side of the mountain (Ingolfsfjall), so its natural that along the N-S fissures we see ocasional adjustments. Something more interesting is however occuring near Theistreykjarbunga, some quakes happening there in recent weeks and days, today just a minor swarm but in Krafla.

  40. I know this is way off topic and excuse me if I’m posting it in the wrong place.
    I live in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. Last night, 30 July, we had an earthquake.
    At first I could not find any information regarding this earthquake on sites like EMSC and USGS, still can’t find anything, but on Earthquake Report they mentioned it
    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/07/29/complete-earthquakes-list-july-30-2012/
    I’ve heard on the local news that it was a 3.8 and according to scientist its caused by the pressure of the tectonic plates. And here is my question now – Seeing that we are in the middle of the African Plate can we have an earthquake caused by pressure?
    I know you guys are more about Volcano’s but I would really appreciate your opinion as I don’t think anyone in South Africa has a clue..

    • Not an expert but we get pressure quakes in the UK: the Eurasian plate is moving slowly eastward. I guess you get something similar because the Arican plate is moving slowly northwards / northeastwards.

      ER does not give a source for the earthquake so I can’t check further.

    • I agree with KarenZ. With no parametric data there isn’t much you can do with it.

      Based on where they claim is was at, that’s in a fracture zone that extends over to Ascension Island. Most likely strike-slip.

    • I have been trying to find some data on this earthquake. Some state that it happened in Edenburg, or in a small assortment of place ranging towards Kimberley.
      And as soon as Kimberley got involved I started thinking about Big Hole mine. Normally when you have large mines you get quakes ranging up towards 5M due to mountain tension build up. And those quakes can happen quite a bit aways. And Big Holes is a huge mine…

    • http://earthquake-report.com/2012/02/21/south-africa-earthquake-list/
      I am not sure that the point given on the map this is actually the source of the quake. It seems rather a long way from Bloemfontein. I also am not a professional and would need to see more accurate data. However if you look at the map and juggle with the zoom. You do get a nice picture of the Mid Atlantic Rift which will push the African Plate theoretically eastwards… then off the Cape you have another Rifting area.. This will be pushing the African Plate Northwards and to add to the complexity you have the East African Rifting system which adds more pressures westwards. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how the African Plate is under huge amounts of pressure. Remember though that the movements are centimetres over hundreds of years and that the tonnage of the moving crust is enormous. However rocks crack and slip due to this slow movement and these faults will suddenly give way now and again causing an earthquake, even though it may be hundred’s of miles from a rift or subduction zone.
      The UK experiences moderate earthquakes now and again, Small 2ms more frequently than is realised as they are usually not felt.
      This is an interesting read and demonstrates nicely the amount of tectonic activity just to the North east of you!
      http://geology.com/articles/east-africa-rift.shtml

      • Seems that Bloemfontein is near the end of the Great Rift Valley – or rather what will become the southern end of the Rift Valley in many thousands of years.

          • The point on the map is way way off. Bloemfontein is more or less in the middle of South Afria. I have also seen that they say it was at Edenburg. Edenburg is about 80km from Bloemfontein and about 200km from Kimberley and there is no real activity at the Big Hole anymore. If it was near a mine I wouldn’t really have wondered about it as I know mines tend to have earthquakes. Welkom is 150km from Bloemfontein and they have a lot of quakes caused by the gold mines and we never feel those. Some people are saying that it was due to blastings at roadworks but I also can’t see that if it was a blast that it could be felt so far.

          • Edenburg? Didn’t that town use to be known as Erdbebenburg in the 19th Century but the name was changed by the victorious English after the Boer War as beeing too obviously Boer?

          • Cratons are notoriously quiet. Generally, the only quakes only appear along the periphery.

            Cratons are the oldest parts of the continental crust and have tended to remain as an intact solid “chunk.”

  41. There are indications that Church Island may have been connected to Beginish Island but that the wave led to erosion of the connecting land. A sand bar still partly connects the two islands.

    The island became home to a monastic settlement in the seventh century but before that it was a centre for fuel for iron smelting.

    A folk tale collected by a teacher in the early part of the last century offers an explanation for local place names connected to a road that ran from Dolus Head through the islands to Skellig.

    The road, a pre-medieval structure, is called Bóthar na Scairte, or road of the cataclysm, and it is traceable for some distance on Valentia. In the folk tale the road and a local hero were destroyed by a great cataclysm, probably an earthquake followed by a wave.

    According to the tale, “a terrible wave 50ft high” rushed towards a gathering of people on a summer day on Valentia. Everyone except the hero scrambled to higher ground. The wave separated Skellig and Valentia from each other.

    I poked around with this for a while… trying to puzzle out how a tsunami from the Southwest could do damage to the area noted. Based on the general trend of the bays and waterways, they would tend to focus a wave coming in from that direction.

    I am not really sure about the location of Church Island, but there is a ruin structure on a small island north of Beginish that is connected by an oddly shaped sandbar… and from that shape it appears that the sandbar may have been pushed off axis. Note the “V” structure.

    Other evidence (in other articles that I have read) indicate that there are stacked stone formations in the region. These occur when large stones are washed up into a sort of toppled domino configuration where stones that ordinarily not be leaning on top of each other… are.

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0724/1224320710205.html

    And a over view of the area and the structure that I mentioned.

    http://i49.tinypic.com/2yvrjpy.png

      • According to some versions of the legend, Ys was built below sea level by Gradlon (Gralon in Breton), King of Cornouaille (Kerne in Breton), upon the request of his daughter Dahut (also called Ahes), who loved the sea.

        In others, Ys was founded more than 2000 years before Gradlon’s reign in a then-dry location off the current coast of the Bay of Douarnenez, but the Breton coast had slowly given way to the sea so that Ys was under it at each high tide when Gradlon’s reign began.

        To protect Ys from inundation, a dike was built with a gate that was opened for ships during low tide. The one key that opened the gate was held by the king.

        Gradlon the Great is a legendary 5th Century king in the area, “2000 years” before him would place the timeframe in the 1600 BC ballpark.

        Extracting the sea level fluctions from “Coastal Dunes in Brittany and Their Management” by Guilcher and Hallegouet, you get a sea level about 6 meters lower than current.

        http://journals.fcla.edu/jcr/article/view/78498/75904

        Doing a bit of juggling with a flat plane image and the height placement, then some tracing, yields an approximate 1600 BC coastline.

        http://i50.tinypic.com/2poyyzd.png

        And the sea level fluctuation derived from that paper.

        http://i48.tinypic.com/1qopxz.png
        Dragged from the vaults by Spica

        • Thank you!

          In my opinion, the area north of present Crozon would have been an ideal place to collect seafood. That bay has a couple of deep spots that probably acted as tidal pools. Great place to collect stranded fish or other yummy sea critters.

          • Thank you too I did not thought the level difference was that important. 6 m would change a lot the look of the coastline. This explains probably very well all the archeological stuff found on the islands.

            But here is something which I think will interest you more considering your former trade.

            Actually north of Crozon is a very nice spot to collect …. french nuclear subs ! It is home to the secret french base for all our nuclear submarines (included the ones with the brand M51 missile).

            Apart from that It is aso well known for scallops. :grin:

            for the subs see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Longue
            search for (île longue)

        • Funny coincidence, the last picture p 531 “dunes of Combrit” of the article is where I spent all summer vacations with family when I was a child ! And effectively the dunes were loosing ground and the authorities began to do things do keep them in good shape.
          Thanks again Lurking !

    • Could be a tsunami or a storm surge. The article does not give the weather conditions or an approximate date.

      • We also get hurricanes (very rarely), which could do a lot of damage in coastal areas.

    • Lyonesse, where Tristram (of Tristram and Isolde fame) came from, supposedly sank beneath the waves after the time of Arthur – so after the 5th/6th century AD. It is supposedly between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Another lost land is the Welsh Cantre’r Gwaelod which was where Cardigan Bay is now. There are sunken forests in both these areas – which might account for the legends or might indicate the legends are true!

  46. Diana hope you are feeling better would the chocolate cake placed on a silver platter delivered to you by the Chippendales improve your well being a touch!

    • Good morning Judith and everyone. Oh! Judith! if you could hold on to both cake and Chippendale for a week I am sure I could do them both Justice! :D This virus is so bad that even the thoughts of Carl, Alan, Lurking, Renato and of GeoLoco Dancing their special Randy Geologist Dance on Burfell does not raise an interest. :D Yes…..it’s THAT bad! LOL D .However I am feeling more human today but not quite back to my usual self. Thank you so kindly for asking. I will be fine soon… it’s just a matter of time with these things.

      • Two small quakes near Hekla this morning. Nothing dramatic possibly purely tectonic but of course we comment being in the Hekla Range.
        Wednesday
        01.08.2012 04:40:45 63.919 -19.864 7.2 km 0.7 90.02 12.5 km SW of Hekla
        Wednesday
        01.08.2012 03:18:15 63.914 -19.851 7.4 km 0.4 73.34 12.4 km SW of Hekla
        Nothing else is showing anything untoward.
        http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/hau.gif
        The strain is a bit bumpy that is all. There was a steep increase last night but it has fallen away again this morning. The “Furry” look has gone too.
        http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/strain/1sec/index.html
        So nothing to get excited about and this is why I think maybe the quakes are not magmatic.
        I have written this in detail to help anyone new to the site see what is “Normal” with Hekla but worth noting simply because this is “normal”. Without some sort of “Norm” it’s difficult not to get excited anytime something happens this near Hekla. She is so Very unpredictable and definitely not your “Normal” Volcano. I Know! No volcanoes are predictable but Hekla evidently tends to go off with very little warning. However as Carl said earlier, she is being monitored so closely now, maybe there will be some longer run up to an eruption and signs can be spotted before the statuary hour or less warning that has happened in the past. Nobody will know until she erupts again and that may be many years from now…………or tomorrow!!!! This is what makes Iceland volcano watching so addictive for me. Always something happening and it is possible to view data freely. An added bonus are all the lovely, helpful Icelandic people that write information for us here especially Islander and Irpsit. who makes my learning so personal.

        • These quakes where not at Hekla, it is at either a fissure of Vatnsjöll, or a small volcano that erupted back in 1554 called Raudubjallar. Only GVP sees that as a Hekla eruption. It was decidedly not as I have written before backed by support of Sturkell, Einarsson and Carmichael.
          Hekla only erupts at Hekla, and also is only affected by Hekla quakes, or quakes that are in the line towards Búrfell or Haukalur and Saurbaer.

          I do agree, these quakes are well worth keeping track of. The reason for this is that I believe that Vatnafjöll is reawakening from it’s 500 year old slumber. And that is one really unknown and very large volcano. All the large basalt floods GVP lists for Hekla is in reallity out of Vatnafjöll.

          • Thank you for that detailed comment. It certainly proves my point that Hekla ( and surrounds) are being carefully watched and also that there is more to understand than just watching the red spots! Something new is learned about the complex nature of Iceland’s volcanoes nearly every day.

          • Vatnafjöll is also a sort of a continuation of our dead zone, which if you follow Veidivotn fissure you will end up at Vatnafjöll, which obviously can produce also large amounts of lava, as per the wide lava fields around it. I do agree that it is wakening up.

            Also remember something. Hekla had a regular 10 year eruption pattern, but, and a big BUT, there was a large earthquake in Jun 2000 (at the SISZ) following its eruption in Feb 2000. That had consequences for the whole of southwest Iceland, and maybe even Hekla had its magmatic pathways affected by it. So, we can probably expect a disruption of its 10 year eruption pattern.

            That might also changed things under Vatnafjöll.

          • For all… but mainly for Irpsit.

            “The tephrochronology of Iceland and the North Atlantic region during the Middle and Late Quaternary: a review” HAFLIDASON et al

            http://193.146.160.29/gtb/sod/usu/$UBUG/repositorio/10300452_Haflidason.pdf

            And a look at that shows fitted strain across the Hekla, Vatnafjöll, Vatnaöldur, Veiðivötn, Eldgjá are of about 0.24 ±0.05 mm/km.

            “Extension across a divergent plate boundary, the Eastern Volcanic Rift Zone, south Iceland, 1967-1994, observed with GPS and electronic distance measurements” Sigurjon Jonsson et al.

            http://www.seg2.ethz.ch/jonssons/Jonsson_EVRZ_JGR1997.pdf

    • I wouldn’t get too jingoistic as this is an international site. Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands also have 1. South Africa have 2, Germany has 3, France has 4 and the US have 9.

    • And the men’s pair in the final with a battling win. Special interest for us – my daughter’s best friend’s brother (Will S) is one of them!

    • Not sure…

      Probably not this guy:

      Wiggo Kay Hanssen (17 July 1923 – 13 December 2007) was a Norwegian speed skater who competed in the 1952 Winter Olympics.

      He was born in Tromøy and died in Arendal.

      In 1952 he finished ninth in the 5000 metres competition.

      And there was “Vigo the Carpathian” from the movie Ghostbusters II. a seventeenth-century tyrant trapped in a painting

    • It might be a self reference… that link is to the helicorders for Guatemala, most notably Santiaguito. 8060 is not one of the normal ports that web requests are made through, so finding it is a pretty decent accomplishment.

      The most common web port is port 80, 443 for ssh connections (encrypted). Mail tends to use 25 and POP3 connections are across 110. Ports below 1024 are “well known” ports and pretty standard, though I have hidden management ports on ports intended for Cray server communications. Some ISPs block port 80 so you can’t host a web server on your home connection (mine does) so I just move my server to port 82 and call it a day.

      • The link was on Invisumeh’s website – just clicked on everything going and eventually found it.

        For the benefit of the non-Brits, Wiggo is a cyclist who won the Tour de France a couple of weeks ago and this afternoon trashed everyone in the Olympic time-trial. He’s quite a character, too.

        • I thank you kindly to use his proper name which is Mr Bradley Wiggins, CBE (soon to be Sir Bradley, no doubt), as I very much doubt your are even at first names with Mr Wiggins.

          ( ;) )

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