Monthly Archives: August 2012

Answers to Name that Lava III and a friday riddle

As long my master did not show up the last few days, we are all hoping that he is just busy and that everything is OK but the blog urgently needs a new post and so i am taking this duty on my shoulders. Please forgive me, i do not have the same way with words as our leader Carl does.

Summary of the week.:

Erik repots that 3 volcanoes are more active than usual on Eruptions. Three Rumbling Volcanoes: Little Sitkin, Reclus and Tangkubanparahu. Little Sitkin lies in Alaska, Reclus is located in Chile and Tangkubanparahu is to be found in Indonesia.
Jan Mayen saw an earthquake 6,8 which is the largest earthquake ever reported in or Norway. Earthquake report has an article on this event.
Our Icelanders report that a glacial flood started coming out of Vatnajokull near Hamarinn.

Claude Grandpey writes that Kilauea started to deflate since the 27th of August.

And the GVP weekly Volcanic activity report can be found here.

Answers to NtL #3.

Name the volcano, and name the type of lava.

Answer: Villarica basaltic andesitic lava

Sheepy Dalek Name that lava III  Author: Carl, March 23th.

With the third edition of Name that Lava Carl underestimated the tricks many volcanophiles developed. Many here are real masters of a competition now called Google Fu and really deserve a black belt in this art. So the riddle was blown into bits after a very short time and we found out this image was even used in the Wikipedia article on Villarica.
This volcano is a quite active one and the current eruption is still ongoing since 2010. Villarica lies inside a larger caldera and it is located in the south of Chile close to a town and a lake with the same name. A lava lake has formed which left a glow on the web cameras. I am not giving the link to said cameras because they have been unreachable for some weeks.
If you enjoy hiking up an active volcano you can book tours, but then the guides drag you up the mountain in a long line with many other people. So many that this would not be my cup of tea to try. If you have a feeling your life is too boring you could even do a bungee jump from a helicopter into the active volcano. I am not providing this link either because in case you plan to do right that, i am sure, everyones Google Fu abilities are favorable to find out where you can book such a tour. I especially liked the last question…

Quote: “Could I die?
Yes. You could. You’ll be signing a waiver, so we’re cool.”
Relief, i feel so much better dying after a signed a paper than i would without.

Here are a few images all from Wikimedia Commons:



Additional Info:

Wikipedia: Villarica
GVP Villarica Summary
Volcanodiscovery on Villarica
John Seach on Villarica
How volcanoes work: Andesitic to ryolitic lava
Basaltic Andesit: Journal of Petrology
Wikipedia: Andesit

The Score was:
2 Talla
1 Schteve
1 Jim
1 Luisport
1 Heather B
1 Spica

This week Alan sent a riddle to me which is really evil.
Quote Alan: ” There’s no answer to it so you can join in! It’s ‘reasonably’ eviil – well very evil – so perhaps you could preface it with ‘health-warning’!!
It may ‘run’ ’til Sunday for ‘hints’, so if they can be ‘warned’……..”

And for this week’s brain killer we have:

Of ancient origin and of violent birth, into this world I came; all but to end in fire!
With almost my Masters name, I am located near the home of a small dog!

What is my name?
Of what is this rarity composed?

Current ranking: ( last updated 26.8.12)

7 Sissel
6 Talla
5 KarenZ
3 Henri le Revenant		 3 Chyphria
2 Ursula
1 lughduniese
1 purohueso745		 1 UKViggen
1 Carl
1 Spica

Spica

Answers to Alan´s riddle #15 and NtL #1 and #2

Riddle #15 on Sheepy Dalek and NtL XXII, an evil riddle and answers to Name that Lava I and XV: Pico del Teide

Yes, German, sub-marine hydrothermally altered lava may exist, but it’s not me; I suppose I’m just a bit of an ole’ ’rusty’ prototype rock!
What is my name?
What do I look like!

Winners: KarenZ, Sissel;
Answers: Jaspilite Protore – ie banded early Gondwana iron ores as Hammersley etc; Yes=Ja (german) + Submarine hyrdo altered lava= Spilite Hence Jaspilite
prototype deposit-Protore. It is the Gondwana banded Ironstone, mix of Fe oxides and quartz species as jasper.
Protore is a raw mineral deposit which may be enriched to produce ore.
So the ranking is now:

7 Sissel
6 Talla
5 KarenZ
3 Henri le Revenant		 3 Chyphria
2 Ursula
1 lughduniese
1 purohueso745		 1 UKViggen
1 Carl
1 Spica

More informtion: Mindat Jaspilite

Picture by DF Morvan showing the first mystery lava.

Image by dfmorvan

Correction, the solutions to the very first Name that Lava competition was Gran Canaria not Teide.

Answers: Gran Canaria Volcano, Pillow lava (at 1500 meters height!)
Winners: Jim and Schteve


More Information:


Roque Nublo ( Wikipedia)

The second edition of Name that Lava was published on Sheepy Dalek – Name that Lava II! Author: Carl, March 16th.

Photograph by Hailey. Please click to see a bigger version.

Talla says: March 16, 2012 at 21:54 : it’s a potassium feldspar matasomite known as Charoite with Canasite found only on the Murun Massif, Sakha Republic, Russia (volcanic event – Siberian Traps).

Answers:

Norilsk deposit, a part of the Siberian traps.
Charoite:
Quote Wikipedia: “Charoite (K(Ca;Na)2Si4O10(OH;F)·H2O), pronounced CHAR-oh-ite, is a rare mineral, first described in 1978 and named for the Chara River. It has been reported only from the Sakha Republic, Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.[3] It is found where a syenite, the Murunskii Massif, has intruded into and altered limestone deposits producing a potassium feldspar metasomatite. Charoite is translucent lavender to purple in color with a pearly lustre. However, it is a discrete mineral rather than a rock. Charoite is strictly massive in nature, and fractures are conchoidal. It has an unusual swirling, fibrous appearance, sometimes chatoyant, and that, along with its intense color, can lead many to believe at first that it is synthetic or enhanced artificially.”

Quote: “The Murun massif is located on the Aldan Shield. In the atlas you can find it between the Charaa and Tokko river, south of Olekminsk. The Murun massif is of course famous for charoite. The Murun massif is (type) locality for a number of unusual minerals. This is caused by the very complex geology of the Murun massif.  Vastly simplyfied the Murun massif is a differatiated alkaline intrusion. “
http://maurice.strahlen.org/yakutia/murun_massif.htm

Mindat.org Murun Massif

http://www.sandatlas.org/2012/03/charoite/
Mindat.Org Charoite
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoite
Canasite, Tinaksite, Aegirine, Charoite: http://www.mindat.org/photo-397263.html
PDF: Thermal X-Ray Diffraction Study of Charoite from Russia

Spica

Sheepy Dalek! Saturday Special

I did not have the slightest idea how many sheep cakes there are in the world.

Happy Bday, again, to Carl and Newby, ( and to Bobbi on monday and to Renato soon and to me on thursday ;P )

The answer to the quick shot Name that Lava was, as Sissel pointed out correctly Makhtesh Ramon
http://volcanocafe.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/answer22.jpg?w=620
All the photoshopping did not help. Sissel blew my riddle within an hour.
Alan ! please give me some lessons in how to be really evil.
Original image from Wikimedia left and my version is to the right.
So the ranking is now:

10 Spica
8 Sissel
7 DFMorvan
5 Ursula
5 Diana Barnes
5 KarenZ
4 Talla
3Lughduniense
3 Chryphia		 2 Doug Merson
2 Hattie
2 Schteve42
2 Irpsit
2 Stephanie Alice Halford
2 Lisa
2 Henri, Liet Kynes
2 UKViggen		 1 Topey
1 Inge B
1 Heather B
1 Jamie
1 Jim
1 Luisport
1 Alan C
1 Bobbi

Quote:  Sissel says: August 24, 2012 at 17:01
“Giv’at Ga’ash, a black hill in the north of the makhtesh was once an active volcano which erupted thousands of years ago and caused it to be covered in lava which quickly cooled in the open air, converting it into basalt. Limestone covered by basalt can also be found in smaller black hills in the southern part of the makhtesh, including Karnei Ramon.
Shen Ramon (Ramon’s Tooth) is a rock made of magma which hardened whilst underground. It later rose up through cracks in the Earth’s surface, and today stands in striking contrast with the nearby creamy coloured southern wall of the crater, as a black sharp-edged rockIn the centre of the makhtesh is Ha-Minsara (The Carpentry Shop), a low hill made up of black prismatic rocks, and interestingly, the rectangular pipes on the side of the hill are made of the same sort of sand found on beaches. As such, this is the only place in the world where prisms made of heated sand turned into liquid which, in cooling naturally formed rectangular and hexagonal prisms, can be seen. These prisms lost no space in the middle during formation.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh_Ramon:

More Info at:

Falafel: Again a point for Sissel

Alans Riddle is still not solved.

Yes, German, sub-marine hydrothermally altered lava may exist, but it’s not me; I suppose I’m just a bit of an ole’ ‘rusty’ prototype rock!
What is my name?
What do I look like!

Spica ( who does not like Falafel)

Expect another post by me, as soon as i find out what the correct answer to Name that Lava #1 was, and if Carl still lets me write posts.

Sheepy Dalek and NtL XXII, an evil riddle and answers to Name that Lava I and XV: Pico del Teide

As long as this post was assembled out of a draft in half an hour and i don´t know much about lavas myself … 2 points are to be earned here. One for the volcano, and one for the food which is most popular as a chliche. Try for the lava too, ( and other stuff ) Some extra bonus-points might get assigned.

Alan´s evil riddle:
Yes, German, sub-marine hydrothermally altered lava may exist, but it’s not me; I suppose I’m just a bit of an ole’ ‘rusty’ prototype rock!
What is my name?
What do I look like!

So this is my quick shot at this weeks bar opening. A toast to Carl!!!!!! Happy Birthday!.

Spica

Here comes the draft:

Answers to Name that lava #1


Teide Panorama ( Wikimedia Commons)

The answer to the very first Name that Lava competition and an image sent to Carl by DFMorvan was a lavabomb of Pico del Teide.

Picture by DF Morvan showing the first mystery lava.

Pico del Teide was also the answer to Name that Lava XV

Roques de Garcia.

Quote: TheWorldWonder.com “Los Roques De Garcia are the spectacular eroded rocks of an ancient volcanic crater wall in Teide National park. Tenerife is a stratovolcano capped by Las Canadas, one of the most impressive calderas (craters) in the world. The strange landscape inside the Canadas caldera has been used in feature films such as Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, and Ten Commandments.”

Teide is with 3,718 Spains highest Mountain, a volcano which last erupted 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the north western Santiago rift. Porto del Cruz is in danger if it should erupt again. The surroundings of Teide are now forming the Teide National Park which is 18,990 hectares large  and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 2,8 million vistors are counted every year.

The Wikipedia article on Teide and its different stages of formation is worth reading: Teide Wikipedia

Information about Pico del Teide from GVP
Image Wikimedia Commons
The triangular shadow of Teide is one of the wonders of our world. Quote http://www.theworldwonders.com/africa/pico_de_teide.html : “At sunrise the triangular shadow of the Pico De Teide extends 124 miles across the Atlantic Ocean and thus form the world’s longest shadow.”

The phenomenon of a volcanoes shadow is explained with Nasa´s “astronomy picture of the day” ( July 5th. 2011)

Tourist info on Pico del Teide.

( Posted as a comment by Winner Schteve )
You can visit Teide even without a car, there is one bus a day from Los Cristianos in the South of Tenerife and one from Puerto de la Cruz in the North (both leaving the bus station at about 9am ish, returning from the National park at 4pm ish.) It is well worth knowing that if the first bus is full TITSA will lay on a second (and ensure that there is enough room for everyone on the return journey.)
Anyone can ascend to the “observation platform” which is approx 200m short of the summit either walking (for the superfit, with thier own car, i’m almost certain there is not enough time for this using the bus, though staying in the Parador Nacional del Teide is an option…) For the less energetic the cable car whisks you up there in a few minutes apporox 30 euros return… you can cable car up and walk down (or vice versa) but you will need good knees
If you want to visit the summit you will need a permit, available online from the National Park Authority, this is an arduous climb (200m, scchteeeeep, at altitude) from the cable car station…
Please remember that even at the base of the cable car, you are at altitude (2500m ish, my ears pop on the bus journey Take care those with heart/ respiratory conditions, the cable car is definately not recommended x
Sounds obvious, but watch out for the weather, it can be chilly especially at the top of the cable car (-5c one time I went!!!), but the sun is fierce because you are usually above the clouds and the wind will dry you out nearly as quickly as the sun…

Spica

GL Edit: Set first image width to 640. Happy Birthday Carl!

Plotting for Beginners Part One, aaaaand Another Look at Malcolm.

(Enmedio WMV preview)

It’s good to share the work, so here’s some tips on making your own plots with the tools that came packaged with your Windows PC.
For me, “getting into the data” has really helped to refine my understanding and “mental model” of the subject.

There are deliberately no pictures, because the idea is that you follow the links and have a go yourself… If not, I think the examples are worth a look anyway x

We’ll use the Canary Islands to illustrate because I know my way around the dataset…As well as some of the awesome hiking routes. See the picture at the top of: http://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/edge-driven-convection-bobs-back-story-and-malcolm-in-the-middle/

Thankfully you can get a beer at the end, which; if you walk that route, you will have earned. (Even though in the Topoguidebook it looks “mostly” downhill, and actually is…)

Internet Explorer (or another browser) and “screenprints” are the most useful tools a budding plotter has:

Have the Paint program open, but minimised or “behind” the screen you want to print, align (you get a “print” of exactly what is on your screen,) press the Print Screen key (you may need to use Ctrl or Fn as well, depending on your keyboard), bring up Paint, then press Ctrl +V to drop it in, Save As a PNG or JPEG file. (I’m still not sure which is best…)

Most of you will be familiar with the IGN Hierro page; so try this, go to: http://www.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/HIERRO.html

Select Forma de Onda, Espectrogram and which Estacion (for example, EOSO: Gran Canaria), move this new window to one side of your screen.

On the original page, once again select Forma de Onda, Espectrogram, then select; another Estacion, remembering that they’re calibrated differently, or Anterior, for the previous day.
“Manually” align your two windows, take a screenshot aaaaand Voila!!!!
You have an (almost) instant plot, something like this:

This is a primitive/ limited method, but it does give us an idea of what seismologists do. This example shows the same event; automatic solution: (20/6/12, 15:00, 28.276, -15.457, no depth, 1.5) on the CCAN (Left; Tenerife) and the EOSO (Right; Gran Canaria) Espectrograms. Professional seismologists don’t tend to use the schpectrogram so much; it’s actually just the seismogram signal with a Fourier transformation applied…but it will do for us amateur beginners!

n.b. This event has been reviewed and removed from the catalogue since I wrote this…Annnd that’s kinda the point x

For slightly less instant graphification go to:
http://www.avcan.org/?m=Mapas

Choose Crear Mapa; ask yourself, “What do I want to know?” Then enter yr parameters, it’s a wee bit fiddly, but I’m not gonna hold yr hand, you might as well get used to faffing about…x

Talking of faffing; there are various interfaces on the Avcan site, my tips work for the specified link, (bear in mind that I’m running a clunkputer.) AVCANmapas is GoogleEarth based and IMHO not as useful, Animacion crashes the clunkputer every time…These may well be worth a try if you’re using a more up to date system.

So, given half an hour/minute or two, you may well have come up with something like this: http://www.avcan.org/modules.php?name=Sismos&file=mapas&mapa=3425

Avcan are really very helpful; they save yr maps in their server, so you can repeat the process and overlay on yr previous maps…

Go to the Crear Mapa page, choose Tus Mapas, select a map, then enter a new set of parameters… Repeat; “layer it up”:
http://www.avcan.org/modules.php?name=Sismos&file=mapas&mapa=3483

This shows earthquakes of all magnitudes: 1970 to the end of the “Enmedio quake swarm” of 1989, 1990 to the end of the “Teide seismic crisis” of 2004, and 2005 to the present day(ish.) At the bottom of the page is a legend, thanks Avcan x.

Disclaimer: please remember the “technical skew”; seismic networks and instruments are improving all the time, just because there have been more recorded quakes in recent years doesn’t mean that there’s any particular cause for concern, many of them will have been “tiddlers”; previously undetectable.

Unfortunately, the overlays hide the detail of your base map… One simple way around this is to use Windows Movie Maker to fade your layers in/out.

More about that next time…

Schteve x

Wiv big fanx to Lizzie (my beautiful sweet love) for test-driving and all round editorialness x

P.S. If you come up with something you are happy to share; save it somewhere convenient; like yr desktop, go to:

http://tinypic.com/index.php

and follow the instructions, copy the “direct link for layouts” and paste into a comment on Volcanocafe.

Please provide an explication in your comment; random plots are even more annoying than random links.

Update: Schteve wanted a youtube link which i missed out on.

Spica