Keeping a close eye on El Hierro and NtV Riddle

The situation in El Hierro is interesting but it is unlikely an eruption is already taking place because there are no reports of stains so far. We here on Volcanocafe have a soft spot for this island because the action there in autumn/winter 2011 was one big reason why this blog came into existence at all. So here is the newest information I could assemble today.

http://www.avcan.org/?m=Catalogo&a=gramas&fecha=22/03/2013&hora=10&estacion=CHIE&tipo=1

http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2013-03-22_11-12&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2013&Mes=03&Dia=22&tipo=2&hora=11-12

CTAB_2013-03-22

Map of the stations at El Hierro

Sites were you can get information:

• AVCAN: http://www.avcan.org/?m=Noticias&a=noticia&N=955
• Manfred Betzwiesers El Hierro Blog in german: http://elhierro1.blogspot.com.es/
• Earthquake report: http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/
• A link found by Diana which has nothing new at the moment but could become an interesting source should the action continue: http://www.vulcanoelhierro.es/

Earthqake Report has a nice summary of the 2011 eruption. Reading this might bring back some memories.

Early february 2013 Involcano reported that there had been more vents to the west of the island. M Betzwieser reported.

Involcan admitted 5 more vents.

I personally do not think an eruption is imminent because it took month of earthquakes till “Bob” became visible and watchable on the cams last year. But something is definitely going on and the information is by far not as good as in other countries like Iceland. Last year, while we all watched the spot of the shore of La Restina there was also an eruption of the west point of the island and if you watch the pattern of earthquakes it seems likely to me that something could go into action there again. But this is only a personal speculation.

Update:

Islander noticed the graphs have been downscaled! ( Just like it happened last year)

Renato Rio noted:
“Here is an image of possible emissions of gas Radonium from present activity in El Hierro.
I suspect we have a vent, and this time I really mean it.”
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c128.0.403.403/p403x403/31445_568621886504541_324729827_n.jpg

Manfred Betzwieser reported that the latest earthquakes happened in a depth of 13km and that the ship “Roman Margaleff” is on its way to the western tip of the island. ( Site is in german.)

——————————————————————————————–
A page had been created here last year called Wonder what Bob is up to. It contains a huge ammount of links and papers. Maybe some links are out of date (the cam links are for sure) but i do not have the time to check them all again. So maybe you people here could help me check and update them. Please leave a comment directly at “Wonder what Bob is up to” and i ll try to work in the “news” in a.s.a.p.

Here is what is stored there so far:
Wonder what Bob is up to?

Some links to monitor our Bob & his mysterious-though-as-yet-hidden friends at El Hierro:

• IGN El Hierro page with earthquakes, tremor plot, daily updates, etc.
• Two days of tremor plots by IGN for all Canary islands
• Map of IGN stations on El Hierro
• GPS deformation from IGN via AVCAN and Prof Takeshi Sagiya at Nagoya University, Japan
• AVCAN page and facebook forum
• INVOLCAN on facebook
• Spanish Oceanographic Insitute reports on the scientific campain of Ramon Margalefat El Hierro
• Localiza todo – ship finder to spot the sometimes elusive Ramon Margalef
• Daily MODIS Aqua/Terra photos of Canary Islands from NASA
• MERIS/ASAR imagery from ESA Envisat – search geographically to find radar images of Canary islands
• Real-time weather satellite images of Canary islands
• Weather observations – hourly readings for El Hierro Aeropuerto
• Water and air analysis reports (Spanish)
• IGN official petrological analysis of restingolitas (Spanish)
• Classification of IGN’s samples (by Lurking)
• Another Page about GPS variations by IGN.
• Accumulated energy IGN
• Air Quality AVCAN New
• Air quality in La Restigna at the very moment.
• Exel List of the Quakes for the plotters. New

• RSS feed El Hierro and su tarnsformation
• RTV Canarias (thx Jenny for the link): direct TV streaming or written news
• La Provincia – newspaper of the Canary Islands
• Canarias7 – digital newspaper of the Canary Islands
• La Opinion – another Canary Islands newspaper
• Diario El Hierro – digital newspaper of El Hierro
• El Hierro digital – another digital newspaper of El Hierro
• El Pais – Spanish newspaper, national edition
• A blog by Spanish volcanologist Jose Luis Barrera Morate 
• Canary GPS data
• Geological Map of El Hierro

Info about Canary islands:

1. Detailed map of Canary Islands – use Busquedas to find a particular place or check the 3D lidar model
2. IGN variation of Google maps – Iberpix
3. Geological map of El Hierro
4. Volcanic history of Canary islands
5. El Hierro – videos from the air
6. Aerial photos of Canary islands
7. Beautiful photos of El Hierro

Webcams:

• • La Frontera webcam
  • Hotel Ida Ines webcam
  • Webcam Cabildo El Hierro
  • Meteo las Puntas
  • Mirrored Webcam Las Puntas

  Most cams do not work anymore, i leave the links so… in case they might return one day.

Tanganasoga related info:

1. Location on map and Google Earth picture (by Sissel)
2. Longpre et al. 2009, Ankaramitic Lavas and Clinopyroxene Megacrysts From the Tanganasoga Volcano, El Hierro Island (Canary Archipelago), AGU 2009

Chemical composition

Floating stones off El Hierro, Canary Islands: xenoliths of pre-island sedimentary origin in the early products of the October 2011 eruption. Published on solid earth net.

An eclectic collection of scientific papers related to El Hierro, as suggested by readers . Please, suggest some more:

• For those who are interested in the slides of El Hierro, a must read:
  Urgeles et al. 1996, The submarine El Golfo debris avalanche and the Canary debris flow, West Hierro Island: The last major slides in the Canary archipelago, Geogaceta, 20(2), 390-393.
• Hierro and other Canary islands erupted through an old layer of sedimentary rock: Schminke and Sumita, 1998, Volcanic evolution of Gran Canaria reconstructed from apron sediments: synthesis of VICAP project drilling.
• Why El Hierro may have severe problems with plant growth, an analogue description from another volcano: USGS, Invisible CO2 Gas Killing Trees at Mammoth Mountain, California
• Carracedo 1999, Growth, structure, instability and collapse of Canarian volcanoes
  and comparisons with Hawaiian volcanoes, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 94, 1–19.
• Masson et al. 2002, Slope failures on the flanks of the western Canary Islands, Earth Science Reviews, 57, 1–35.
• Muenn et al. 2006, Gravitational spreading controls rift zones and flank instability on El Hierro, Canary Islands, Geol Mag, 2006, 1-12.
• O’Hara 1997, Volcanic Plumbing and the Space Problem—Thermal and Geochemical Consequences of Large-Scale Assimilation in Ocean Island Development, Journal of Petrology, 39(5), 1077-1089. 
• Stroncik et al. 2009, The magmatic plumbing system beneath El Hierro (Canary
  Islands): constraints from phenocrysts and naturally quenched
  basaltic glasses in submarine rocks, Contrib Mineral Petrol, 157, 593–607.
• Sagiya et al. 2009, Continuous GPS observation in the Canary Islands for Volcano Monitoring.
• Vinuela JM 2007,The Canary Islands Hotspot (pdf)
• Carracedo et al. 2001, Geology and Volcanology of La Palma and El Hierro, Western Canaries, Estudios Geologicos, 57, 175-273 (large pdf file, 12M)
• Martin and Sigmarsson, 2005, Implication for the origin of tholeiitic silicic magmas from atmospheric pressure fractional crystallization of basaltic lava flows on Reykjanes peninsula (Iceland), Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and Masaya (Nicaragua), EGU 2005.
• Neumann et al. 1998, Evidence for Fractional Crystallization of Periodically Refilled Magma Chambers in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Journal of Petrology, 40(7), 1089-1123.

Spica

Name those Volcanoes Riddle

Note – this weeks riddle is a little different …. In order to identify each volcano you have to establish a link (some are more tenuous than others) between the volcano and various classifications, dates, places, events, people etc …. each clue has three genuine links and one ‘red herring’ included!

1 point for each correct volcano and 1 point for each ‘red herring’ (which must be identified with an explanation) guesses wont count ….. good luck!

No 1 – Lord Byron; November 5th 2013; Lethal mud slides; Pacific Ring of Fire;

No 2 – Stratovolcano; Canada; Formula 1; Angels;

No 3 – Stromatolites; 40,000; Rain forest; UNESCO; SOLVED

No 4 – UK; Dormant; Summer Rain; Vintage Car Museum;

Kilgharrah
Update:
IGN Graph showing latest ‘action’ 23.3.2013