Category Archives: Sheepy Dalek

And once again the Sheepy Dalek Bar is open

I posted a similar image on the day i took it in September. It shows a Lava Rose on the way up to Teide in Tenerife. The Basaltic columns formed the shape of a flower when they cooled. I have no idea from which eruption this resulted or how old it is. It does not remind me of a rose but most definitely of a flower.

Some new webcams were pointed out:

Islandbloggen, A long list of Icelandic Webcams. ( In Icelandic)

Now THAT list will keep auroa lovers busy, some new volcanocams are there too!

Popocatépetl, Mexico

Thanks for finding them! They were added to the crows nest.

It does make sense to pay those 2 new El Popo cams a visit, some plume was clearly visible the last days.

The livecam from Garibaldi Hill showing Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat. is not new but i managed to grab a beautiful screenshot at noon.

And the sad thing to keep an eye on, are the aftershocks after the Mag 8 ( or 7,9) earthquake in Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands. There was one Mag 7 ( or 6,9 ) just recently. http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/list.php

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Alans evil riddle:

You’ve heard of old age and ice age, so where would old french sausages fit in?

2 points: identify and description/origin

Current ranking: ( last updated 27.1.13)

15 Sissel
13 Kelda
11 Talla
9 KarenZ
4 Ursula
3 Chyphria
3 Henri le Revenant		 3 Newby
2,5 Diana
2 Sherine
2 jeannie
1 GeoLurking
1 lughduniese
1 Sa´ke		 1Kilgarrah
1 purohueso745
1 UKViggen
1 IngeB
1 Carl
1 Spica

Answers at Alan´C Evil riddles and the answers #21 to …

Riddle –  Name those Volcanoes

2 volcanoes – 2 points

1 extra point for identifying the geological feature 

No 1 - Lying close to this volcano is an irritating lake where you will find some large examples of a particular geological feature. HINT Icelandic. SOLVED

No 2 – A volcano that is noted for the exceptional proliferation of the same geological feature. Despite the local name given to them, they are definitely not fit for human habitation! HINT This volcano lies 250kms from its Asian capital city.

Ranking for  NtV: Updated February 6th.

14 Alison
8 Sherine France
7 Kelda
6 KarenZ
5 Sissel
5 Chryphia
4 DebbieZ		 3 Spica
3 dfm
2 Bruce Stout
2 UKviggen
1 Irpsit
1 tgmccoy
1 Inge B		 1 Stoneyard
1 Grimmster
1 cbus20122
1 jeannie
1 fred
1 Newby

Answers to be found at Name That Volcano(es). Answers

A new Name That Lava Nr. XXV
riddle
At least 2 points to be gained. I got informed about the location but have not much of a clue about the rocks myself, so i will decide how many points are to be gained as we go along.
Ranking for Name that Lava last updated 6.2.2013

10 DFMorvan
10 Spica
8 Sissel
5 KarenZ
7 Diana Barnes5 Ursula
4 Talla
4 Chryphia
3Lughduniense		 3 Schteve
2 Renato Rio
2 Doug Merson
2 Hattie
2 Irpsit
2 Stephanie Alice Halford
2 Lisa
2 Henri, Liet Kynes
2 UKViggen
2 KarenZ		 1 Topey
1 Inge B
1 Heather B
1 Jamie
1 Jim
1 Luisport
1 Alan C
1 Bobbi
1 Alison
.

Honorary mention for GeoLurking, for naming lavas in advance!
Special points for Chyphria and Sissel for the “Special riddle”
Thanks for the Riddles Kilgharrah and Alan and Mister Mystery Man!!

SPICA

Sheepy Dalek and 2 riddles.

I already spoke about the coming high resolution Video show, featuring different volcanoes taking place in my workplace, in the previous post. An other one of the volcanoes which is going to be shown is Mount Nyiragongo. I have heard about this volcano and even remember when it was in the news 2002. But until I began to check for some new info very recently, I had had no idea what terrible beast this volcano obviously is. That people still live in that area is unbelievable. Yes, I had seen videos. Also the clip Chyphria included in the last thread displaying a special Darwin moment, was not new to me either.

But I had only seen images of the crater and its lake. Then I came across this article: http://www.photovolcanica.com/VolcanoInfo/Nyiragongo/Nyiragongo.html and read about the events which took place with the 1977 and the 2002 eruption.
I knew the lava of this volcano was too fast to outrun it. But somehow it slipped me by that the distance to Goma airport and residential areas can be reached within just an hour even though they are 10 km away. Fissures open in the ground. Gas is emmited and last time explosions were reported in areas where people lived, because methane was leaking out of the ground days after the eruption. During the main event, which occured over 8 vents, terraces inside the crater collapsed into it and this triggered violent phreatomagmatic activity. The ash column was 10 km high in 1977 ( this is higher than Eyja´s column was 2010 ) and 2002, and an area in 8km distance was covered with ash and scoria up to a height of 10 cm. Lava formed a delta in the nearby Lake Kivu.

The article states that the volcano cannot be closely monitored because most technical gear is either looted or vandalized. In 2002 more people died when a gas station exploded. Some local newspapers did not blame the explosion on lava intrusion rather that it was caused looters trying to steal the petrol. Public disorder was rife in the town of Goma during the eruption and the following days.

Both in 1977 and 2002 neighbouring Nyamuragira showed effusive eruptions some time before Nyiragongo went into action.
I had never really planned to pay Nyiragongo a visit one fine day or even going to the Democratic Republic of Congo. After reading all this, I sure wont be found within a few hundred kilometers when Nyamuragira goes into action again.

I suggest this article as weekend reading material again. Besides very nice pictures it gives an impressive description of the last 2 eruptions, as well as a geological map and several scientific papers.
http://www.photovolcanica.com/VolcanoInfo/Nyiragongo/Nyiragongo.html

I plan to keep the community here informed about special astronomical events. This week the occulation of Jupiter is not visible from Europe. Sky and Telescope Magazine has an article called Jupiter dances with the moon.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Jupiter-Dances-with-the-Moon-187160571.html

Spica assited by Kilgharrah

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Riddle: Name those Volcanoes!

7 volcanoes 7 dings 7 points

No 1 - Visitors to this mountain, a special biodiversity hotspot, find several differing ecosystems. Look for an anagram ……. special bio! SOLVED
No 2 - Ski region Canada ‘02. Golfing center Scotland ‘05. Seaside town Germany ‘07. ? ‘08. SOLVED
No 3 - Archimedes, Pythagoras, Newton, Gauss …. & they have in common? Apart from being mathematicians they have all been honoured in the same way – the link has been found and you dont have to look any further than that really. SOLVED
No 4 - Did the 14th century poet’s journey into hell come to a premature end here? GL identified Dante as the poet, but this one is tethered and has 8 legs. SOLVED
No 5 - Fiction tells of a dying man, his life of decadence & recognition of his failure as a writer. Classic book written by EH. SOLVED
No 6 - Evidence infers that until the late 1800s a global human record was held by its summit. The record was one of hieght. SOLVED
No 7 - First it was cut off & then, by way of the capital’s bridge, it was open to the public. The bridge is London Bridge. Think executions! SOLVED

 

Current ranking: Updated January 13th.

8 Sherine France
6 Alison
5 Sissel
5 Kelda
4 DebbieZ
3 Chryphia		 3 Spica
3 KarenZ
3 dfm
2 Bruce Stout
1 Inge B
1 Irpsit		 1 Stoneyard
1 Grimmster
1 cbus20122
1 jeannie
1 UKviggen
1 fred

Alan´s Evil Riddle:

Barnes-Wallis may have got an idea from my little helpers to put a shine on my 3 faces!

What am I?
By what is the process known?
Current ranking: Updated 29th December

15 Sissel
11 Kelda
11 Talla
9 KarenZ
4 Ursula
3 Chyphria		 3 Henri le Revenant
2 Diana
2 jeannie
1 GeoLurking
1 lughduniese
1 Sa´ke		 1 Sherine
1 purohueso745
1 UKViggen
1 IngeB
1 Carl
1 Spica

Happy Hunting!

Sunday Summary

The first week in the new year is over!

Kilgarrah collected some comments which showed what was up on VC. In case you want a kind of weekly review, or if you want to take another look at some of the plots…. Click here.

Tolbachik was clearly visible on the KVERT cam during the last 2 nights. This is a screenshot taken on friday.

Webcam adress: http://www.qicknews.de/Webcams/Tolbachik.php . KVERT has 5 volcanoes on color code oragnge today, Sheveluch, Polsky Tolbachik, Kizimen and Karmsky.

Alaska was shaken by an earthequake Mag 7,5 yesterday http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/eqinfo/event.php?id=gfz2013ahzu
Some commenters noticed that this earthquake clearly showed on many stations all over the world, also in El Hierro and Iceland.
Manfred Betzwieser runs a blog which is written in German but always has the latest news about El Hierro, because he lives on the Canary Islands. http://elhierro1.blogspot.com.es/ He has 2 screenshots of the Seismometers showing the Alaska quake on his site.
I started checking right away, if this might have an influence on one of the Alaska volcanoes. There is a nice interactive map to be found on the Alaska Observatories Website. http://www.avo.alaska.edu/map/
And the tremormeasurements can be found at http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webicorders/ Just click on the volcano on the left side.
Nothing happened. No volcano is on alert level orange right now,

Erik Klemetti published his review on the posts on his blog Eruptions. If you want to rememeber which volcano was active last year, check it out.

Earth-of-fire has 2 articles on the volcanism of the Eastern Meditaranian.
First Intro and tectonics.
The volcanic field of the Golan Heights.
With some activity going on in the sea south of Turkey and some discussions about the volcanism of the Arabian Peninsula, i thought you might find this interesting.

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Congratulations to this weeks winners of the 2 riddles.

Though i need to clear with Alan who got the second point. One went to Sissel, but the second one???

Evil Riddle #29 went in on Volcanic Mishaps 2: Mono Lake, California. Author Schteve, January 3rd. 2013

Ladies beware! If you have badly fitting undies, you may find me!!

What am I?
What are my origins?
2 points
I hope you ladies aren’t offended by this one 

Answers and Winner: Quote Alan”: I think I’ll give a point to Sissel, this one is perhaps too obscure !
refer Strain Slip Cleavage!
In a nutshell, a second phase (or further) foliation superimposed on an earlier, existing slaty cleavage”

Name That Volcano #13 went in on: Volcanic Mishaps 2: Mono Lake, California. Author Schteve, January 4rd.
Variety number 9280, No 1 is used to produce a splendid accompaniment to VC riddle solving!

French FIS WC silver medalist might have crashed on No 2 whilst he learnt to snowboard-cross

No 3 The ‘toy’ volcano (photo below)

16762 No 4 is potentially hazardous and unstable

No 5’s new island emerged, bravely flew the Portuguese flag & vanished just 20 days later

No 6 (photo below)

With a No 7 Bang Bang I wish us all a belated, but very happy & peaceful New Year!

Winners Explanation and Answers:
No 1 Ischia – Sissel at 13.41 1 point
Grape variety 9280 is Pinot Noir Precoce aka Ischia (Monte Epomeo)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischia_(grape)
http://www.vivc.de/datasheet/dataResult.php?data=9280
No 2 Bayonnaise Rocks – Kelda at 14.35 1 point
Xavier de le Rue is Bayonnaise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonnaise_Rocks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_de_le_Rue
No 3 Oldoinyo Lengai – dfm at 18.09 1 point
Katja Kafft the volcano photographer referred to Oldoinyo Lengai as ‘the toy volcano’
http://blogs.stlawu.edu/lengai/what-is-carbonatite/
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/lengai.html
No 4 Stromboli – Fred at 18.06 1 point
‘Potentially hazardous’ Asteroid 26761 Stromboli – ‘unstable’ 16762 = 26761
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26761_Stromboli
No 5 Capelinhos – dfm at 18.17 1 point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capelinhos
No 6 Santa Ana – dfm at 18.11 1 point
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1403-02=
No 7 Tequila Volcano – Kelda at 14.53 1 point
Tequila Bang Bang is a great cocktail!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tequila_Volcano
http://www.idrink.com/v.html?id=11976

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OT:
Christian notified us that fans of the nightsky can expect a commet which should easily be spotted with the naked eye in autumn. As long as many here seem to be interested in the heavenly show too, i will give you a warning in case something spectacular should be up, sometimes, in Sheepy Dalek Weekend Posts. ( Unless volcano news are much more important, means, if there is not much up which we could watch closely over the internet)

In the evening Jupiter rules the early night sky in the east. Can you spot a star shining slightly orange closeby? You found Adelbaran, the red eye of the Bull. The Pleijades shine up right of Jupiter and the bright white star to the higher left is Capella.  Below the planet, Orion dominates, with his 7 stars which are discernable even if you are surrounded by light polution. The shape of Orions belt is unique and if you found it once, you will always be able to spot it , high upin the winter sky.

Sky and Teleskope Magazine offeres a sky chart and information on whats going to be seen in the next month. Here is January 2013. On this page you can click an audio  podcast which takes you on a tour through the nightsky. I always listen to those 5 minutes in the beginning of every month.

Spica

Name that Volcano Riddle!

Resident of Siglufjördur looking rather wooden eyed after yet another sleepless night with earthquakes.

The week has been calm eruptionwise, but fairly frisky earthquakewise in Iceland. The transform faultline north of Siglufjördur kicked into high gear with continous medium sized earthquake swarms.

The active faultline is one of two major faults making out two of the boundaries for a microplate that is seismically locked at its southeastern corner under Theistareykjarbunga volcano. Theistarykjarbunga is as most readers of this blog know one of the two volcanoes in Iceland and the world competing for the title of having had the largest flood basalt eruption during the last 10 000 years, the other one being Bárdarbungas Thjórsahraun eruption.

Image by IMO. The earthquake band of the fifth most powerfull earthquake swarm during the last 12 years.

The earthquake swarm has so far had a couple of hundred earthquakes in them, 13 between 3 to 4, and 5 earthquakes from 4 and upwards to 4.3M. This is a fairly vigorous, but not unheard of amount of energy released from an Icelandic earthquake swarm. It is though the 5th largest during the last 12 years. There is currently no other signs that this will lead into anything too exciting in the near future.

RIDDLE

This week we will try a new version of the friday volcanic riddle game. It is a “Name that Volcano Riddle!” by commenter Suzie. One point to be had.

The French footie fans looked on in horror as their European opposites ran riot round the capital! They asked themselves “What does this unruly orange mob mean to us?”

VOLCANOSPORTS

During the week I tried to come up with some extremely extreme sports that you can do if you have a volcano handy. My favourite was a surfing down a Hawaiian lava stream on a ceramic surfboard. The idea though was not as novel as I thought. Apparantly it is big too skate down scoria cones.

TGIF!
CARL

Name that Lava XXI and Alans riddle #14 + Katla update

Katla

First of all before we go weekend nuts with volcano riddles I would like to point out that the largest earthquake in Katla, one of the most talked about volcanoes on the planet, during the last 13 years was when the glacier snapped apart due to summer melt. This is truly a bad year for the 2012ers. The earthquake measured 3.8M and was at 0.1km depth.

Name that Lava

Today there are 4 points to earn:

1. The correct rock-type, granite not good enough
2. The main mineralogy og the rock
3. The 2 accessory minerals – brassy and grey
4. What climbers delicacy is the area known for

Second image for the Name that lava competition. Both pictures are of the same lava.

The standings in the Name that Lava competition:

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

Evil Alan’s Riddle!

‘If you wish to see my castellated layers, look hard amongst empty shells!
Oh! and don’t forget to look; you may find a dyke!’

a) What exactly am I?
b) With what is my dyke associated?

Rock-on folk!!

And the standing in the Evil Alan’s Riddles are:

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

Good luck to everyone!

Good news about Grimmster

December 2011: Exciting blog times: Bobs activity was intensively monitored, while Carl fullfilled his famous Russian grenades tank expedition.

Fellow commenter Grimmster was leaving for El Hierro to explore the island and take pictures of everything of interest for a couple of weeks. Many of us would have been very happy to join him.

In January we started to ask ourselves where he was. But months passed by without anymessage.

At last I sent Grimmster an email, concerned as I was, hoping that he would respond. And then another one. And guess what -  today I got a mail! His daughter Karen explained what had happened and brought a heart warming message:

“This is to let you know that my Father had a really bad accident on the way to the Airport when on his trip to the island, he is still in hospital but should be home in a couple of weeks.

I visited him today and he is greatly looking forward to reading all ofthe Posts on your Blog, he has really missed you all.

He was in a Coma for quite a period but is expected to make a full recovery, its taken so long to reply to you as reading his emails was the last thing on his mind at the time.

Kind Regards to you all, and he asks that you pass this on to all the bloggers he calls Friends”.

We can write our answers to him here, I’m sure it will not take long untilhe can read it all!

- Thanks to daughter Karen who let us know.

ALAN, CARL & SISSEL