Click on the image to enlarge the picture. I wish you all the best of luck!
This week’s competition
There has been no great change in the leadership board. Diana Barnes is still reigning together with Lughduniense. So, let us see if our reigning Queen and King of Lavas will have another week, or if we will get a new leader.
This week will be the name of the volcano (1 point), the name of the type of the volcano (1 point), the lava (1 point). And since people love odd facts about volcanoes on the pictures, the name of the famous sauce produced in the region (1 point). So, a grand total of 4 points.
The Score is:
3 Diana Barnes
3 Lughduniense
2 Talla
2 Ursula
2 Doug Merson
2 Hattie
2 Schteve42
2 DFMorvan
2 Birgit
2 Irpsit
1 Jim
1 Luisport
1 Heather B
1 Jamie
1 Henrilerevenant
1 UKViggen
1 Alan C
As usuall I will not hand out the answers untill tomorrow.
Alan’s way of Riddle
Last week the volcanic riddle seemed to both have put the brains into here into fever-mode, and also was rather a success, so here is a new one. This week there will be only one since having several at the same time seemed to cause a bit of confusion (of the Confuciatic minds) in here.
Clue:
In the Land of Beautiful Horses we stand; but who were our parents?
Happy guessing!
CARL
VolcanoCafé 
I believe a Costa Rica Volcano was upgraded to Yellow status yesterday. I forget which one, but I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned here yet.
Why?
Turrialba (courtesy of Lakat) is a big volcano in a very active system. Usually volcanoes get mentioned on here of that nature, especially when they show major signs of activity.
Someone (Ursula? KarenZ?) used to update us on Turrialba, but since we’re not the GVP it’s not to be wondered that we sometimes miss some volcanic news. Thanks for alerting us!
@ cbus20122
Volcano status
I fairly regularly check in with the Smithsonian Institute/GVP on this link for almost up to the minute(weekly!) info.
Here is the link just incase you, or other readers, do not already use it:
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
Always good to have updates posted here for others to share so keep them coming.
However don’t be surprised if you don’t see some of the alerts mentioned here! Unless there is significant change, many of the regulars will be checking their own sources and some volcanoes grumble on a daily basis for a long, long time. Turrialba is one such volcano.
Popo just had a lil’ pop:
http://www.cenapred.unam.mx/popo/ImgPopoSur.html
…and a little burp after:
http://sdrv.ms/LuAf6D
@ cbus2012
Yes, thanks,you are right. Yellow alert for Turrialba Volcano, Costa Rica. See more info here:
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2012/may/19/costarica12051903.htm
Many of us have been watching this one for a couple of years plus as it has been degassing for a long time.
Here is a link to the webcam (refreshes automatically) and once in, you can search for seismograms on all Costa Rican volcanoes and info contained in past press releases.
http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=74
@ cbus20122
Re: Turrialba
Hmmm:
Have just checked the helicorder display for the last couple of days and she is behaving beautifully well (and boy has she got regularly excited in the last couple of years).
There is absolutely nothing obvious at present to suggest a need for change in status as issued/advised May 19th.
However, it is possible that the seismograms are not telling the whole story here. Perhaps the nature of her gas emissions may have changed and the authorities may be responding with caution to that.
I do know that her helium emissions (indicative of fresh magma on the move) have caused scientists concern from time to time during the last couple of years. Search in press releases on the OCSICORI website or on- line for more info.
@ all
That is of course meant to read: OVSICORI
🙂
Update 14:25 UTC : Investigation into compliance with building code
– The prosecutor of the Ferrara district will lead an investigation into the dead of the 4 workers who were killed when their workspaces collapsed. The prosecutor will be checking whether the relatively young buildings did comply with the earthquake building code.
Update 14:25 UTC : increased shelter capacity, Tuscany volunteers, Council of Ministers
– The number of displaced people (mainly people who’s houses have structural damage) has increased to 5,000.
– The council of Ministers from the Italian government will meet tomorrow Tuesday and will most possibly order the state of emergency for the hard hit Po valley area.
– 140 volunteers from Tuscany have arrived in the earthquake area. They are mainly helping with setting up new refugee camps near Modena.
http://earthquake-report.com/2012/05/20/very-strong-shallow-earthquake-kills-at-least-3-people-in-the-mantua-ferrara-and-modena-area-italy/
earthquake2012-05-21 16:37:32.0
11min ago 44.89 N 11.38 E 5 mb 4.3 NORTHERN ITALY
If anyone is interested in exploring the aftershock function… there is a discussion of Omori’s Law here.
Kristín Jónsdóttir – Studies of Unusual Seismicity and Long Period Events at the Glacier Overlain Katla Volcano, Iceland
http://rafhladan.is/bitstream/handle/10802/1400/Krist%C3%ADn%20J%C3%B3nsd%C3%B3ttir%20-%20Studies%20of%20Unusual%20Seismicity%20and%20Long%20Period%20Events%20at%20the%20Glacier%20Overlain%20Katla%20Volcano,%20Iceland.pdf?sequence=1
And it that link doesn’t work, here is a TinyUrl version that should work for a while.
http://tinyurl.com/c4nc4gf
Earthquake activity in Herðubreið is not volcanic in nature
Posted on May 20, 2012 by Jón Frímann
http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/
I have been meaning to discuss this.
A lot of “nothing to see here move along” is assumed when a quake or a swarm is classed as “tectonic.”
That is all fine and dandy for a place like Italy or the Laacher See. “tectonic” means just that.
But on a rift system? Should one assume a warm fuzzy just because magma was not detected? Personally, I don’t think so.
Much of the movement in the plates are driven by two forces. “Slab Pull” and “Rift Push.” The majority of the drive comes from slab pull. As the plates separate, magma moves up into the gap and solidifies. This magma is generated by decompression melting. (most likely). Other options are the upwelling of magma from plumes/hotspots. In this case, a non magmatic signature would show that upwelling magma is not the cause… that is accurate. But don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because of it. Slab Pull could very well open up a rift. That would appear to be initially tectonic until the magma got involved. I don’t know how long it takes for magma to melt after it’s depressurized… it could be days, months, or minutes.. depending on the dynamics.
In fact, I am not that sure that dead zone activity is preceded by magma intrusion as the trigger. It is a rift bounday and there are billions of square kilometers of plate area on each side that are feeling stresses and driving forces that dictate their movement. And the rift is just one tiny boundary region of them.
Tectonic? Okay, cool… but that doesn’t lower my concern.
I agree with you… maby more data and knowledge associated, but not lowered danger.
My only intriguing question is why at the west rift (Reykjanes, Hengill, Thingvellir) there is lots of rift earthquakes but magma never seems able to push up to surface (in least in 700 years). But to the east, there is a lot of earthquakes as well, and magma does rift once in a while. Not only under Vatnajokull, but also Krafla, Hekla, Katla..
Because of this, I think the rift activity on the east is not only a product of slab pull rifting and magma pushing up to fill the space, but also there is the influence of the hotspot. It forces an eruption once in a while.
So in my opinion it is totally easy for a minor eruption to start there at Herbubreid. People often forget that large parts of Iceland have magma just a couple kms under your feet. It would be so easy….
Ah! A bit like the Oddysey wasn’t written by a Greek named Homeros but by another Greek named Homeros, i.e. it won’t be the extinct volcano Herdubreid that erupts but another volcano in the same location. Jokes aside, good thinking Lurk!
Irpsit says:
“… People often forget that large parts of Iceland have magma just a couple kms under your feet…”
A couple kms he says.
It’s actually more intriguing than that. … but Carl hasn’t finished crafting the post yet.
The cool down period for a wad of magma is a lot longer than I had supposed… and very much longer when you have had repeated incursions into an area. Based on what I have run in the simulations, Vatnaoldur and Veidivotn carry more residual heat than Eldja and Skaftar.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com – Today, 2:12 PM
Ailments Spread Among Refugees of Sirung Eruption | The Jakarta Globe
“
Kupang. Various ailments, including coughs and other respiratory conditions, have affected hundreds of people seeking safety in temporary shelters after the eruption of Mount Sirung on Pantar island in the Eastern Nusa Tenggara District of Alor, an…
http://www.rttnews.com – Today, 2:09 PM
Volcanic Ash Envelops Japan’s Kagoshima City
“
Ash cloud enveloped vast areas after Japan’s active Sakurajima volcano in the south-western city of Kagoshima erupted repeatedly from Sunday to Monday. A local weather observatory reported four eruptions in the 24 hours ending 9 a.”
luisport: you are really checking volcanic/earthquake data around the world every hour, no? not to say its anythingbad , but you really post every update, minor or bigger, that might happen around the world. I suggest you travel to see some real volcanic action happening in real time. That should satisfy your hunger for a while 🙂
peace,
Actually, some of that stuff I would have missed.
Think of it as aggregate reporting. 😀
Yes, he can find out stuff that no one else finds!
LOL!!! http://www.scoop.it/t/actualite-volcanique NOW YOU CAN! ;D
Infortunately i can’t travel much now, but i was in Pico-Azores and Madeira Island… i know that i post a lot, but it’s easy, if people don’t like i stop posting…
No you got me wrong. Not meant about posting a lot.
I meant to say you should take your interest in volcanoes a step forward 🙂 when you have time of course. well, this actually applies to everyone with volcanic interests, experience volcanoes until you get sick of it
(that already happened to me, literally)
I made 4 years of Geology course in Lisbon, that for personal reasons i had to abandon… but geology in general and specialy Volcanism and sismology is allways in my heart!
My girlfriend just said her most amazing volcanic metaphor. I told her “hey its very ashy outside” and she said “I thought they was bacon on the air” I replied “what???” she says “is not bacon red and hot as well?” Well, we are both with a minor flu, so that kind of explains this.
You live in Iceland right? You are so so luky! I just LOVE ICELAND!!!
You don’t live in a Northern country for sure ! I love a lot of things about Iceland, but definitely not its climate. Compared to Iceland, Canada is balmy !
I Love Iceland by landscape and volcanicaly speaking! LOL
Yes, and travelling here is not so expensive. You should come to Iceland one day.
The landscape is amazing yes, just tonight it was such a gorgeous fire sunset, but the weather yes is erratic and cool in summer, cold in winter. It is now hazy and ashy and dry. In winter its often hurricane winds. There are very little trees as well. Landscape is tundra mixed with volcanic traits.
Update 18:15 UTC :
– INGV reports a couple of aftershocks who have been clearly felt in the earthquake zone. Local times and Magnitudes : M3.5 @ 18:32, M4.1 @ 18:37, M3.1 @ 19:25 and EMSC reports a M3.6 @ 20:02.
Update 17:09 UTC : State of Emergency, Bank provision, damage repartition in epicenter area
– If the central government calls the State of Emergency tomorrow, as expected by the local authorities, the measure will allow financial aid and assistance to individuals and companies
– The Banca Populare dell’Emilia-Romagna has reserved 200 million Euro for rebuilding purposes
– The overall picture in Sant’Agostina is that 85% of the industrial constructions have been affected by the earthquake and only 15% of the residential houses!
Update 16:25 UTC : strike, central government, jobs lost, PM Monti
– The scheduled strike from the farming workers for tomorrow has been canceled by the union because of the earthquake
– The central government has stressed that it will support the local authorities in dealing with all the additional work and damage compensation
– the CGIL trade union has estimated that approx. 5,000 jobs are at risk because of the earthquake
– PM Monti will probably visit the hardest hit area tonight
http://earthquake-report.com/2012/05/20/very-strong-shallow-earthquake-kills-at-least-3-people-in-the-mantua-ferrara-and-modena-area-italy/
Striking farmers? What are they gonna do? Destroy their crops?
Might be counter productive.
While it is quiet, latest volcanic ash alerts:
Tokyo: Sakurajima exploded at 18:20 UTC today
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/svd/vaac/data/TextData/20120521_SAKU_0478_Text.html
Darwin: Taru Batu plume to FL100 at 08:32Z? today
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD41295.shtml
of the coast of Honshu, Japan the EQ activity is picking up almost 20 above 4.5, 1 at 6 and 5.9, luckily of the coast, but to keep an eye on
A latitude v longitude 2D plot of Italian EQs from 2005 to 2012/05/20. Because the data selection from EMSC is rectangular, it also picks up EQs in neighbouring areas. But note that it shows the Adriatic Microplate fairly well.
That’s a pretty good plot. I was unaware that the Adriatic Microplate made a fish hook like that.
Any idea if the margins are subduction zones? I ask because I ran across an interesting article on slab subduction…
http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/geodynamics/AnalogWebsite/UndergradProjects2006/Jennifer%20Bromley/web%20pages/Subduction%20background.html
My guess is that the margins, if they are SZs, are stalled while the Molucca Sea (what the thesis is all about) has actively subducting margins.
Major Geological Fault Lines located in south eastern Australia.
Map of South Eastern Australia showing Major Earthquake Fault Lines
Image courtesy of (6) Source: Gray_et _al : Victoria,Paleozoic rocks.
the image didn’t come up, here is the email link for it http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/volcmap.html#2
what does that mean for Australia, there is a story going around about Lassiters reef/gold find/inland sea, also there are large areas of land which go under for long times in floods any link to that ? how can you spot excact locations?
@ Lurking: I think there’s double subduction: towards the north, under the Alps and towards the SW, to form the Appenines. So basically, the “hook” is pushing upwards and left. I don’t have time to do an in-depth search now, but if you google “Adriatic microplate subdiction”, loads of pdfs show up on the topic.
there are usually quiet strong quakes in the balkans, come to think of it today’s Bulgary /Sofia one fits that bill
@KarenZ
Earthquake – Northern Italy
Thanks for those links, Karen.
Hate to admit it but I was unaware of the Adriatic Microplate running round there so that was very helpful.
I have been looking at the pattern of the sea between Greece and Turkey for a while now, it is almost circular with Santorini in the middle ?
this EQ just came in, another low dept one in populated area, what next ?
5.8 – Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 00:00:33 UTC, at 03:00:33 AM at epicenter
Location 42.683°N, 23.017°E
Depth 9.1 km (5.7 miles)
Region BULGARIA
Distances 24 km (14 miles) W of SOFIA, Bulgaria
a site for info of Turrialba volcano, http://www.volcanolive.com/turrialba.html
Costa Rica’s National Seismological Network has upgraded the color threat level to yellow of Turrialba Volcano, in the province of Cartago east of the capital, at http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/4-Earth-Changes
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=7ZzcEVeP_pc
totally OT I know, but…..
Tuesday
22.05.2012 00:49:45 64.505 -17.658 1.3 km 1.8 79.9 7.5 km ENE of Hamarinn
Monday
21.05.2012 23:47:50 64.773 -17.234 3.3 km 1.4 41.16 1.5 km SW of Kistufell
Bulgaria EQ has been felt in a wide region, in other balkan states, Greece even IstanbulTurkey, could it be a follow on from lst weeks Italy, which would mean more are possible further along the med ?
Can’t rule it out… but the really wild part o fit is that the Italian quakes show reverse faulting (≈subduction style) and the Bulgarian quakes show Normal faulting. If they are related, one edge went up while the other edge went down.
the Italian one is pushing up the Aips, where Bulgaria is going sideways, I think towards the Anatolian fault, next EQ should be towards Spain/North Africa
The Bulgarian ones did not show much (if any) strike-slip
Take a look at the moment tensors (beach balls) and compare.
Click to access L12.pdf
The USGS page has a link under Scientific & Technical Information for the individual quakes.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb0009uyx.php#scitech
Main list:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Europe_eqs.php
And to be clear, I’m not stating that they are connected in any way other than both sets being on the north edge of that plate. It doesn’t mean they aren’t, but the faulting mechanism is different. Many smaller fractures can make a boundary between plates. Some dominate, some not. In this case what failed sort of indicates a twist like overall motion that would be really interesting if it showed up in GPS data.
With quakes this small it might not be much of an indication, but it would be worth looking into if someone needs a research idea.
will have a look later on, in the meantime here is a link, it shows emergency’s etc. as they happen on the globe almost instantly, they got quakes further north most likely southern France and Spain Portugal, the other services are overloaded and late being as busy as they would be.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php
At the moment only Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. Can’t see any EQs for France or mainland Spain / Portugal but there are a few to the west on the Eurasian / African plate boundary.
I’m afraid I don’t rate this site very highly. For information on earthquakes I’d go to USGS and so on, which is where they get their information. Their epidemic/health reporting I know is not very good and the other hazards seem to be equally vague.
Hi Talla, I wasn’t wearing glasses when I looked, it is Portugal not Spain, I don’t use the site a lot, but sometimes it is good to have when the others are over loaded and I like to have an idea what is going on, I take things with a grain of salt, even dogy sites have some good info at times
Hi Ursh! Yes I agree, my remark was mainly aimed at casual visitors here who might not know about the better earthquake/volcano reporting sites out there. 🙂
and California, can’t tell what it is, so crowded, most likely EQ
Earthquakes.
connected ? if one takes say a piece of timber moves it up the other end will be down tht would be a connection of balance wouldn’t it ?
@GeoLurking
The Eurasian continental crust is subducted beneath the Adriatic Plate and the African plate (oceanic crust) is also subducting under the Adriatic Plate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulian_Plate
The subduction of the African plate shows on these:
Depth v lat: http://oi48.tinypic.com/1418pb5.jpg
Depth v lon: http://oi46.tinypic.com/34hcbyt.jpg
& the Adriatic plate is supposed to have a small counter-clockwise rotation (same link as above).
you can see the lines if you look at the mountain ranges the way they orient themselves, I think
Yes – it is very clear on the West and East. When I get a moment, I’ll look at the EQs to the north of the area plotted above to see what it looks like.
Update 06:45 UTC : Economic Losses could total around 500 million Euros including the losses to the cheese industry
– 300,000 cheese wheels each weighing an average 38.5 kilos. = 11.55 million kilos of cheese (Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano). The average lifecycle cost of a kilo of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano for earthquakes (averaged over all ages) is about 1.30 euros per 100g or 13 euros per kilo – i.e. for the producers.
– Thus the maximum loss expected for the cheeses is around 150 million Euros if the 300000 wheels estimation is correct.
http://earthquake-report.com/2012/05/20/very-strong-shallow-earthquake-kills-at-least-3-people-in-the-mantua-ferrara-and-modena-area-italy/
Magnitude ML 3.8
Region NORTHERN ITALY
Date time 2012-05-22 09:31:17.0 UTC
Location 44.84 N ; 11.30 E
Depth 40 km
Distances 180 km SE Milan (pop 1,306,661 ; local time 11:31:17.2 2012-05-22)
24 km W Ferrara (pop 131,771 ; local time 11:31:17.2 2012-05-22)
2 km E Finale emilia (pop 15,337 ; local time 11:31:17.2 2012-05-22)
May 22, 2012
Guatemala / Fuego eruption
Fuego volcano in Guatemala had a major eruption on Saturday (19 May). The eruption was one of its largest in recent years since the start of near continuous activity in 2002. The eruption was both explosive and effusive. According to news, the eruption began at 2:45 a.m. with large explosions and lava fountains possibly up to 1 km high from the summit crater. Large incandescent bombs were ejected to considerable distances and showered the summit cone of the volcano. A 500 m long lava flow traveled down on the SW flank towards the Ceniza ravine. The eruption also produced an ash column reaching 5 km (16,000 ft altitude) and pyroclastic flows probably generated mostly by cascading lava blocks traveling down the steep cone’s flank into Las Lajas, El Jute y Ceniza valleys. Ash fall was reported from nearby villages mainly to the S and SW including Morelia, Panimaché I and II, Sangre Cristo and Yepocapa. (text : volcano discovery)
http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/31/worldwide-volcano-news/
Tuesday
22.05.2012
1.1 km
0.6
90.02
7.8 km NNE of Álftavatn
And that was the last time I am going to promise a new post the same day… Sigh…
Well, I am going to try to put one in now 🙂
Carl, second quake in this location… 6.2 km NNE of Álftavatn.
Too small to have any real meaning. It is not Hekla after all.
LOL!
I finally managed to publish a post, or more to the point, I found five minutes to press Publish on a post written by Diana Barnes that had been pre-edited by Spica.