I normally like to sum up the weeks happenings before we go into the weekend with a Name that Lava competition and a riddle. But i could not find much to report on volcanoes. We saw 2 bad earthquakes and aftershocks. One in Costa Rica and one in southwestern China. The death toll is unfortunately still rising. See Earthquake Report for more details.
Here is this weeks lava pic!
An extra point if this is solved within an hour! Good luck.
This weeks NtL image was sent in by someone who will stay anonymous for now and she/he also asks the questions and will, most likely go around shouting Ding Ding within an appropriate time.
Easy one this week, four points available
1) Q: What am I?
2) Q: Where am I?
3) Q: When was I born?
4) Q: What is the local savoury ‘fruit’?
Our evil riddle master Alan sent a new edition too. (Don’t ask me, i don’t know the answer.)
I sound as if my home area is from Eastern Europe-ish! Wrong! You may find a ruffed mouse tho’!
Where is my type locality?
What are my main constituents?
What rarity has been landed on my shores?
And i want to share 2 images. Both of something as unspectacular as sand. One was collected by a friend close to Gullfoss recently and the other sample originated in Riad, Saudi Arabia. Both images share a magnification of only 100 fold.
Have fun guessing and spend a nice weekend
Spica
Update:
As many of you have noticed I disappeared for a while. In the end even I have to work for my living, so I ended up with some 160 hour weeks.
During my leave of absence many people stepped up and helped out with marvelous posts that I am reading up on now. But I still would like to say a personal and heartfelt thank you to Spica. Nobody could have done a better job of it!
CARL
VolcanoCafé 
In our news there is a video http://iptv.orf.at/stories/2139951/ about San Cristobal erupting in Nicaragua
And i see ash and want to have it 😉 and take pictures
Before reading this comment any longer than this. While reading, add an ample supply of “ifs, buts, maybes, perhapses, and could bees”.
Something anomalous is happening in Katla. General GPS figures are moving in patterns that are pointing towards what could in the end be resulting in some sort of unrest. It could though equally well just end up with a large dyke emplacement, sill emplacement, or formation of a new cryptodome that is stable of the non eruptive type.
But, the movement is clear, it is not only up component motion, it also contains clear EW and NS components. Not all stations show this, but quite a few.
This could also in theory be isostatic rebound.
Worst case scenario could be that this is a larger emplacement of fresh magma. But we need more data, and especially a plot of Katlas GPS motion showing how the movement is overlaid on a map.
The reason I am calling for plots is that this motion is above normal background motion and merrits attention.
Here is a link to all GPS stations.
http://strokkur.raunvis.hi.is/~sigrun/KATLA.html
Daily Fail: No, this is not the start of the end of the world, moroons.
Daily Fail: you got to love them for persistence, if one thingy doesn’t happen they onto the next one.
welcome back
But, with Katla they are really persistant.
It is one of the few volcanoes I am reticent to write about since it would cause War Headlines from Daily Fail.
So, I really want to get the facts streight, and write as cooly as possible.
with Katla it is a ‘known’ volcano, there any many we don’t know much or not at all about which could be more of a problem
15,000 BP (approx)
& more recently: 2001, 2002-2003
Valle del Bove: (disputed) 5,000 to 6,000 BPor 50,000 BP (impressive difference ❗ )
Mongibelle: 8,460 BP & later
Bocca Nuova: 9-10 June 1968
NE Crater: 1955
SE Crater: 29 April 1978
But volcano building on the site of Etna may have started more than 500,000 BP.
Mornin All,
When was I born? 12 January 2011; start date of Etna’s Latest series of Paroxysms…
Did the Costa Rica earthquake start something which has caused Volcano San Cristobal to errupt and could this be a chain reaction?
No.
If it had been close it could have affected.
Judith, large earthquakes do not normally start eruptions unless they are pretty much within the system of the volcano, either within that particular faultline, or withing the volcanoes feeder.
The volcano would also need to be heavilly primed.
In this case it is wastly to far away to affect anything.
Seriously, there is no cascading effects like that at any place.
Carl, maybe in this case we shouldn’t rule out some kind of ‘kicking’ effect: there have been two large quakes on both sides of the volcano: the first one, the M7.3 off-shore El Salvador, in Aug. 27, only 140 km from S.Cristóbal and the second one, the 7.6 Costa Rican thrust quake on land, which was felt all over Nicaragua. Don’t you think that a small landslide in the conduit would accelerate an eruptive process that had been brewing since the past 2010-2011 eruption?
For Cordon Caulle, for instance, it has been largely accepted that both its last eruptions (1960-2011) were triggered from corresponding megathrust quakes with epicenters located in a much larger distance.
I remember reading that it all depends on the fissure system orientation with respect to the EQ’s faulting pattern, and that this ‘kicking’ effect could happen to volcanoes as far as 600 km from the epicenter, provided that the volcano is ready to blow and that it fits this orientation pattern.
I even remember Boris admitting something of the kind (just a little incentive from the quake if the volcano is about to blow).
Caveat: scientists from the Nicaraguan geological service have totally ruled out such a connection for San Cristóbal’s eruption. This is only my stubbornness talking for me.
🙂
More on the subject in my last comment posted below.
even the xmas quake/tsunami in Sumatra did not affect the supervolcano, lake Toba
They share a common cause: subduction of a plate.
I’ve been there too.
Toba is not the volcano we are looking for because it is far from erupting. The same goes for other Sumatran volcanoes.
As for Sinabung, when it had a phreatic explosion in 2010 there have been rumours of a link to the 2004 Adaman EQ. But how can we prove? I don’t think that Sinabung’s eruption had any connection to the quake, because it happened six years later.
But in a much longer time span, why shouldn’t a very active subduction zone produce more eruptable magma, which explains the intense volcanism like in Indonesia, Chile and Japan?
Questions, many questions, who knows the answer?
🙂
havent got time to check back through all the posts, but is the rock in Alans riddle, Sapphire or Corundum?
More Madagascan minerals: spodumene, samarskite, romanechite, muscovite, malachite, nekrasorite, sabinite ……..
celestine found at Sakoany (Sankoany), Kaominina Katsepy, Distrikan’ i Mitsinjo, Faritra Boeny, Faritanin’ i Mahajanga, Madagasikara.
“A famous locality that has produced tons of magnificent celestine specimen. It is located near the village of Sakoany, on the western side of the banks of the Betsiboka River (where it empties into the Bombetoka Bay), at the northwestern coast of Madagascar. It is further located about 12 km south of Katsepy, the nearest administrative centre.
The celestine-bearing layer is found in a maximum 30 m thick lens between layers of crinoidal limestones and sandy greywacke of the Danien period (Jurassic, 65 million years old). The celestine occurs mainly as 2 different types: as geodes in varying sizes [Ratsimabazafy (1973) reported a geode about 60 cm in diameter and weighing 54 kg], and as crystal clusters up to 15 cm in diameter. The yearly production is about 15 tons (Pezzotta 1999).” Source: Mindat.
You also get bird guano which has accumulated on coral limestone in the Mozambique Channel. it includes P2O5, CaO, H2O.
Dolomite, Gypsum, glauconite and sedimentary phosphates (also including collophanite) …..
But off to lunch now 😀
Arenites.
Also tonalitic to granite gneisses and migmatic paragneisses of the Sofia Groups on the Antananarivo Craton
So what are the answers and what are we still looking for? I was away yesterday and am finding it a bit difficult to get through the thread, is this correct:
1) Q: What am I? No answer yet
2) Q: Where am I? Etna
3) Q: When was I born? No answer yet
4) Q: What is the local savoury ‘fruit’? Arancini (which I thought were candied orange-peels, not meatballs…)
Where is my type locality? Madagascar
What are my main constituents? No answer yet
What rarity has been landed on my shores? No answer yet
Alan or Spica or the mysterious Dinger, is this correct (so I know what to still go googling for 😉 )?
The lava for NtL is trachybasalt.
For the evil riddle: we are missing the mineral / rock. the rarity was coelacanth (a fish).
If the type locality is not Madagascar, but it is something rare that is found there, then could it be Berlinite? Made of Aluminium, Phosphorus and Oxygen. The type locality if Vastana Iron Mine (Westana Mine), Nasum, Bromolla, Skane, Sweden.
There are 13 minerals/rocks with a type locality from Madagascar. Shall I go through the lot of them one at a time? 😉
Sure but Karen did it already i think and none sound eastern-europe-ish
All solved but i let the mysterious Dinger do the DINGing.
Alans riddle … maybe the stone is still open don’t know. I was so sure it would be your Muskovit until Alan said Madagaskar.
I have these to add to the possible minerals (ever thought of typing out the entire list of minerals – all 3,000+ and posting this as an answer 💡 ): rutile, monazite, beryl (green), chrysoberyls, biotite, charnockite and bastanite ……
Off to rescue lunch ….
Another try on Alan’s riddle: Maybe it is the whole Tsaratanana Mineral Field with the following dominant rock types: “talc, chlorite and tremolite schist, amphibolite, quartzite and biotite gneiss. The mineral field is bounded to the west and to the east by granitic migmatite”.
From: http://www.panafrican.com/props_Berere.asp
Includes gold, silver and galena.
People
I have a post ready, should we wait till the mysterious Dinger went around and till Alan solves his evil riddle or do you want reading stuff for a sunday afternoon. Vote yes or no.
Shouldn’t we give mysterious Dinger some more time to show up???
Ok then i ll wait
Just read this article from FB regular Bernard Duick’s blog about the relation between tectonic earthquakes and volcanic activity, including San Cristóbal and recent Mt. Fuji media hype (as has been called by Boris):
http://earth-of-fire.over-blog.com/pages/Tectonic_earthquakes_and_volcanic_eruptions_a_direct_relationship–8295549.html
It says there that also Telica volcano, a neighbour to San Cristóbal, has shown an increase in temperature.
Riddle
Type locality – not found
Compsoition – not found
Rarity – Kelda for Coelacanth
This is a ROCK I’m looking for,the type locality of which is on said Lemur land!!!
There are Lemur rocks on Madagaskar
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/photography/photos/visions-of-earth-wallpapers/lemurs-rocks-madagascar-alvarez/
It says :
Tsingy de Bemaraha, which started to form 1.8 million years ago as groundwater dissolved and shaped the porous limestone.
But that would be limestone and it does not sound eastern europeish.
But Quote Wikipedia: Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite. CaCo3 Calcium carbonate
Or: Late Miocene basanites of Nosy Be and Nosy Sakatia islands (Nosy Be Archipelago, northern Madagascar) carry spinel-facies anhydrous ultramafic xenoliths (lherzolites, harzburgites and wehrlites). From: http://sciencealerts.com/stories/1909154/Petrology_of_ultramafic_xenoliths_in_Cenozoic_alkaline_rocks_of_northern_Madagascar_nosy_be_archipelago.html
Lherzolite is a type of ultramafic igneous rock. It is a coarse grained rock consisting of 40 to 90% olivine along with significant orthopyroxene and lesser calcic chromium rich clinopyroxene. Minor minerals include chromium and aluminium spinels and garnets. Plagioclase can occur in lherzolites and other peridotites that crystallize at relatively shallow depths (20 – 30 km)
The ultramafic igneous rock, harzburgite, is a variety of peridotite consisting mostly of the two minerals, olivine and low-calcium (Ca) pyroxene (enstatite).
A wehrlite is an ultrabasic igneous rock dominated by essential olivine and clinopyroxene with or without small amounts of orthopyroxene. Accessory minerals include plagioclase, spinel, garnet, ilmenite, chromite and magnetite. Wehrlites are a peridotites and a minor component of the upper mantle where they form due to crystallisation of partial melts.
Hello all – all the DINGs are now given! Sorry you have had to wait, but I have only just returned from watching my son play rugby in 28 degrees C.
Answers are:
1) Lava – trachybasalt (Schteve42)
2) Place – Etna (Renato Rio)
3) When – 2001 (KarenZ)
4) ‘Fruit’ – Arancino (Renato Rio)
Well done all – I really thought this one would take a few minutes.
Me too, sorry i stole a little bit of your fun. I was so happy the boys joined in. Lately it had been becoming a ladies-only game. I like the challenge …
Shall i not reveal the identity? So you can have fun another time too? At the moment it would go in, so please yell HALT if you don’t want that.
Spica,
You are terrible!
You lured me into this: I wasn’t even thinking of NtL when you asked for the volcano of my preference!
Fowl game to lure us boys into the game! And if it weren’t for Denise and the others I would never have known it was a savory “fruit” we were looking for.
Congrats: you succeeded! Dragons DO exist and are dangerous critters!!!
And congratsh Shteve!!! Go-go-go-go-go-boys! (That was for Debbie)
🙂
OK. Now the last point goes for the author’s identity!
Mike Ross?
Not guilty on this occasion!
Liandratite, Londonite, Schiavinatoite, Manandonite, Behierite, Fluor-liddicoatite, Fluro-potassic-pargisite, Bityite, Grandidierite, Petscheckite, Pezzottaite, Hibonite, Betafite (of Hogarth 1977).
Most of these have been mentioned already I think – non of them particularly east European sounding.
Because we were talking about earthquakes and volcanoes: I saw the 5,6 Kuril Islands quake and went to check on the gangsters in Kamtchatka and noticed Bezymianny is on color code red since the first of september.
On Bezyamianny eruption (Sept. the 2nd):
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/view_news/14728/Bezymianni-volcano-Kamchatka-large-explosive-eruption-ash-to-34000-ft-10-km-altitude.html
Actually, the VONA was issued on 1 September when there was the big blast. It shows up as the lead item on KVERT’s website as it was the last VONA to be issued.
The alert status was dropped down soon after. Big bad Bez has been back at yellow for a week now.
Sniff no eruption to be watched on a webcam, while i am still at home but on holiday and would have had time to watch.
Anyone mentioned Sakenite? It’s a corundum-, spinel- and saphhirine-bearing anothitic to phlogopitic rock. Found at Sakeny, Fianarantsoa Province, Horombe Region, Ihosy District, Madagascar.
Having read VC comment on Katlatubo “buts, maybes, probablys etc.”- I like post link to MJO (located 5 km south of Hekla); still belive Heklatubo will come before Katlatubo. There was one tiny EQ 15 ENE of Hella town early this morning, but nothing special I guess. Storm warning is going into effect, a northerly storm (more than 20 m/s, 40 Kts) with rain and snow, is about to hit all of Iceland and show on all strain- & seismometers next 48 hrs. Likely this jump on MJO now is onset of the storm – Over course of this summer I have had feeling it is at “higher sensing setting” picking up everything in the vicinity with great precision, but Katlas meters be toned down as to discard better any hydro-thermal activity. Only time will tell if this is something or nothing.
*sorry for absense VC gang, been rather busy but am catching up on things*
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/oroi_mjo.html
“Ankaratra is an alkaline volcanic province in Central Madagascar,
well known as the type-locality for “ankaratrite”, a melanocratic
variety of biotite-bearing olivine nephelinite.”
Of course Ankara is European, on the eastern side.. 🙂
From: books.google.nl/books?isbn=1862390835
That sounds good – I hope it’s the answer – I should be doing my ironing! 😀
Me too!! Lots of things to do but little motivation!
Oh big evil one, let it be correct.
Thats the one i thought too. Pretty sure it must be the same place but it’s spelt differently – Ankarana Reserve is a small, partially vegetated plateau in northern Madagascar composed of 150-million-year-old middle Jurassic limestone. (wiki)
I saw it yesterday too, but did not see the link to “Eastern Europe-ish” then. Not sure which spelling is the best.
Another description:
“a melanocratic nephelite-basalt containing some feldspar, phenocrysts of olivine, microlites of titanaugite, and from 10 to 15 percent nephelite”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ankaratrite
Ladies and Gentlemen. We proudly announce the installment of a new dragon! Grimmster is on his best way to become immortal and joined the ranks of the ( what did Renato say Terrible? ) Wicked sly, sometimes friendly dragons! Happy Birthday new dragon.
Hurrah! Is he going to have a special dragon name? Although Grimmster is already a good name for a dragon! 😀
Congratulations Grimmster, and please teach us how to become like you! 🙂
Concerning next years “Festival of rare plants” in Hex/Heers Belgium: It would be a great pleasure to meet some of you there next year in June! No active volcano around but still a fascinating place.
To give the ladies an excuse for not ironing..
New post is up!
https://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/update-on-san-cristobal-and-answers-to-ntl-xxii-and-the-evil-riddle/
How did you know that ironing was in my plan for this afternoon? 😀
Join the crew Talla is on board as well as me.
Alexandrite? ….this is giving me a headache!!
Interesting article discussing connections between tectonic earthquakes and if they have any relevance to a volcanic erruption…
It is in French and will need to be translated.
http://earth-of-fire.over-blog.com/article-seismes-tectoniques-et-eruptions-volcaniques-un-rapport-direct-109845066.html
This is only part of another article:
,,
The influence of great earthquakes on volcanic eruption rate along the Chilean subduction zone ,,
The full report can be found on :
http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:154f9dd9-2dfb-4809-ac06-baff258feecd
Edited/ shortened by volcanocafe2.
@ 👿 Vorobyevite or vorobievite as well as other spelling variations – A variety of Beryl. The name applied to both colourless caesium-bearing beryls from the Urals and rose-coloured and colourless alkali-rich beryls from Madagascar.