Fig 1. The Milky Way over Lake Manzanita with the Chaos Crags, Lassen Peak and Brokeoff Mountain in the background (Wally Pacholka, astropics.org)
This article began as a regular piece on Lassen Peak but quickly expanded as I discovered how incredibly complex the geology and history of the Lassen Volcanic Complex was. Unlike nearby Shasta, Lassen Peak is but a dacite lava dome, one of the largest lava domes on Earth but only one of the dozens of lava domes and peaks to be found within the Lassen Volcanic National Park. Before we begin to unravel the very complex history of eruptions, collapses and glacial erosion, it is a good idea to acquaint ourselves with the area and its main features:
Fig 2. Major features of the Lassen Volcanic Complex. The most important ones are Brokeoff Mountain, the major remnant of ancestral Mount Tehama, Lassen Peak itself and the Chaos Crags. Please note the extent of volcanic features within the Park. (USGS)
Volcanic activity in the area goes back at least three million years. About 600,000 years ago, contemporary with the formation of nearby Mount Shasta, a series of large eruptions formed a huge volcano, Mount Tehama. Just to put it into perspective, the largest of these eruptions was about 50 times as powerful as the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens or five times that of Mount Pinatubo. Mount Tehama was immense. At its base, it measured 18 km (11 miles) by 24 km (15 miles) wide and it stood more than 3,353 m (11,000 feet) tall. Its total volume must have been well in excess of 400 kubic kilometres, a rough calculation yields a volume of 425 cu km, comfortably larger than either present-day Mount Shasta or Mount Hood, both of which have volumes of about 350 cubic kilometres.
Fig 3. Brokeoff Mountain, a sad remnant of what was once the largest of the Cascade volcanoes. (Sing H. Lin, shltrip.com)
Activity at Mount Tehama continued for about 200,000 years and consisted mostly of pyroclastics and andesitic lava flows containing olivine. During the same period of time, other volcanic vents began to appear such as the shield volcanoes Raker Peak, Red Mountain, Prospect Peak and Mount Harkness. The distances from the central volcano, never more than eight miles, argues that they were satellite cones of Mount Tehama. As for the central volcano itself, there was a final, large lava flow on the north-eastern flank consisting of glassy dacite and further dacite flows formed smaller cones such as Mount Conard and Diamond Peak on the flanks of Mount Tehama.
Fig 4. Diamond Peak, a dacitic satellite cone of Mount Tehama. (vibadirect.com)
Subsequent glaciation combined with extensive hydrothermal activity led to major erosion and to a subsequent collapse of Mount Tehama of which today the only visible, large remnant is Brokeoff Volcano, also known as Brokeoff Mountain. The collapse structure, a caldera about 3 km (2 miles) in diameter, was quickly infilled by debris and material from later eruptions. Further activity built more than thirty other cones which are sometimes referred to as the Lassen Domes.
As we have already seen, Mount Tehama began life as a rather typical andesitic stratovolcano, but subsequent activity became more and more silicic. After its collapse and disappearance, local volcanism shifted to what had been its northern flank. The last 400,000 years have seen at least three known lava flows, parts of which can be seen on or near Raker Peak and Mount Conard. There is also evidence of a very large explosive eruption which ejected an estimated 50 km3 (12 cubic miles) of material and created a large crater which was soon obliterated by subsequent lava flows and emplacements. During this period, a further twelve lava domes were emplaced throughout the Park area. The next period of eruptive activity spanned some 50,000 years and ejected between 15 to 25 km3 (3.5 to 6 cubic miles) in the form of pyroclastic flows, viscous lava flows and mainly dacitic lava domes.
Fig 5. Lassen Peak showing the cirque gouged out by the period of glaciation from 25 to 18 kA. It also shows the area devastated by lahars and the 1915 major eruption. (Wikimedia Commons)
About 27,000 years ago,Lassen Peak started to form as a mound-shaped dacite lava dome pushed its way through the shattered north-eastern flank of Mount Tehama. As the lava dome grew, it shattered overlaying rock, which formed a collar of angular talus around the steep-sided volcanic dome. Lassen Peak reached its present dimensions of nearly two km across at the base and prominence of 606 metres above the surrounding landscape in a remarkably short time, probably in just a few years or at most tens of years.
From 25,000 to 18,000 years ago, during the last glacial period of the current Ice Age, the shape of Lassen Peak was significantly modified by glacial erosion. The bowl-shaped depression – cirque – on the volcano’s north-eastern flank is the result of erosion by a glacier that extended some 11 km (7 miles) from the dome.
To inject a piece of human history, Lassen Peak was named after the Danish blacksmith Peter Lassen (most likely an Americanisation of Larsen), who guided immigrants in covered wagons past this peak into the Sacramento Valley during the 1830s. The trail that Lassen blazed never found general long-term use because it was considered to be unsafe.
Fig 6. A beautiful sunset view with reflection of the pink Chaos Crags in the still waters of Lake Manzanita. The Chaos Crags, a series of five dacite lava domes, were extruded as recently as 1,100 to 1,000 years ago. (Sing H. Lin, shltrip.com)
Just over 1,000 years ago, a major period of activity resulted in the extrusion of five dacite lava domes that form the 177 metres high Chaos Crags. Initially, they must have been considerably higher as a major rockslide occurred just 300 years ago. Riding on a cushion of compressed air, the sturzstrom landslide travelled 20 to 30 times the vertical fall height and resulted in the formation of beautiful Lake Manzanita, 3 km (2 miles) from the Chaos Crags.
The most recent period of activity at Lassen Peak took place between 1914 and 1921. After 27,000 years of dormancy, Lassen Peak was shaken by a steam explosion on May 30th, 1914. By mid-May 1915, more than 180 steam explosions had gouged out a 300 metre-wide (1,000 ft) crater near the summit. On the evening of May 14th, 1915 the character of the eruption changed dramatically as incandescent blocks of lava could be seen bouncing down the flanks of Lassen Peak from as far away as the town of Manton, 30 km to the west. Next morning, the crater had been filled by a rapidly growing dacite lava dome.
Late in the evening of May 19th, the lava dome was fragmented by a large hydrothermal explosion. Glowing blocks of lava fell on the summit and snow-covered upper flanks of Lassen Peak and launched an 800 metre (half mile) wide avalanche of snow and volcanic rocks that roared 10 km (6 miles) down the volcano’s steep northeast flank, over a low ridge at Emigrant Pass and into Hat Creek. The lahar was deflected north-westward at Emigrant Pass and flowed more than 11 kilometres (7 miles) down Lost Creek. During the night of May 19–20th, dacite lava slightly less viscous than that which erupted on the night of May 14–15th, welled up into and filled the new crater at Lassen’s summit, spilled over low spots on its rim, and flowed 300 metres (1,000 ft) down the steep west and northeast flanks of the volcano.
Fig 7. This view of the climactic eruption of May 22nd, 1915, was taken from Anderson, California, more than 33 km (20 miles) from the volcano. (smate.wwu.edu)
At 4:30 p.m. on May 22nd 1915, Lassen Peak exploded after two quiet days in what is referred to as “the Great Explosion”. The eruption column rose more than 10,000 metres (30,000 ft) and was visible from as far away as the Pacific coast 240 km (150 mi) to the west.
The blast created the larger and deeper of the two craters seen near the summit of the volcano today. Pyroclastic flows devastated an area of 8 km2 (3 sq miles) below the volcano, and melting snow created a series of lahars that rushed nearly 16 km (10 miles) down “Lost Creek” to the Old Station. The lahars released large masses of water that flooded the lower Hat Creek Valley a second time. A layer of volcanic ash and pumice was traceable for 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast and fine particles of ash rained down as far away as 320 km (200 mi) to the east.
For several years after the main eruption, rainfall triggered steam explosions indicative of fresh lava just below the surface, and in May 1917, a series of vigorous hydrothermal explosions obliterated the two older craters and dug out the second of the two summit craters visible today. It was not until 1921 that the eruptive period was officially declared over.
Fig 8. The sulphur and mud springs of Bumpass Hell located near to what was the central vent of Mount Tehama. (Sing H. Lin, shltrip.com)
Mount Tehama today. Activity at the Lassen Volcanic complex is far from over. There are several areas of hot springs and fumaroles of which the Sulphur Works and the hot mud springs at Bumpass Hell on the Lassen trail are the most well known. With major eruptive activities during the Holocene, the area around Mount Lassen, which more accurately ought to be referred to as Mount Tehama, and the nearby Mount Shasta are considered to be the most likely volcanoes in the Cascade Range to erupt during the coming decades and centuries. Should they do so during our lifetimes, it is not inconceivable that we might see a repeat of the rapid growth of Mount Shastina, Lassen Peak or the Chaos Crags. I for one would much rather see this volcanic creation process than a truly huge eruption that has a “human impact”, to put it euphemistically…
HENRIK
For further stunning views of the Lassen Volcanic National Park, please visit
http://www.astropics.com/Lassen-Volcanic-National-Park-Pictures/
http://vibadirect.com/photos/lassen-volcanic-trip.html
http://www.shltrip.com/Northern-California_Part_1.html
Great article!
But I think you may have left out the eruption in 1666 at cinder cone. Great article nonetheless.
I left a lot out of the article! I did so deliberately as to fully cover all things of interest and every eruption would have resulted in an article much too long for anyone but the most persevering to plow through. Just take a look at all the red dots in Fig 2 which represent volcanic features!
Okay.
But one interesting thing to note is how most of the mafic features of the field are concentrated on the east.
I think I will just put a link here.
http://www.siskiyous.edu/class/xnh0320/LassenGuide2011.pdf
Nice summary cum factsheet!
Henrik, you are really on a roll. A great series of articles. Well done!
Cheers Bruce! There’s still PLENTY of volcanic centers in North America to choose from for those who would like to take a shot at it.
Thanks Henrik, another triumph 🙂
I’ve done an article on one of the North American systems, nothing too in depth; I discovered that they are pretty ‘kin complicated and never got round to the technical follow up…
Thanks Steve. Yep they are indeed “pretty ‘kin complicated”, none more so than the one I’m working on currently. Just getting the basic information about age, general composition, height asl and prominence so you can put the features in relation to each other and present a coherent overview is a big challenge.
Great article, Henrik! Enjoyed it very much.
Thanks Tyler, Cbus, Dfm, glad you enjoyed it!
Quite an interesting area, that’s for sure! I didn’t realize that the 1900’s eruption of Lassen was from after a very long period of dormancy.
Great article. Very interesting. Makes one want to buy a plane ticket….
And deal with the degenerate TSA perverts? No thank you.
You mean the guys with rubber gloves that want to fondle you as you enter the US? Funny guys.
Although, they are better than the Israeli guys who opened four cassettes (yes, once upon a time music came on cassettes) and replaced the arabic music I had on them with Klezmer music and re-cellophaned them so they looked untouched.
But the worst I have ever seen was in Canada… Cheech & Chong as border-guards, and they went at it for 24 hours.
DragonEdit: Image removed. Do not post images from movieblog . com in the future. It was not me (Carl) that posted this image, it was inserted later. The person who inserted it did not know about the movieblog . com hacking thing.
US I for some reason just get waived through the customs. Russia I am not even gonna try, I know what would happen then.
Cheech and Chong. Indeed !
And sort of picking up from the conversation on the previous thread. I didn’t mean to say that I expect Aira to erupt (as a caldera itself). I was more or less just using that to explain how SakuraJima can have intermittent more powerful eruptions (VEI-4 range) despite it’s near constant activity.
I was thinking that when the activity first started earlier this year. There was no heightened activity before then. I commented on a post at eruptions. There was a presentation on that. Before 1991 it seems like there was more powerful activity. I know it has been posted, but here it is again. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/documents/iguchi.pdf
I agree with you cbus. The idea that a volcano has less chance of a big eruption forming because it is constantly letting off pressure doesn’t really wash with me. If we are talking about systems with large reservoirs of crystal mush or something close to it, the last thing you want is a drop in pressure because that is precisely what drops the solidus and turns a body of crystal mush into melt, i.e. bad news. I suspect that a lot of these systems are poised close to certain critical tipping points. Most of the time the systems don’t get tipped into large eruption because the conditions never quite eventuate in the right combination, but when they do they can suddenly go awol on us.
Just my uneducated 2c.
It is letting off pressure, but I think it is not enough to prevent a larger event.
Well, in most cases, when volcanoes relieve pressure and have open systems, it’s pretty true that they will actively deflate or simply will avoid inflation during this period. This is indicative of the vent actively serving as a pressure release valve. But just because this happens at most volcanoes doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the case 100% of the time. Even at SakuraJima, there was a period of deflation in the 70’s when it was more active than usual, but as an overall “trend” it’s been inflating despite erupting ever since it’s been active in the last 100 years.
As for Carl’s comment about inflation at the north end of the caldera – it may be relevant to know that there have been eruptions from the caldera at areas other than SakuraJima. There is a Maar (Sumiyoshi-ike) that produced 4km pyroclastic surges outside the Northwest bounds of the caldera, and I’m pretty sure there was a large eruption around 13,000 years ago on the northeast end of the caldera that left a decent sized nested caldera. I can’t find any sources for that right now, so I’m not entirely too sure of the details, but I’m pretty sure there has been more activity than just SakuraJima here.
“In the north eastern corner of the Aira caldera is the submarine Wakamiko caldera. The Wakamiko
caldera is younger (0.016 Ma) and smaller (approximately 6 x 3 km) than the Aira caldera.”
http://www.numo.or.jp/en/reports/pdf/TR-09-02-5.pdf
For what it’s worth, Wakamiko sits just barely south of Kirishima at the Northern end of the the Aira caldera.
Well I guess what I am trying to say is that there is pressure and pressure.
The classical intuitive understanding is that pressure means something might snap. Overpressure could lead to fault propagation, the opening of a path to the surface, consequent eruption of dense magmas (or at least denser than the surrounding crust) as they get squeezed out by top pressure acting downwards on the magma reservoir. This would be your typical effusive eruption.
But stickier magmas are a different kettle of fish. No doubt the vulcanian activity of Sakurajima, Anak Krakatau, etc. is also largely due to top pressure acting on the system, squeezing it up towards the surface where the pressure falls below the threshold needed for fragmentation, i.e. bubbles form in the magma and it explodes in the crater. This explains the vast majority of the activity we see on a day to day basis.
BUT, what I could imagine, in certain critical conditions, is that such vulcanian activity, if vigorous enough could open a vent wide enough to lower the point in the conduit where fragmentation occurs. If you reached a certain critical depth, you might just reach one of these tipping points where fragmentation extended into the chamber itself as the pressure dropped, leading to a cascading effect and eruption of an ignimbrite sheet as the crystal mush kind of flashed into eruptible magma.
Does that make sense?
Frighteningly so. Imagine a submarine ignimbrite eruption just south of a major human settlement…
Like the bottom of Lake Taupo for example … I cringe just thinking about it.
According to GVP, Sakura-jima produced a VEI 6 in 6200 BC +/- 1000 years from the Wakamiko Caldera.
http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=282080
I agree with you. The idea of an active volcano not being able to ramp it up just do not wash with me either.
Yes, for some volcanoes it probably does the trick, for instance Tondano has had one VEI-8 and then 1 million years later a VEI-7, but that is it. Then you have Amatitlán who have done 7 VEI-7 ignimbrite eruptions in the last 360 000 years with a number of side vents more or less constantly active.
As you said Bruce, there needs to be a bunch of things happening at the same time, but if those happen it will blow, active flanking cones or not.
It iis also true that Sakurajima previously had fewer but larger eruptions compared to today. But, when all of a sudden a constantly erupting small scale volcano keep up the frequency of eruptions while the magnitude increases. And if that volcano draws its magma from a big honking caldera, then I would start looking at depth at what is happening. And with the uplft taking place… Me no likee.
Or Taupo that in a period of 40,000 years produced a VEI 8 bracketed by three VEI 7s, the last two of which were simultaneous, and then 200,000 years later has another period 50,000 years long that produces another VEI 8 bracketed by two VEI 7s.
@ Dragons, please check the den at your convenience…
There’s a proto, crowd sourced, re- launch awaiting your perusal and input…
@ All, check the Klyuchevskoy webcams, you wont regret it…
This the best right now:
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/video_camera/Klyuchevskoy2.html
Stunning!
Both extremely majestic. I think Kliu has just become my favorite volcano.
Way too good-looking! The ‘Hollywood’ volcano!!
And while all eyes are on the pretty boy, the bad lad across the valley just keeps on banging away several times a day (that cone seems to be getting really quite big now)
It’s a clear, crisp day in Kamchatka, beautiful light.
And to complement schteve’s gallery of Adonis Klyu I am adding two animated gifs… err… jpgs of the beautiful boy at Russian dawn:
Links to the webcam’s websites here: http://volcams.malinpebbles.com/pubweb/Kamchatka.htm
Lovely! Activity just seems to ramp up and there’s five continuous weeks of it as well.
I don’t know which one is better but both are awesome
And regarding the den, I was reading the Encylcopedia of Volcanoes, specifically the chapter on caldera formation. The klyuchevskoi group fills every little check-box… That one is gonna blast one day, mark my words. I will get back with an article of caldera formation soon.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall…
If you travel further south, I would think Kronotsky fits a lot of that checklist as well outside the fact that it hasn’t been as active.
@ Henrik, great article 😀
The submarine eruption near Jebel Zubair is continuing. Here’s today’s SO2 plot from Aura (NASA):
And here’s a good plot of emissions since the start of the eruption (NASA):
PS thanks for a really nice article!
Check out the Northern Lights visible here at the moment: http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/thingvellir/
OT… here is a picture of a rock. As you can see from the plaque, it’s not an ordinary rock.
Working on it. The site evidently doesn’t want anyone to see it lest you are on their server.
Meanwhile, you can find quite a few of the images here.
You can find this grave marker in Cobh Ireland. (Formerly Queenstown). This was the port that received the victims and survivors of the RMS Lusitania sinking in 1915.
Now for the tidbit that not a lot of people know. In 1912, Queenstown was the last port of call for the RMS Titanic.
Thanks. Very cool.
Having been a sailor, and having seen what the open ocean is like, it felt really weird standing there at that mass grave. One of the more horrendous losses of life at sea.
MV Wilhelm Gustloff was much greater… but I don’t know how to square that with world history and karma.
From a qui bono point of view, you have to wonder why Wilhelm Gustloff was revisited after the sinking and the entire mid section of the ship was destroyed.
Coupled with the SS General von Steuben‘s loss of 4000+ souls, that puts Soviet submarine S-13 casualty count at a very evil level.
Thanks for this history lesson. I had never heard of either of these ships, which just proves that I know nothing about German sea history. Except for the Bismark.
The German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and the M/S Wilhelm Gustloff were built side by side on adjacent slipways at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. Hipper was also present at the sinking of Gustloff but with 1500 refugees onboard and a submarine in the vicinity, her skipper made the harrowing but correct decision not to stop to pick up survivors. It was a still night and the screams of the dying were apparently heard across the Baltic on the east coast of the Swedish province of Skåne.
The captain of S 13, Captain (3rd rank) Aleksandr Marinesco, was not given credit for the Gustloff for a very long time (many years after his death in 1963) as he was very unpopular with his superiors and known to exaggerate his claims as he a few months earlier had sunk “a 5,000-ton steamer” that turned out to be a small coastal freighter of 563 tons…
Marinesco was also responsible for sinking the 6000 ton General von Steuben with the loss of 3,600 lives but reported it as a ship of 20,000 tons. Another of the Baltic tragedies was the 5,230 ton M/S Goya, sunk in April 1945 with some 6,000 to 7,000 people on board according to German sources. The ship broke in two and sank within seven minutes. The temporary wooden stairways out of her holds broke under the weight of the mass of humans trying to get out. It is thought that at least 6,000 people lost their lives.
And, the Hospital ship Mercy was built at the same quay as the Exxon Valdez.
I know because I sat and watched it from Pier one at Naval Station San Diego. National Steel and Shipbuilding Company was next door.
“Memories, lost to time, like tears in the rain.”
(pardon the Blade Runner quote)
And Exxon Valdez is nowadays known as Oriental Nicety and is currently being scraped on the Gujarat Cost.
But, what most people do not know is that she was orignally meant to be named after Condoleezza Rice who had served as a member of the board on Exxon Shipping Company.
Instead Chevron (also a board position she had held) named a smaller tanker after her… This one a double-hull tanker. It was though renamed in 2001 to the Altair Voyager. Instead one of the CVANs was suggested to be named after her, but that was dropped since she has never been a president, and the need to have one to name “Enterprise” since the US nnever goes without a capital class ship with that name.
That scrapping operation is in friken sane.
They take the ship and aim it at full speed (that they can get) at the shore and run it hard aground at high tide. Then the salvage weenies come out and start cutting away. Sometimes with dire effects, like falling segments of plate steel.
Dunno, maybe they have improved the safety over the years, but it’s still a bit risky.
““Enterprise” since the US nnever goes without a capital class ship with that name.”
Give it time. Soon “Receivership” will be the name of choice… and the countries motto will no longer be “Home of the Brave”… it will be replaced with “We can hear you now.”
If memory serves the US did not have Battleship named Enterprise. But, the CVAN-80 will be the new one, continuing a trend with all of them being named after presidents with the exception of Enterprise and Nimitz (Admiral). Nimitz was the last named in the more time honoured way.
The picture is not coming through for me. Anyone else having this problem?
It’s a hosting site issue. Not anything you did incorrectly. I was just looking at it a few minutes ago and now get a 404 error.
Some sites get like that when they don’t want you to see an image off of their server without going through their web page.
My work around is to provide the link to the Google image search that yields that and many more images.
Never knew about the Gustoff,or the Von Stuben -S-13 story either. Very grim.
I know my late father-n-law had a whole company of Wehrmacht regulars surrender to his Tank commander-so they wouldn’t be taken by the Red Army…
The red army didn’t treat them very well to put it lightly. But the soviets essentially won the war in Europe, but with plenty of US/UK supplies(Which they would suffer greatly without).
Well, Stalin did have a bone to be chewed…
Ya want irony? Look into the history of the hull design for the S-13.
The Nautilus is just starting up the slope of the Noroit Seamount from a depth of 1800 meters. This should be a 12 hour dive, so it might be perfect watching for you Euro’s with your morning coffee. They think this seamount is volcanic rock and will be taking samples of the rocks.
Large quake, 7.2 R in Phillipeans, showing up in Iceland
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/strain/1sec/index.html
Saw that -USGS shows several 5.0+ aftershocks..USGS has a “due to government
shutdown” post as you go to the site….
Same for NASA and spaceweather (solar flares etc.) -Earthquakes and solar flares are non essential you know…
Another swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge.
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/reykjanesridge
Check our Sakurajima. And I can’t get my screen capture to work!
http://www.opentopia.com/webcam/8683?viewmode=livevideo
Is the vent moving down the right side of that spewing hill? It seems to me that it is but I hawe been known to be in error old eyes prob
It just seems to be rolling down the mountain out of the vent.
http://webcam-svo2.pr.kyoto-u.ac.jp/local/camera.html
Gina, I had that same thought yesterday. I could not find any previous photos to compare with Sakurajima, but definitely moving down.
Agree!
“spewing hill”
I like that. It’s as simple as “Bob” and it relates to the observational evidence. I say we either apply that name to the thing, or reserve it for a future volcanic feature.
given the direction of the wind, might be just steam and as being blown over the top,
but then again, i wouldn’t want to be in front of it either.
No, it’s mostly ash. And a lot of it!
Of course, now that I said that, it has gotten much quieter and is now pretty much steam. 😦
But not for long! 😀
Dang it! I meant “Ash” not ”as” need new bifocals,,,,
Sakurajima:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=pymx4&s=5#.UlzElNIqiSo
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=a3o0tc&s=5#.UlzE89IqiSo
Eerie looking. Thanks, Bobbi.
Excellent post. Thanks to Henrik for a great article. And thanks to all who contribute. It’s not just a simple task to write these posts. A lot of work researching, composing, writing, revising. I used to write reports and speeches so I understand how much work it is.
Sadly from the webcam i was capturing, it was cloudy all day long..i did notice a prolonged emission of ash peeked out from the cloud cover after mid-day..but the video is not worth posting
I recently read that after the great Tolbachic fissure eruption there was an eruption of Klyuchevskoy; this has obviously happened again this time around. I know they are both quite close to each other; are the magma chambers linked at all? Do they share the same system? I remember at the start of the most recent eruption of Tolbachic someone here produced a plot of the Earthquakes in the area that was quite interesting, I think Bruce Stout may have done it. Has the data become difficult to find?
If you check out the plot archive, https://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/plot-archive/, there are two 3D plots by dfm and me 🙂
They are the ones! Thank you so much chryphia; it was a case of mistaken identity! I tdoes though look a bit of a mess under those hills!
True, more Impressionist pictures than Bauhaus 😉
Hi Chris
this one may interest you. It dates back to June, with a windowed number of quakes for a better visibility.
thank you dfm.
Thanks for the indirect (and misplaced) accolades Chris! Wish I were but I am most definitely not one of the plotters among us!
Thanks for the well-written article, Henrik! Here is a short video of the Lassen´s eruption from 1914:
Fantastic, thanks!
Klyuchevskoy alert status up to RED this morning – increased activity and ash plume to 10000 m
.. and back down to Orange again
Another small swarm in the Reykjanes area. directly west of the last.
Here is the last ~20 hours “uncut” of Klyucheskoy. The best time it jsut before dawn on the 2nd veiw, where the infrared glow eases off and the lava flow becomes more evident..then the infrared swtiches off and you can see the orange lava flow as capture by Scheve42 above
Thank you very much! It is amazing to see the ash cloud rise over the hours.
Wow!
Thanks Greg, these also give us a look at the activity at the flank vent/ rootless cinder cone.
I would guess that it is steam occasionally rising/exploding from the base of the mountain due to lava in contact with ice/snow? The 60 second capture sequence can exagerate the ash/steam to look more energetic than it actually is.
Great work Greg 🙂
Nice Greg. Bezymianny gives off a few puffs of steam, lava dome still extruding there?
A Google Earth image with the approximate Kliuchevskoy webcam locations:
From North: http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/video_camera/Klyuchevskoy2.html
From South-East: http://www.emsd.ru/video/BZG/img_1.jpg
From West: http://www.emsd.ru/video/Bezymianny/img_1.jpg
Thanks chrypia, this makes it much easier to understand the situation!
Thanks for that chryphia, the html link above does have a link to a jpg embedded, but the website seems a bit slow to respond to my script, its only managed to capture 3 images in about an hour. The current images is reporting a download time of 2 hours 😦
Its a shame because that camera appears to provide a close up.
my bad…found bug in my script..will fix it and try again.
“…She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging” for fixing computer glitches (inspired by an actual moth removed from the computer)”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Hopper
Note (For all): Early electronic computers were vast assemblages of vacuum tubes and relays. One of the primary problems that they were used to solve was cryptanalysis of cryptologic systems. (See Alan Turing for more info) At the time, fire control computers were mechanical and gear driven devices, much like the Antikythera mechanism. 2200+ years old and probably just as complex in concept as some of the later mechanical gun firecontrol computers of the 20th Century.
And regarding Admiral Grace Hopper, she was when she retired at almost 80 years the oldest ever Admiral in service and most likely the oldest ever navy personel in active service in any country.
As she was sent into retirement she hoisted the middle finger and went to work for Digital Equipment Company untill the day she died (92).
There is not one day that you are not using something she invented, pioneered or developed. All code today is compiled, she invented it. Does it include modern computer language? Guess Who???
Nickname is Amazing Grace for a reason…
“and most likely the oldest ever navy personel in active service in any country”
Erm…
The list for English Admirals of 1840:
Over 90 years of age – 1
Between 90 and 80 – 7
Between 70 and 80 – 25
Between 70 and 65 – 7
Under 65 – 1
As English admirals up until the middle-to-late 19th Century only retired upon death, died on the job as it were, there were several ancient examples of men still employed. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, GCB (12 April 1791 – 13 February 1892) was 100 years old when he “retired”. The Admiralty suggested he retire when he reached his late nineties, as being on the active list meant he was liable for calling up for a seagoing command. Wallis instead replied he was ready to accept one!
Sir Provo Wallis was not the only ancient man to hold an important command in his 90s or 80s. Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rose Sartorius GCB (1790 – 1885) was 95 when the Grim Reaper claimed him. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Fairfax Moresby GCB (1786 – 1877) was 91 as was Admiral of the Fleet Sir Francis William Austen, GCB (1774 – 1865) at time of their respective “retirements”. Admiral Sir Charles Bullen (1769 – 1853) was 84 . Admiral Sir William Bowles (1780 – 1869) was 89, Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Francis Seymour, GCB, GCH, PC (1787 – 1870) was 82, Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Martin GCB, GCMG (1764 – 1847) was 83, Admiral Sir David Milne, GCB , RN (1763 – 1845) was 82, Admiral Sir Robert Barlow GCB (1757 – 1843) was 85, Vice-Admiral Sir Davidge Gould GCB (1758 – 23 April 1847) was 89, Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Hall Gage GCB GCH (1777 – 1864) was 86, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Graham Eden Hamond, GCB (1779–1862) was 83, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas John Cochrane GCB (1789 – 1872) was 83, Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Francis Seymour, GCB, GCH, PC (1787 – 1870) was 82 and Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, GCB (1802 – 1887) was 84.
In the late 18th and 19th Centuries, it was common to award a distinguished officer a pension, a benefit many of the above were the recipients of. Pension in those days did not equal retirement. It was not a pension as we think of it but a “de gratui”, a reward for services rendered in addition to whatever pay their current employment merited.
Sorry Carl, but your 80-year old female admiral is nowhere near the record-breaker even if the list of her accomplishments is outstanding.
To the list of active octa- and nonagenarians that comfortably outstrip “Amazing Grace” should be added that great Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria (30 November 1466 – 25 November 1560) , who died at the ripe old age of 93 and fought the French, who had seized Corsica in in 1553 in his late 80s. Doria was summoned to command the counterattack against the invading French, and he spent two years (1553–1555) on the island fighting them with varying fortune. When he retired from active duty in 1555, he was 88 years old…
Iceland is having a swarm at both TFZ and off the Reykjanes Penisula:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/reykjanespeninsula/
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/tjornes-small/
Great article Henrick! Great debate. Thanks a lot!
Thanks again for another great article, Henrik!
There is a typhoon headed for Japan. Not good news for Sakurajima watching. Even worse news for the already troubled Fukushima nuclear plant
Nice little webGL based 4D toy for USGS eq visualization:
http://www.ninepointfive.org/
Downside is, zoom is not possible and it stops 2010.
Mw 7.1, BOHOL, PHILIPPINES, 2013-10-15 00:12:33.0 UTC, 9.92 N ; 124.10 E, Depth 15 km
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=339139#summary
Sadly Earthquake Report is reporting 97 killed, injuries and much damage: http://earthquake-report.com/2013/10/15/very-strong-earthquake-mindanao-philippines-on-october-15-2013/
& http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24530042
97? According to the probability calculations, it could have been higher
It is higher now. ER (same link as above) are reporting the latest death toll as 107.
Here is an article about the Russian Volcano Karymsky and the eruption that turned the formerly pristine Karymsky Lake into toxic chemical soup: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/dantes-peak-real-volcanic-eruption-creates-deadly-acid-lake-8C11396230
And Sakurajima is wow!! http://www.opentopia.com/webcam/8683?viewmode=livevideo
The “spewing hill” for sure. Anyone need a little ash for their garden? 😀
I would like to have the auto air filter concession
Back in 1980- a local auto parts store stocked up on filters (this was Tri-Cites Wa.)
in April-seems the owner spent time in Alaska and the Philippines . His effort was welcomed by the locals as St.Helens blew.-in May…;-)
indeed a new filter every week is cheaper than a replacement engine
a debated with some mechanics what was more hazardous to a engine volcano dust or valve grinding compound in the oil came down to keep both out or pay dearly
“spewing hill” seems to be getting more energetic the last burst got over the top of the camera”s view before the shadow was half way to the shore
Olga Girina has published som stunning photos from KVERT over on the FB-outpost. Klyuchevskoy have really started to go big. Fire fountains running 700 – 800 meters in height.
Sorry, but I do not have time to publish the photos. Perhaps someone else can put in a couple.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/189749654542072/
There ya go… this the only one available now.
Here is the direct link to KVERT: http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php
Webcam links are on the right of the screen. Good black and white images at the moment on some of the cams.
And here’s a link to the library of images for Klyuchevskoy:
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current_eng.php?pageNum_img=0&name=Klyuchevskoy
Kliuchevekoy peaking through the cloud cover on Lance Terra/Modis image from today, 00:05. Red in the false color image indicates deep infrared, i.e. heat:
Edit: hmm, the red dot is not visible at this image resolution, but you can check directly:
http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/imagery/realtime.cgi
Hiya Gang!
I’m still alive and kicking!
A somewhat chaotic year with plenty of sidewinders thrown at me, a few new ventures in the offing and some travelling done to sundry outlandish places not worthy of mention.
I may come back to the fold if you’ll have me and if I have the time with my new hobby – driving railway locomotives!!!
Best wishes and good health to you all
Alan C
(he of the multitude alias’)
Then chugg your way to the Café! Welcome back! 🙂
So glad to see you around, Alan!! Wish you will find some time to share with the rest of this flock. Missed you! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hello, Alan. Good to hear from you.
WhoooHoooo! Great to see you back! 😀
Great to have you back! Now, where’s Phil Harding’s Greasy Hat?
Nice to hear from you gain, Alan. 😀
Where do you get to drive the locomotives?
Hi Alan, Welcome back !
Hi Alan, Welcome back 🙂
Have you had to work your way up from porter via guard and fireman? Are you driving the Schnowden cog train?
Please do hang around and natter; it’s great to “see” you?
Happy to hear that you have gotten some locomotion 🙂
Ooo! A 2-4-4 engine!
Hi Alan Welcome back! here is a run by salute of SP’s 4449 ….
Researchers: Yellowstone Eruption Not Due in Next 2 Million Years
So, pull up a cozy chair, pack that cooler full of your favorite beverage and get comfortable. It’s going to be a very long wait. 😥
http://yellowstoneinsider.com/2013/10/14/researchers-yellowstone-eruption-due-next-million-years/
And finally someone has come to the same conclusion as I did. Now perhaps we can do some serious volcanoholism 😉
Apparently, someone FINALLY decided to look at a longer history of the damned thing, rather than only three events.
It’s pretty hard to be anywhere near accurate with only three data points… Quick, someone clue the farking IDIOTS in the media, they make wilder claims on less data.
And you think that a petty paper, no doubt paid for by the Government as part of a cover-up of the REAL state of affairs, is going to put a stopper on the activities of our tinfoil-hatted Nibiruists?
No. But then General Armstrong Custer declined the inclusion of a Gatling gun detachment in order to keep his unit highly mobile and adaptable to the tactical situation.
Like Tristan de Luna, he just did not grasp the potential severity of the situation.
The Gatling guns may not have changed the outcome, but they would have had a definite psychological effect upon his adversaries if they could have gotten set-up and engaged in the skirmish. Though the 7th calvary had higher power ammo, the rate of fire put them at a disadvantage. Custer was a pompous ass and got his people killed for it.
de Luna felt that traipsing out through the woods chasing Indians was a better use of time than offloading his ships that were at harbor. When the Hurricane arrived… well, they are still finding debris from his flotilla here and there.
First time commenter, long time lurker. Thanks for your wonderful site. A beautiful video of the Kilimandjaro summit from helicopter. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151567604203804
Hello Figaro!
Nice to see one of our longtime Lurkers and thank you for the link!
Welcome! And what a nice video, I guess all of us would have loved being on that trip.
Glad you decided to join us. Thank you for the beautiful picture.
Hello!
I guess people have noticed that the normally timely post has gone missing in translation.
I just came back home and I am just tooooooooooooooooooo tired to finnish the writing. But, tomorrow, I promise.
Now to try to understand what has happened in Japan and elsewhere when I have been gone.
In Japan it seems that the Typhoon Nr 26 caused a massive landslide with several people being dead.
The landslide is in a sort of way a Lahar since it is layers of volcanic ash that has been remobilized. Although, not from a volcano directly.
Here is the article that Pyter kindly sent to me.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww3.nhk.or.jp%2Fnews%2Fhtml%2F20131016%2Ft10015320851000.html
More information (including video): http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201310160035
Original link.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20131016/t10015320851000.html
And more candy from Olga Girina:
This really is a major eruption even if its “only red” and very drawn-out in time. Thanks Dr Girina!
Don’t know if this was posted yet:
http://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/nr/2768
Pretty interesting eruption at Sakurajima
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=9b9ljo&s=5#.Ul8aX9IqiSo
In this picture, is the steam coming from Miname-dake?
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=334ta34&s=5#.Ul8bZtIqiSo
5.0 Mw, OFF W. COAST OF S. ISLAND, N.Z, 2013-10-16 19:26:22.0 UTC, 47.32 S ; 165.76 E,
Depth 10 km
GeoNet is describing this as severe: http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/region/newzealand/2013p780567
SakuraJima is having interesting eruptions right now. The eruptions are decent sized, but the unique thing is the way that the ash is drifting. The ash that goes down the slope stays down there, but the less dense ash that rises high enough seems to catch a wind current and drift, forming a very strange looking pattern. See the image below for reference.
Here is the webcapture video..kind of been bubbling away like a witches cauldron…the wind pattern was very intereting too.
Here is an example of what cloud cover can do to the webcam…it looked like the eruption has gone huge, but its only really the heat on the moisture of the clouds that is being picked up by the infrared
Watch Tungurahua live webcam NOW!
http://volcams.malinpebbles.com/pubweb/CuS-Amerika.htm#EC
T. has been erupting for about a week but was mostly obscured by clouds and ash.
Animated gif showing tidbits from the live stream camera in Baños, 09.42 – 09.54 UTC
( http://www.banos-ecuador.com/cam3.html )
grabbed, cropped and shopped
There were bigger eruptions before but I was’nt fast enough to grab them.
eruption of tungurahua has increased somewhat during the last half hour!
Hello everyone, I’m having some “trouble”. I do not know yet if it has to do with my own computer or with the Volcanocafe blog. When I want to return here after having clicked a link in one of the comments, I get prompted to log in to a unknown site. The message I get looks like this:
If you see this too: clicking cancel will allow you to read further. DO NOT enter your name and password!!
Does anyone knoe more about this?
This comment will remain at the bottom of the page.
DragonEdit: Sticky function removed since problem is solved.
I tried several links and went back, no problems at my side. This would point to your computer. Maybe running a scan might reveal something..
Thanks, I will call the Mac-doctor!!
I get the same thing in a win xp format so it is not a mac specific thing…… nsa or cia or some other vile but head
I used firefox.. that might be the difference then. Seems to be solved..
Hi, I get the same request – I’ve been cancelling too – currently on Windows 7 using Explorer.
WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!
Some link or something in here is trying to get you log in info. I am checking what it is, and will remove it.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT PUT IN NAME AND PASSWORD!!!
PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
Thanks to Greg who pointed to where the problem was situated.
It was indeed in a comment I had written. The image was later put in by one of our Dragons who was playing our innocent game of “Peekaboo” where we add an image into our comment just for fun. That Dragon did of course not at all know about the problem with movieblog . com being a hacking site.
So here goes with a new rule…
IT IS EXPRESSELY FORBIDDEN TO LINK TO IMAGES FROM MOVIEBLOG . COM. PLEASE DO CHECK THAT IT IS NOT FROM THAT SITE.
Wow I did not know it was a hacking site..i just assumed that the login was an admin error on that site. I guess the login is dangerous enough..the unwitting might enter there own credentials…and who knows were they end up after that.
No, it is a well known hacking site.
One of the nastiest on the planet. Its purpose is to hack people accounts so it can use them to autocreate referal links. Not by spam-boting, instead by the every day activity of normal users. I know that WordPress is trying to have the site taken down and the owners hauled to court. The legal end is handled by them.
Thank you Carl and Greg, problem does not longer excist here either!
Good catch you did!
And I loved that it was stickied, than I saw it emediately I came online. 🙂