Must be an act of God, Peterle. I think you Italians better get your act together, this was probably a warning!
:)
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Must be an act of God, Peterle. I think you Italians better get your act together, this was probably a warning!
:)
Guatemala Eruption "Largest in Years" for Volcano
http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc201...bw/andrews.png By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist
May 21, 2012; 8:05 AM ET
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http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc200...iebert1988.png Fuego Volcano, as seen in 1988. (Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program/Lee Siebert)
Erupting Fuego Volcano has prompted alerts and flight restrictions in Guatemala near the nation's capital.
An "orange" alert has been posted for Fuego, which began erupting on Saturday. Its eruption of lava and ash continued on Sunday, the BBC News Spanish-language website said.
Fuego is located near Antigua, and is also about 40 km, or 25 miles, of Guatemala City. Authorities have limited flights within 40 km of the volcano, although the city's La Aurora International Airport remained open, the BBC said.
One road near the volcano was closed, as it was threatened by an active lava flow.
The eruption was called the largest in years for Fuego by Erik Klemetti, writing in his Eruptions blog.
Saturday, ash plumes rose about 16,000 feet above the volcano as lava flows reached well over 3,000 feet from the summit, where "fire fountains" of lava were observed.
Activity reportedly waned on Sunday, but with ash still falling on areas near the volcano, the blog said.
The eruption is part of an eruptive cycle, characterized by intermittent explosions and flows, that began in 2002, Klemetti indicated.
Fuego is one of at least 22 geologically recent volcanoes in Guatemala, according to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
UPDATE 1-Aftershocks rattle Italy, residents sleep outdoors
Mon May 21, 2012 8:00am EDT
* Seven people killed in Sunday's earthquake
* Area hit by more than 100 aftershocks, some strong
* PM Monti cuts short trip to NATO summit in Chicago
* Some 4,000 homeless, 200 million euros in farm damage (Adds fresh quotes, agricultural damage)
By Stephen Jewkes
FINALE EMILIA, Italy, May 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of people in northern Italy slept in tents and cars overnight as more than 100 aftershocks rocked the area hit by a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that killed seven people and inflicted heavy damage to centuries-old cultural sites.
"The fear that your house will collapse on your head is great, so it was good to be able to sleep in this tent," said one man who spent the night outdoors, cold but safe, in the town of San Felice sul Panaro.
Heavy rainfall added to the misery of people who had to abandon their homes and made conditions more difficult for civil protection workers.
But most residents said they were content with the relief effort. "They set up these tents very quickly. I felt safe," an elderly woman said.
Sunday's earthquake killed four factory workers who were on the night shift, an elderly woman who was hit by a beam and two women who died of shock.
It also caused an estimated 200 million euros' damage to agriculture and left a swathe of destruction across the Emilia-Romagna region, felling ancient churches and severely damaging a castle that had withstood wars and invasions for seven centuries.
CLOVEN CHURCH
A 14th century clock tower in Finale Emilia was split vertically as if hit by a meat cleaver when the quake struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT), leaving only one half - showing the Roman numerals from seven to eleven - standing. Twelve hours later, an aftershock of magnitude 5.1 brought down the rest.
"I had to come here. They haven't said when we can go back because the aftershocks are continuing," said Michelina Salvatico, a resident of Finale Emilia who was moved to a sports centre after her house was damaged.
The quake hit a generally flat area in the Po River valley that was believed to have been safe from major seismic activity.
The quake, and a bombing that killed a teenage girl in southern Italy on Saturday, prompted Prime Minister Mario Monti to cut short a trip to the United States.
"This is one of the times that the country should feel united and close to those who are suffering, and I believe it is," Monti said in Chicago, announcing his decision to return early from a NATO summit.
The tremors caused the greatest loss to Italy's artistic heritage since an earthquake in 1997 ravaged the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, where the ceiling collapsed.
The imposing 14th century Estense Castle, symbol of the town of San Felice sul Panaro, was severely damaged.
The tops of several of its smaller towers collapsed and there were fears that the main tower, weakened by cracks, could tumble. Centuries-old frescoes and other works of art were badly damaged in three of the town's churches.
PROSCIUTTO AND PARMESAN
"We have practically lost all our artistic patrimony," said Alberto Silvestri, mayor of San Felice. "Churches and towers collapsed. The theatre is still standing but has cracks."
The quake left a gaping hole in the side of the Renaissance town hall in Sant'Agostino, which officials said was in danger of collapsing.
Smaller aftershocks, reaching magnitude 2.5, continued to rattle the area on Monday.
The damage to agriculture and livestock, in what is one of Italy's most fertile food producing regions, was estimated to be at least 200 million euros, the farmers group Coldiretti said.
Stables, barns and animal pens were damaged and some 400,000 large wheels of the area's world-famous Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses fell from shelves in warehouses where they were undergoing seasoning.
The quake could also affect milk and ham production in the area - famed for Parma ham - because of deaths and injuries suffered by cows and pigs, Coldiretti said. (Writing By Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Northern Italy struck by another earthquake
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck northern Italy Tuesday, killing at least 10 people. It's the second major quake to strike northern Italy in 9 days.
By Lisa Jucca, Reuters / May 29, 2012
An Italian firefighter sprays water on debris of a collapsed factory in Mirandola, northern Italy, Tuesday, May 29, 2012. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the same area of northern Italy stricken by another fatal tremor on May 20.
(AP Photo/Marco Vasini)
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Milan
An earthquake struck northern Italy on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, damaging buildings and raising concern among thousands of residents still living in tents after a tremor shook the region just over a week ago.
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Officials and a source from the Italian Red Cross said several people were trapped under the rubble of houses and warehouses in the Emilia-Romagna region. Police said 10 people were confirmed dead but the toll was likely to rise.
The 5.8-magnitude quake struck near Modena and was felt across much of northern and central Italy.
"The situation is very serious, some people are stuck under the rubble," Alberto Silvestri, the mayor of San Felice sul Panaro, on e of the towns near the epicentre, to ld SkyTG24.
IN PICTURES: Earthquake in Italy
Aftershocks were felt across northern Italy on Tuesday, including in Modena, Brescia, and Milan.
Prime Minister Mario Monti said: "I want to assure everyone that the state will do all that it must do, all that is possible to do, as fast as it can to guarantee the return to normality in a region so special, so important, so productive for Italy."
Seven people were killed in the previous quake on May 20 that had its epicentre not far from Modena.
That quake, which registered magnitude 6, destroyed hundreds of buildings, including ancient churches and castles, and forced more than 7,000 people to sleep outdoors in tents.
It also hit production of some of the area's most internationally famous produce, including Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Farmers estimated the damage to agriculture in one of Italy's most fertile zones at more than 200 million euros.
On Tuesday, officials said operations to rescue people from the rubble had been hampered by disruption to the mobile phone network.
"The town has been largely damaged. There are people under the rubble, we don't know how many," a police officer from Cavezzo told Reuters.
Train services around Bologna, near Modena, were disrupted, media said, and schools and other public buildings had been evacuated as far south as Florence.
"We felt a very strong tremor," said Raffaella Besola, a resident of Bologna.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre of Tuesday's quake was less than 30 km (19 miles) from Modena, not far from where the quake hit just over a week ago.
A 3.8 magnitude earthquake was also felt through western Bulgaria on Tuesday, causing no casualties or serious damage, the National Geophysical Institute said.
The tremor had its epicentre near the town of Pernik, shaking buildings and causing residents to rush into the streets.
A 5.6 magnitude eartquake shook Bulgaria last Tuesday, centered about 25 km west of the capital Sofia. Damage was estimated at more than 20 million levs ($12.82 million).
Can Supervolcanoes Erupt More Suddenly Than We Think?
By Joseph Stromberg
Published Fri, Jun 1, 2012 11:36 am
https://woub.org/sites/default/files...tion_plume.jpgThe 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption, one of the largest in recent history, is dwarfed by the scale of supervolcano eruptions.
About 74,000 years ago, in what is now Indonesia, Mount Toba violently erupted. The volcanic explosion sent some 700 cubic miles of magma into the air and deposited an ash layer roughly 6 inches thick over all of South Asia.
The eruption—which was an estimated 100 times larger than the largest in modern times, the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption—altered global climate patterns significantly, likely triggering a period of rapid cooling. The effect on ecosystems around the world was dramatic, and it may have nearly led to the extinction of the human species—some genetic studies suggest that the human population went through a bottleneck around that time, with as few as 1,000 breeding pairs of our ancestors surviving the devastating volcanic winter.
Yesterday, scientists from Vanderbilt University and the University of Chicago published a study in the journal PLoS ONE that has an ominous conclusion. Their findings indicate that the underground magma pools that fuel such supervolcanoes—pancake-shaped reservoirs that are typically 10 to 25 miles in diameter and one half to three miles deep—erupt much more quickly than previously thought. The research team says that once these enormous subterranean magma reservoirs form, they are unlikely to stay dormant for very long—they may be capable of sitting quietly for just thousands or even hundreds of years before erupting.
“Our study suggests that when these exceptionally large magma pools form, they are ephemeral, and cannot exist very long without erupting,” said Guilherme Gualda, the Vanderbilt University professor who directed the study, in a press release. ”The fact that the process of magma body formation occurs in historical time, instead of geological time, completely changes the nature of the problem.”
Hundreds of years may seem like a long time when compared to the length of a human life, but a century is just a blip when viewed in terms of geologic time. Most geologic events—the formation of mountains and the movement of tectonic plates, for example—typically occur on the order of hundreds of thousands or millions of years. So the fact that these underground magma pools can only lay dormant for mere centuries is stunning when viewed in the context of conventional beliefs about geology.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/scie...er-300x171.jpg
A rendering of the magma pool that fueled the Yellowstone supervolcano eruption roughly 2.1 million years ago
Gualda’s research team arrived at the conclusion by studying Bishop Tuff, a rock formation in eastern California that formed as a result of a supervolcano eruption some 760,000 years ago. Using advanced methods for analyzing the date of magma formation, the researchers concluded that the subterranean reservoir developed sometime between 500 and 3,000 years before the eruption. The resulting event covered more than half of North America with a layer of volcanic ash.
The potential effects of a supervolcano eruption in modern times are truly terrifying to behold. The eruption in Mount Tambora in Indonesia, which produced less than 1 percent of the volume of lava and ash of a supervolcano, caused 1815 to become known as “The Year Without a Summer” in North America and Europe. Volcanic ash suspended in the atmosphere blocked enough sunlight from reaching earth so that crop production was severely interrupted, causing famines and food riots in from Switzerland to China.
If the formation and eruption of giant magma pools capable of producing supervolcanoes truly happens as quickly as indicated in the study, it means we ought to take an entirely different approach in preparing for such cataclysms, the researchers report. Thankfully, it is believed that no magma pools of this size are present on earth at this time. But since they can form and erupt so rapidly, the authors recommend that we continually monitor geologic hot spots to detect the earliest signs of formation.
It might be impossible to prevent such natural disasters, but experts agree that preparation and advance warning are the best bet for mitigating the destruction they might bring. Centuries might be short when viewed in terms of geologic time, but they are long for human civilizations—long enough that, if we knew the location of a massive underground magma pool, we might even be able to intentionally avoid building cities and development in the area above it. This wouldn’t prevent the massive level of damage a supervolcano would bring, but it would reduce the destruction to some degree.
Underwater Volcano Gave Warning Before Eruption
By Amir Khan | June 12, 2012 9:37 AM EDT
An underwater volcano gave a clear indication before it erupted in April 2011, according to a new study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday. The findings may help predict underwater eruptions in the future, researchers said.
- http://www.isciencetimes.com/data/im...l-seamount.jpg
- Exaggerated swatch bathymetry of Axial Seamount (Photo: Creative Commons)
The study focused on Axial Seamount, a submarine volcano that resides almost 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) under the Pacific Ocean, just off the Oregon Coast. The volcano erupted on April 6, 2011 and covered the sea floor in lava up to 12 feet (4 meters) thick.
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Researchers said Axial Seamount is unique because it is one of the few places where a long-term monitoring record exists at an undersea volcano. The team said they can now make sense of its patterns to predict future eruptions.
"Uplift of the seafloor has been gradual and steady beginning in about 2000, two years after it last erupted," Bill Chadwick, study coauthor and a geologist at Oregon State University, said in a statement. "But the rate of inflation from magma went from gradual to rapid about four to five months before the eruption. It expanded at roughly triple the rate, giving a clue that the next eruption was coming."
An hour before the volcano erupted, the seafloor rose by almost 3 inches. After the eruption, it deflated by more than 6 feet.
"This kind of movement has been detected in volcanic areas on land before, but not this effectively in the oceans," Neil Mitchell, a marine geologist at the University of Manchester in England, who was not involved in the study, told MSNBC.
Researchers also noted an uptick in small earthquakes in the area in the years prior to the eruption, culminating in a spike in tectonic activity 2 hours before the event.
"The hydrophones picked up the signal of literally thousands of small earthquakes within a few minutes, which we traced to magma rising from within the volcano and breaking through the crust," Bob Dziak, study coauthor and Oregon State University marine geologist, told MSNBC. ""s the magma ascends, it forces its way through cracks and creates a burst of earthquake activity that intensifies as it gets closer to the surface."
Dziak said that by studying earthquakes in the areas surrounding underwater volcanoes, scientists can get a better feel for when they will blow.
"Using seismic analysis, we were able to clearly see how the magma ascends within the volcano about two hours before the eruption," he told MSNBC. "Whether the seismic energy signal preceding the eruption is unique to Axial or may be replicated at other volcanoes isn't yet clear, but it gives scientists an excellent base from which to begin."
No warning. No quakes. It just erupted.
Expect Yellowstone to do the same. No warning.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/w...w/15389610.cms
Volcano erupts in New Zealand, spews ash
AP | Aug 7, 2012, 05.26PM IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5722312.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/t...aland-park.jpghttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms
Volcano erupts with ash cloud in New Zealand park.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND: A volcano quiet for more than a century erupted in a New Zealand national park, spreading thick ash for several kilometres (miles) and causing some residents to evacuate their homes. Some domestic flights were canceled on Tuesday.
Mount Tongariro spewed ash and rocks for about 30 minutes late Monday night after a few weeks of increased seismic activity. It didn't cause any injuries or damage in the sparsely populated central North Island region.
Tongariro National Park has three active volcanos, is a popular tourist destination and was the backdrop for many scenes in the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
Some residents left their homes as a precaution, and authorities temporarily closed roads. National carrier Air New Zealand canceled or delayed domestic flights to towns near the mountain, though by Tuesday afternoon, it said it was resuming service to locations where the ash cloud had cleared. No international flights were affected.
Police said a witness to the eruption described flashes and explosions followed by a cloud of ash coming from a hole in the north face of the mountain. The Department of Conservation said three hikers were staying in a hut on the opposite slope of Mount Tongariro when it erupted but they walked out of the area safely.
Steve Sherburn, a volcanologist at the government agency GNS Science, said the eruption spread a layer of ash several centimeters (one or two inches) thick for several kilometers (miles). He said he'd heard reports of ash traveling on wind currents to coastal towns 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. He said the eruption was likely caused by steam pressure building within the mountain.
The nation's civil defense ministry said eruption activity was subsiding though it still urged caution for people who were in the vicinity of the volcano. The park has closed hiking trails and sleeping huts on the mountain for now.
New Zealand is part of the Pacific's "Ring of Fire" and has frequent geothermal and seismic activity. However, the last verified eruption of Mount Tongariro occurred in 1897, marking the end of a decade of volcanic activity.
Sherburn said it was too early to determine whether the latest eruption was the start of a renewed cycle of activity.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Was looking, this and some others in New Zealand are part of the "Ring of Fire".
On the South Eastern rim of the Ring.
Vulcanologist on TV stated there was "no warning, it just surprised us".
WATCH: New Zealand volcano erupts for first time in 100 years
Mount Tongariro, one of three volcanic peaks in the central North Island, roars into life, as craters on the mountain explode with bright flashes and thunderous booms.
By Reuters | Aug.07, 2012 | 1:55 PM
http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1...2293299852.jpg Ash from New Zealand's Mount Tongariro covers houses, August 7, 2012. Photo by Reuters
this story is by
Reuters
A New Zealand volcano dormant for more than a century has spewed boulders and spread an ash cloud over the centre of the country, disrupting air traffic but causing no other damage or injuries.
Mount Tongariro, one of three volcanic peaks in the central North Island, roared into life late on Monday night, as craters on the mountain located in a national park near popular hot springs, exploded with bright flashes and thunderous booms.
The spew of rocks, fine particles and steam from the snow-capped, 1,978-m (6,490-ft) peak, was caused by a pressure buildup of volcanic gases, volcanologists said, after seismic activity had increased in recent weeks.
Steve Sherburn, volcanologist at New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said the scale of the eruption was unexpected, as activity at the volcano had been sporadic before Monday's explosion.
"We haven't had any activity for several days so to go from what we had seen to an eruption last night was a little surprising," he said.
A cloud of ash billowed over the central North Island on Tuesday, blanketing the area with a thick, grey carpet of ash.
Flights to and from provincial destinations, including renowned tourist spot Rotorua, were delayed or cancelled on Tuesday, and local highways were closed for a time, but there were no reports of damage or injury.
Meteorologists said the ash cloud was being blown eastward toward the Pacific Ocean.
The last time Mount Tongariro erupted was in 1897, ending a decades-long period of intermittent activity, and Sherburn said Monday's explosion could be the start of more such activity in the area.
"At the moment we really don't know, it could just be a singular event, or it could be the start of a period similar to what we've seen historically," he said.
Neighboring Mount Ruapehu is the most active volcano in New Zealand, last erupting in 2007 when it sent a lahar, or mud slide, down the side of the mountain.
Major eruptions in 1995 and 1996 by Ruapehu resulted in widespread flights disruptions and the closure of ski fields on the mountain.
A volcano that has been dormant for 100 years is not dormant, it is considered active. Dormant is at least 10,000 years since the last eruption.Quote:
Expect Yellowstone to do the same. No warning.
A super-volcano will most definitely give warning. The ground under the magma dome will probably swell significantly before it blows. The Earth in the caldera will be shaking like crazy. Something that big doesn't catch anyone by surprise. Perhaps the alacrity at which it progresses to the blow may be surprising, but that much molten magma does not move around without anyone noticing.
"dormant" does not equal "active" Mal. Sorry.
In fact they are diametric opposites. lol
Yellowstone has been giving warning.
Mt. St. Helens wasn't a supervolcano and it too gave warnings.
Mt. Vesuvius didn't "give warning". Not a lot. It started simply erupting until it exploded.
Krakatoa gave MONTHS of warning before it blew up in a series of explosions.
Mt. Tambora gave off mild ash (just like this one did)... then a few weeks later, blew up.
So - the chances of a volcano giving warning aren't as good as you might imagine. About 50/50.
Further, even IF THERE IS WARNING, are you going to do anything about it in NJ (Yellowstone that is?).
You're NOT going to move, you're not going to do anything to mitigate it if it does blow up. Most people will do nothing at all only consider the news to be "Just news...." and gossip about it. Until it explodes.
Too late then. The ash will come to those who wait.
Here's an article with some maps and estimates of the fallout from the last eruption of Yellowstone 70,000 years ago.
Is America Headed for Yellowstone Super-Volcano Eruption Catastrophe?
- Posted on January 25, 2011 at 7:07am by http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/u....thumbnail.jpg Meredith Jessup
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“It would explode with a force a thousand times more powerful than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980,” the UK’s Daily Mail warns. The world’s largest super-volcano located underneath the United States’ Yellowstone National Park is set to blow.
http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/u...ne-caldera.jpg
Spewing lava far into the sky, a cloud of plant-killing ash would fan out and dump a layer 10ft deep up to 1,000 miles away.Two-thirds of the U.S. could become uninhabitable as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to leave their homes.Scientists have reportedly watched as the super-volcano situated underneath northwestern Wyoming rose at a record rate from 2004-2008 — an average of three inches every year. This rate of movement is more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurement records began in 1923.
This is the nightmare that scientists are predicting could happen if the world’s largest super-volcano erupts for the first time in 600,000 years, as it could do in the near future.
Yellowstone National Park’s caldera has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years and researchers monitoring it say we could be in for another eruption.
Since 2008, the rate has slowed significantly,and the U.S. Geological Survey says there is “no evidence that another such cataclysmic eruption will occur at Yellowstone in the foreseeable future.”
But recurrence intervals are neither regular nor predictable and a lack of data has kept geologists from putting any exact date on any potential eruption warning.
When the eruption finally happens it will dwarf the effect of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which erupted in April last year, causing travel chaos around the world. …
Robert B. Smith, professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, who has led a recent study into the volcano, added: ‘Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock.
‘But we have no idea how long this process goes on before there either is an eruption or the inflow of molten rock stops and the caldera deflates again’.The Yellowstone Caldera — or “cooking pot” — sits atop North America’s largest volcanic field. The most recent large blast from the Caldera happened an estimated 640,000 years ago and the most recent small eruption happened about 70,000 years ago.
http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/u...ll-620x418.jpgThe estimated area of ashfall from the Yellowstone Caldera's last large eruption.
‘Clearly some deep source of magma feeds Yellowstone, and since Yellowstone has erupted in the recent geological past, we know that there is magma at shallower depths too,’ said Dan Dzurisin, a Yellowstone expert with the U.S. Geological Survey at Cascades Volcano Observatory in Washington State.
‘There has to be magma in the crust, or we wouldn’t have all the hydrothermal activity that we have.
‘There is so much heat coming out of Yellowstone right now that if it wasn’t being reheated by magma, the whole system would have gone stone cold since the time of the last eruption 70,000 years ago.’
(More at this link: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/is-a...on-catastophe/)
In other words... we've already BEEN warned. I don't see anyone doing anything about it. No one is moving out of the region. No one in the US Government (FEMA for instance) is PLANNING for it, unless their trite "get a go bag" set of commercials can be considered as preparing the US Public for this disaster.Quote:
Scientists have reportedly watched as the super-volcano situated underneath northwestern Wyoming rose at a record rate from 2004-2008 — an average of three inches every year. This rate of movement is more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurement records began in 1923.
I don't see the states planning to mass evacuations.
I don't see the rest of the world getting prepared to ship in the food stuffs needed for the survival of the United States.
In fact, the ONLY people preparing are the Chinese and Russians.
When it happens, they will simply move in and kill the surviving Americans and take over the land itself, keeping it for themselves for a few hundred years until things start to grow again.
They are preparing in a big way. The US Government isn't doing anything to prepare the public except telling them "don't worry".
'Lord of the Rings' volcano erupts in New Zealand
The dormant volcano erupted Monday night in a New Zealand national park, where many scenes from the 'Lord of the Rings' movies were filmed.
By Nick Perry, Associated Press / August 7, 2012
Ash from New Zealand's Mount Tongariro covers houses and farmland in this still image taken from video, August 7. A New Zealand volcano dormant for more than a century has spewed boulders and spread an ash cloud over the center of the country, disrupting air traffic but causing no other damage or injuries.
TV3 via Reuters TV/Reuers
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Wellington, New Zealand
A volcano quiet for more than a century erupted in a New Zealand national park, spreading thick ash for several miles and causing some residents to evacuate their homes. Some domestic flights were canceled Tuesday.
Mount Tongariro spewed ash and rocks for about 30 minutes late Monday night after a few weeks of increased seismic activity. It didn't cause any injuries or damage in the sparsely populated central North Island region. Tongariro National Park has three active volcanos, is a popular tourist destination and was the backdrop for many scenes in the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
RELATED World's most active volcanoes
Some residents left their homes as a precaution, and authorities temporarily closed roads. National carrier Air New Zealand canceled or delayed domestic flights to towns near the mountain, though by Tuesday afternoon, it said it was resuming service to locations where the ash cloud had cleared. No international flights were affected.
Police said a witness to the eruption described flashes and explosions followed by a cloud of ash coming from a hole in the north face of the mountain. The Department of Conservation said three hikers were staying in a hut on the opposite slope of Mount Tongariro when it erupted but they walked out of the area safely.
Steve Sherburn, a volcanologist at the government agency GNS Science, said the eruption spread a layer of ash one or two inches thick for several miles. He said he'd heard reports of ash traveling on wind currents to coastal towns 60 miles away. He said the eruption was likely caused by steam pressure building within the mountain.
The nation's civil defense ministry said eruption activity was subsiding though it still urged caution for people who were in the vicinity of the volcano. The park has closed hiking trails and sleeping huts on the mountain for now.
New Zealand is part of the Pacific's "Ring of Fire" and has frequent geothermal and seismic activity. However, the last verified eruption of Mount Tongariro occurred in 1897, marking the end of a decade of volcanic activity.
Sherburn said it was too early to determine whether the latest eruption was the start of a renewed cycle of activity.
Hey, Mal... I need to clarify something.
When you said that the volcano wasn't dormant because it hadn't erupted in 100 years... I thought about it.
There is a definite definition of what makes one active, dormant and extinct.
So - if it has erupted in "historic times" but not since, it is classified as dormant.
If it has erupted recently, is erupting or is expected to (Mt. St. Helens is an example of one that was expected too) then it is "active".
If it hasn't erupted in a long period of time and isn't expected to erupt again in the future it is classified as "extinct".
Hidden 'super volcano' could kill millions, scientists warn
In olden days, Campi Flegrei, across bay from Pompeii, was thought to be entrance to hell
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/C...s.grid-8x2.jpg
Giampiero Sposito / Reuters A dog lies on the ground in Pompeii, the famous Italian city next to Naples that was destroyed in 79 A.D. by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
By Antonio Denti
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updated 8/3/2012 2:06:52 PM ET
POZZUOLI, Italy — Across the bay of Naples from Pompeii, where thousands were incinerated by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., lies a hidden "super volcano" that could kill millions in a catastrophe many times worse, scientists say.
The boiling mud and sulphurous steam holes of the area west of Naples known as the Campi Flegrei or Phlegraean Fields, from the Greek word for burning, are a major tourist attraction.
But the zone of intense seismic activity, which the ancients thought was the entrance to hell, also could pose a danger of global proportions with millions of people literally living on top of a potential future volcanic eruption.
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/C...s.grid-6x2.jpg
NASA A Landsat satellite view shows the Campi Flegrei caldera north of the Bay of Naples. The 13-km-wide caldera, west of Naples (upper right), was created following massive explosive eruptions about 34,000 and 12,000 years ago. Subsequent eruptions formed a large number of craters and pyroclastic cones within the caldera and along its margins. The most recent eruption created the Monte Nuovo cinder cone in 1538.
"These areas can give rise to the only eruptions that can have global catastrophic effects comparable to major meteorite impacts," said Giuseppe De Natale, head of a project to drill deep under the Earth to monitor the molten "caldera."
One such meteorite impact is thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago when debris thrown into the atmosphere from the huge explosion plunged the Earth into darkness.
Scientists plan to drill 3.5 km (2.2 miles) below the surface to monitor the huge chamber of molten rock near Pompeii and give early warning of any eruption from a 13-km-wide collapsed volcanic caldera.
The Campi Flegrei are similar to the Yellowstone caldera in the U.S. but of more concern because they are in an area populated by around 3 million people in the Naples hinterland.
"Fortunately, it is extremely rare for these areas to erupt at their full capacity, as it is extremely rare for large meteorites to hit the Earth," De Natale told Reuters.
"But some of these areas, in particular the Campi Flegrei, are densely populated and therefore even small eruptions, which are the most probable, fortunately, can pose risks for the population," said De Natale, from the Vesuvius observatory at Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology.
"That is why the Campi Flegrei absolutely must be studied and monitored. I wouldn't say like others, but much more than the others exactly because of the danger given that millions of people live in the volcano."
However, the project, funded by the multi-national International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, has run into major opposition from some local scientists who say the drilling itself could cause a dangerous eruption or earthquake.
Explosion?
Benedetto De Vivo, a geochemist at Naples University, has said the drilling could cause an explosion.
The Naples city council blocked the project in 2010 but it resumed on the site of an abandoned steel mill at Bagnoli, west of Naples, late last month after the recently elected new mayor, Luigi De Magistris, gave the go-ahead.
De Natale scoffed at the objections, saying that the drilling was perfectly safe and that similar probes had been sent down by mining projects looking for sources of thermal energy in the 1980s and earlier.
"There were dozens of drillings in the past, with much less secure instruments, for industrial motives and nobody said anything," he said.
He added that those raising objections were not experts on drilling and that their suggestions of potential earthquakes or escapes of magma or liquid molten rock had been exaggerated by the local media.
"Some of the things they suggested are laughable," he said, adding that the project's priority will be scientific knowledge and safety of the local population rather than industrial exploitation as in the past.
"We believe the security of millions of people deserves the most powerful methods of inquiry without thinking too much about the economic aspect," he said.
He added that drilling is the only way to discover the geological history of the area because successive eruptions buried previous evidence. The probe has already found volcanic rock from a major eruption 15,000 years ago.
De Natale's team has begun drilling a pilot hole at the Bagnoli site, where a long jetty built to load steel is used by joggers and courting couples enjoying the spectacular Neapolitan sunsets.
The pilot hole is aimed not only at studying the stratification of the area but to establish a deep geological observatory with new instruments which De Natale says are many times more sensitive than those in the past.
"This will increase by 1,000 or 10,000 times our ability to detect small episodes that are precursors of future eruptions," he said.
Movement of Earth's surface
The project also aims to study the cause of a phenomenon known as bradyseism which is a gradual raising and lowering of the Earth's surface because of deep volcanic activity. This is episodic but in the latest phase the ground has risen by 3.5 m (yards) in 15 years, the most since medieval times.
This movement forced the evacuation of 30,000 people temporarily from Pozzuoli in the 1980s and a fishing harbor in the old part of the town was completely abandoned.
Once work is complete on the pilot hole, scientists plan to drill much deeper, to around 3.5 km where temperatures are at around 500 degrees C (930 F). But De Natale said this could take another 18 months and the area for the second phase has not yet been decided.
His team has developed new fiber optic sensors able to withstand the extreme heat that would have destroyed earlier electronic equipment.
"We will be able to identify the smallest signs of a future eruption ... this is an enormous mitigation of the volcanic risk," he said.
De Natale says there will be no risk of an escape of magma because the molten chamber is at 7-km depth or lower and sensors will give ample warning of temperatures that reach 1,000 degrees C at the molten core.
"We will stop everything if we detect temperatures at 500 degrees ... we can close the top of the drilling hole hermetically in a fraction of a second," he said.
Local people are divided on whether the drilling could be dangerous.
"There is a risk that the drilling can lead to a shift of the Earth's surface and if that happened, rather than helping to predict future problems, they will be creating them," Pozzuoli student Marco Laporta said.
Many are more sanguine. "Back in the 1980s they said we would all be blown up and we weren't," pensioner Luigi Bruni said.
Hence "historical times" (while we've been keeping records)
:)