World Volcano Activity UPDATE !!! MARAPI AGAIN!!! KATLA AGAIN!!! SWARM STARTING IN ICELAND DORMANT VOLCANO Bláfjoll!!!

One small EQ smack in Vatnafjöll Volcano field. Mjo SIL shows small upheaval but only time will tell. [link to hraun.vedur.is]

Updated: Saturday, 21 April, 2012 at 08:14 UTC
Description
From the oak and pine forest below Popocatepetl's seething caldron, the volcano's buzzing growl sounds much like the choppy beating of blades. "To me it is like a helicopter just starting up," said Juan Ochoa, who shares a shack on the mountain's slopes with a lone dog near a gorge that channels spilling lava. "People are frightened of it, but they are foolish. If it's decided it is your time to die, it is your time." The nearly 18,000-foot volcano - Popo for short and known as Don Goyo to Ochoa and other locals - has rumbled to life anew: spitting ash, steam and brimstone, flaring an ominous orange along its night-shaded rim. Scientists say no serious eruption seems imminent, that the mountain's fevered breath provides a healthy release of the fury within. But with some 25 million people living within the volcano's reach, officials are taking no chances. They've issued evacuation alerts for the nearly 60,000 people living in the farm towns and villages in the likely path of any lava flow. "It's our obligation to be alert, keep our guard up," President Felipe Calderon said Friday at a conference outlining the precautionary measures being taken by state and federal government. "We suggest that people teach themselves how to get out … that in the remote chance they have to evacuate, they know exactly how to."

Ochoa, like many others from the communities in harm's way, takes the warnings with an informed shrug. Don Goyo for them is an ancient and benevolent spirit, the bringer of rain, as alive as any being. "I have never seen him; perhaps it's not my fate. But others have. He walks in these forests," said Ochoa, who has spent his 65 years in the largely indigenous communities on or near the volcano's eastern slopes. "Many people don't know that. This mountain has its mysteries, its history." Though it has been active for eons, eruptions in recent centuries have often punctuated times of crisis, encouraging Don Goyo's believers. Popo convulsed for several years amid Hernan Cortes' conquest of the Aztecs, which was launched from the ridge connecting Popo with the adjoining Iztaccihuatl mountain and now bears the conquistador's name. After seven decades of quiet, the volcano's current 18-year run of activity began in 1994, a year that saw a Maya Indian uprising, the assassination of a leading presidential candidate and a savage economic meltdown. Don Goyo, a nickname derived from Gregory, is the post-conquest incarnation of the warrior prince of Aztec legend who transformed into the volcano after dying of a love-struck broken heart. Iztaccihuatl was his betrothed, who herself had died upon hearing false reports that the he had fallen in battle. The slightly larger Pico de Orizaba volcano rises to the east, the extinct Nevado de Toluca further west. But Popocatepetl, one of more than 400 active cone-shaped mountains along the Pacific Ocean's Rim of Fire, both inspires and frightens people in the Mexican highlands like no other. "Eruptions from these volcanoes are usually explosive and violent," noted a U.S. Geological Service report following Popo's last major activity in December 2000. Clouds of ash and gas can solidify and race down the slopes at 90 mph, the report warned. Magma can melt glacier ice, setting off mudslides like those that killed some 25,000 beneath Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985.

Mexico City television stations and newspapers have carried stunning images of the smoking mountain since it awakened eight days ago. "If it comes, it comes directly here," said Blanca Jimenez, 50, who runs a snack stand on the plaza of Xalitzintla, whose 1,800 people stand in the lava's path. "We are accustomed to all of this so it doesn't frighten us so much. But we have to be prepared; there are many old people and children here." Several dozen state police officers have been stationed in the town as the alert levels have been raised. Evacuating Xalitzintla will take an hour or more from the moment the Catholic church's bells sound the alarm. The lava took more than four hours to arrive in 2000. "Things are looking calmer," Gregorio Fuentes, the town's mayor, said Thursday. "But each event it different. So we have to be prepared."
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

April 21, 2012

Mexico / Popocatépetl
ER reader Leona send us a link of an article of Cron.com. The article is well written, but we mainly like to inform our readers of this article because of the beautiful pictures of Popocatépetl

The nearly 18,000-foot volcano – Popo for short and known as Don Goyo to Ochoa and other locals – has rumbled to life anew: spitting ash, steam and brimstone, flaring an ominous orange along its night-shaded rim. $$$$$

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April 20, 2012

Mexico / Popocatépetl
CENAPRED has raised the alert status of Popocatépetl to the third highest level (5 out of 7) and considers the possibility of a major eruption. The volcano continues to have elevated levels of seismicity, and produces frequent steam and ash emissions raising about 1 km above the crater. Local authorities are preparing for potential evacuations. The last time evacuations were ordered on a large scale was in 2000 when over 50,000 people had to leave their homes. The major hazards of a larger eruption would be ash falls, pyroclastic flows, lahars produced by mixing of water and tephra. (text : volcano discovery)


Cabo Verde / Fogo
Anomalous seismic activity is recorded within the island of Fogo, Cape Verde. The permanent instrumental network “Cape Verde Volcano Observatory (OVCV)” which is monitoring the volcanic island of Fogo recorded at 14:43 Cape Verde Time on April 12, 2012 an earthquake whose epicenter was located below Fogo Island, more specifically within “Chã das Caldeiras”. The analysis of seismic records confirm that the magnitude of the earthquake was 2.9 on the Richter scale at a depth of 2.9 km. This observation would explain that the earthquake was felt in neighboring “Cha das Caldeiras”.
[link to earthquake-report.com]

link is broken. repost it.

[link to www.stuff.co.nz] Thank's!

Upgraded to 0.7 and now there’s a 0.8 at 99% as well meaning IMO considers this potentially important and checked it immediately.

Mexican villages rocked by Popocatepetl volcano eruption

Posted on April 21, 2012


April 21, 2012 – MEXICO - A 17,886ft volcano outside Mexico City has exhaled dozens of towering plumes of ash and shot fragments of glowing rock down its slopes, frightening the residents of surrounding villages with hours of low-pitched roaring not heard in a decade. A white cloud of ash, gas, water vapor and superheated rock spewed from the cone of Popocatepetl high above the village of Xalitzintla, whose residents said they were awakened by a window-rattling series of eruptions. Mexico’s National Disaster Prevention Centre said that a string of eruptions had ended in the early morning, then started up again at 5.05am, with at least 12 in two hours. “Up on the mountain, it feels incredible,” said Aaron Sanchez Ocelotl, 45, who was in his turf grass fields when the eruptions happened. “It sounds like the roaring of the sea.” The white cone of Popo, as most call the mountain, is an iconic backdrop to Mexico City’s skyline on clear days, but its 40-mile distance means even a moderately large eruption is unlikely to do more than dump ash on one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. It is a different matter for the villages on the flanks of the volcano, where the quiet of the corn fields and fruit orchards was pervaded by the volcano’s spooky roaring. “Everyone needs to take this seriously. This buzzing, this roaring isn’t normal,” said Gregorio Fuentes Casquera, the assistant mayor of Xalitzintla, a village of 2,600 people about seven miles from the summit. He said the town had prepared 50 buses and was sending out its six-member police forces to alert people to be ready to evacuate. Dozens of women lined up in Xalitzintla’s main square to get free face masks and bottles of water. Health authorities were giving out 10 masks and 10 bottles of water to each family, and the surgical-style masks, intended to filter out the fine ash released by the volcano, were becoming common among the town’s students, who are required to wear them in school. Few adults wore them. President Felipe Calderon said live on national television that authorities are keeping open roads around the mountain, preparing emergency shelters and making sure residents know the latest information about a potential eruption. –The Press Association [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

Saturday
21.04.2012 13:45:24 63.912 -19.627 8.4 km 0.8 99.0 9.1 km SSE of Hekla
Saturday
21.04.2012 13:45:24 63.935 -19.612 10.9 km 0.7 76.75 6.9 km SSE of Hekla

[link to www.jornada.unam.mx]

,The activity of the volcano Popocatepetl is reserved prognosis. Although yesterday was relatively calm, the monitoring of the national disaster prevention Center (Cenapred) indicates that it is forming a dome – accumulation of gases – a volume of approximately a million cubic metres, which at some point will have to leave, even if it is not possible to predict how and when, said Roberto Quass, director of the Center.,,

Carl le Strange says:

April 22, 2012 at 14:49


I am a bit curious about Vatnafjöll, I just found a paper stating that the 1987 earthquake was followed by a magmatic intrusion, and that the faultline started at the bottom of the crust and propagated almost up to the top of the crust. If that paper is correct Vatnafjöll has been locked and loaded since 87. Quite interesting and explains a lot of the activity that we see today.
[link to www.agu.org]
[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Updated: Sunday, 22 April, 2012 at 11:44 UTC
Description
Mexico City was put on heightened alert yesterday (Saturday) as a nearby volcano began spewing ash and molten rock. Eruptions from Popocatepetl began to grow larger a week ago as columns of ash poured from more than 60 openings in the 17,886ft cone. With a low-pitched roar, towers of ash and steam were thrown out as pressure that had built up inside the magma chamber escaped. Glowing rock fragments have been sighted more than 3,000 feet down the slopes of the volcano. Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Centre raised the volcano alert level to "yellow stage three" - the third highest - and authorities prepared evacuation routes, ambulances and shelters in the event of a bigger explosion. Some 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius of the volcano. Residents in the town of San Nicolas de Los Ranchos, near the volcano, are preparing for possible evacuations by registering with emergency service crews in the town square. The last major eruption of Popocatepetl forced thousands of people to flee their homes in 2000. Even a large eruption is unlikely to do more than dump ash on one of the world's largest metropolitan areas. But the grit could play havoc with Mexico City's airport and tens of thousands of people in the farming villages on its flanks could be forced to flee. The volcano had been throwing out small amounts of ash daily since 1994, but a week ago, the eruptions started growing larger and increased significantly on Friday, with a deep roaring not heard in a decade. A 35 million cubic foot chamber of magma was seething about six miles beneath Popocatepetl, said Roberto Quaas, the director of the disaster prevention centre. Scientists have no way of predicting whether the molten rock will be slowly released, or erupt in a powerful explosion such as the one on December 18, 2000, that sent up a plume of red-hot rock.
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Italy / Sicily / Etna
Weak ash emissions from deep strombolian activity within the New SE crater has been observed since last evening (20 April). If the eruption patterns remains more or less the same, a new paroxysm is probably under way within the next days. (text : volcano discovery) [link to earthquake-report.com]

Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano
Posted on April 22, 2012 by Jón Frímann
Yesterday (21.04.2012) an earthquake swarm started in Hengill volcano at 18:57 UTC on 21.04.2012. The area in question is well known for having earthquakes swarms during past few months. It seems that this earthquake swarm is not over, and there is also a risk of stronger earthquakes in Hengill volcano than have currently happened. But the largest earthquake so far was event with the magnitude ML2.8.

[link to www.jonfr.com]

“The dual mechanism modell revived in light of the inferred magmatic fluid intrusion following the the Vatnafjöll earthquake sequence of 1987.
Ragnar Stefánsson, Kristján Ágústsson and Páll Halldórsson.

In the paper “Strain release and strain build-up in the south Iceland seismic zone” by Stefánsson, R. and Halldórsson, P., Tectonophysics 1988, they discussed and constrained two models to explain different features observed for the South Iceland Seismic Zone, SISZ.

The first model is that of strain build up by shearing and release by earthquakes of the zone as a whole. It was constrained by: On one hand 2 cm /year drift divergency taken upp by transform motion along the SISZ and shearing it as a whole. This is compared with moments calculated from surface wave magnitudes, Ms, estimated by the empirical formula of Purcaru and Berckhemer, Tectonophysics, 1978: log Mo=16.1+1.5Ms. Rigidity was based on body wave velocities and the thickness of the cust involved in the build up of stress was assumed 15 km. The agreement between moment build up and release was good for the period since 1700, the period of well described earthquakes. In fact the agreement of this model was too good. It was noted by the authors, that in fact the earthquake energy was too large compared to the energy build up of normal drift velocity as a significant part of the divergency moment should be taken up aseismically. Also they noted that, especially in the western part, the involved elastic-brittle crust is much thinner than the 15 km thickness assumed in the model.

As a suggestion to explain that we have more earthquake energy in the seismic zone than that expected from 2 cm yearly drift, it is pointed out that it is physically plausible that the build up of strain energy in the system is not only due to shearing because of rift divergency but energy from magmatic fluid intrusions should be added to this as well as in general the energy of variable push from the hot spot.

The other model has to do with the characteristics of individual earthquake faults in the SISZ. This is the “dual model of earthquake mechanism” suggested in the paper to explain the right lateral motion on NS trending fault planes of the individual historical earthquakes in this zone of general EW left lateral transform motion. The model was suggested in light of the interplay between the NE-SW compression exerted by the plume and the general almost EW plate divergency in this region. The model is that of strike slip earthquakes governed by compression from the Iceland hot spot. The earthquake slips were proposed to release the compressional stresses so rotation of the principal stresses occurs, so the maximum compression comes closer to NS, and the least compression closer to EW. Thus the side pressures on the NS faults would be lowered which temporarily opens for fluid intrusions into NS cracks. This also explains why the observed NS earthquake faults on the surface are not repeated during the 300 years of earthquake history, but rather faults 5 – 10 km away. The intrusions increase the compression in their surrounding, closing the nearby cracks for a long time.

The recent modelling of the Vatnafjöll earthquake sequence of 1987 is that of foreshocks and a 5.8 earthquake followed by magma intrusion into pure strike slip fault break. We thus have two active processes with a different time scale, one of discrete slips measured by seismometers, the other is that of slow expansion measured by volumetric strainmeters. The epicenter of the Vatnafjöll earthquake is on the eastward prolongation of the SISZ, within 10 km of what usually is considered to be its eastern end. The fault plane of the earthquake was near vertical in NS direction and the slip right lateral (Ágústsson, K. et. al 1997).

To say that such a model is aplicable also to the SISZ is not certain. Since several eruptions have occurred in the Vatnafjöll area, it is probable that it has some kind of magma chamber or a magma layer. But it has also been claimed on various reasons that there are fluids below the whole of the SISZ. As pointed out earlier in this abstract, excess earthquake energy in SISZ may be explained by energy from magmatic fluid intrusions. It is at least possible that the Vatnafjöll earthquake model, i.e. that of fault break followed by fluid intrusion, comparable with the dual mechanism model, is valid for the whole of the SISZ.

In general it has been claimed, especially on basis of magnetotelluric measurements that fluid mobility, especially that of water fluids, exist bellow the crust or in the lower part of the crust all over the world. It is thus possible that the Vatnafjöll model is generally relevant although the process of fluid intrusions plays a more significant role in volcanic than in nonvolcanic areas.”

1. Liquid magma under the whole of the SISZ? That would explain a lot…
2. If now there is a puddle of basalt slushing around from the EISZ to SISZ, where the hell then does the acido-andesitic tephric-pumice of Hekla come from?
3. Say the phrase “volcanic re-activitation”. Seems like Vatnafjöll really got going in 1987. Wonder when the next injection will come? It would most likely be the last needed.

Oh, and Vatnafjöll is so not a part of Hekla. Besides that, it last erupted 350AD, so there is quite a chance of it becoming big and nasty. And checking the old hrauns from it, say also “multi-cubic kilometer eruption”. Could jolly well be the next large Dead zone eruption.
[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Lughduniense 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand
Since Monday, the volcanic alert has been increased, which rose to the yellow phase. Mexican authorities described the air quality in the towns near the volcano Popopcatépetl as critical, due to the rain of ash caused by the exhalations. The Monitoring System Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil said that is forming a dome in the colossus, which "will have to get out."

The warnings about air quality primarily affect the city of Puebla, the state capital, where local authorities explained that "the suspension of particles in the atmosphere reached 600 per cubic meter, whereas the norm states that the acceptable range is 120 ", therefore they consider the situation as"critical", that also affects neighboring towns.

Reported that they have treated about 240 cases of health damage related to inhalation of ash in the environment and impact on skin.

Meanwhile, the Civil Protection said it is unknown how the dome-gas accumulation- will evolve, which is formed in the volcano. [from here transl. mine]

So they will hand out mouth covers in the areas of San Miguel Chimela, San Miguel el Alto, parte de Loma Grande, Texmalaca, Temaxcatitla; del lado del estado de Puebla son Atzizintla, San Antonio Atzizintla, Rancho Nuevo, San Isidro and Tesmalaquilla.

There is also a warning for the safety of food and water:
Faced with increasing rain of ash on the slopes of Popocatepetl, the National Civil Protection Service asked the impacted population to collect it , not wash it away, or send it into the drain.

Remove ashes from the rooftops and in the case of finer ash that can enter the respiratory system, to use masks, seal vents and keep household water tanks as well as food for both human and animal consumption strictly covered, because these can react to and result in an intoxication process.

But for the fields the ash fall is beneficial, "there be maize".

show more show less
(Edited by author 12 hours ago)
[link to www.wired.com]

Lughduniense 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand
Since Monday, the volcanic alert has been increased, which rose to the yellow phase. Mexican authorities described the air quality in the towns near the volcano Popopcatépetl as critical, due to the rain of ash caused by the exhalations. The Monitoring System Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil said that is forming a dome in the colossus, which "will have to get out."

The warnings about air quality primarily affect the city of Puebla, the state capital, where local authorities explained that "the suspension of particles in the atmosphere reached 600 per cubic meter, whereas the norm states that the acceptable range is 120 ", therefore they consider the situation as"critical", that also affects neighboring towns.

Reported that they have treated about 240 cases of health damage related to inhalation of ash in the environment and impact on skin.

Meanwhile, the Civil Protection said it is unknown how the dome-gas accumulation- will evolve, which is formed in the volcano. [from here transl. mine]

So they will hand out mouth covers in the areas of San Miguel Chimela, San Miguel el Alto, parte de Loma Grande, Texmalaca, Temaxcatitla; del lado del estado de Puebla son Atzizintla, San Antonio Atzizintla, Rancho Nuevo, San Isidro and Tesmalaquilla.

There is also a warning for the safety of food and water:
Faced with increasing rain of ash on the slopes of Popocatepetl, the National Civil Protection Service asked the impacted population to collect it , not wash it away, or send it into the drain.

Remove ashes from the rooftops and in the case of finer ash that can enter the respiratory system, to use masks, seal vents and keep household water tanks as well as food for both human and animal consumption strictly covered, because these can react to and result in an intoxication process.

But for the fields the ash fall is beneficial, "there be maize".

show more show less
(Edited by author 12 hours ago)
[link to www.wired.com]

Heads up for another BUR strain “anomaly”, one last night, and another now.
[link to hraun.vedur.is]

Hi Luis,

Sorry that I've been tied up lately. Thanks for sharing the link to your thread, can't wait to catch up on all your information. I found a video for this week. Pardon if it is already posted.





The RSOE Alerts:

Santorini Volcano 7
Europe Greece Island of Thera 1927 23.04.2012
Details
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

The Upper Falls area, Mt Sheridan and LKWY Lake are showing disturbance.


[link to isthisthingon.org]

[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]


Today's RSOE Alerts:

Current Emergencies

12 23.04.2012 Volcano Activity Mexico State of Puebla, [Popocatepetl Volcano]
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]
Volcano Activity in Mexico on Monday, 16 April, 2012 at 05:02 (05:02 AM) UTC.
Base data
EDIS Number: VA-20120416-34909-MEX
Event type: Volcano Activity
Date/Time: Monday, 16 April, 2012 at 05:02 (05:02 AM) UTC
Last update: ---
Cause of event:
Damage level: Unknown Damage level
Geographic information
Continent: Central-America
Country: Mexico
County / State: State of Puebla
Area: Popocatepetl Volcano
City:
Coordinate: N 19° 1.380, W 98° 37.320
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]


Long Time or Rolling Event(s)

1 19.04.2012 Volcano Eruption Russia [Asia] Far-East, [Shiveluch Volcano]
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]
There are more than 150 volcanoes on Kamchatka, 29 of them active.
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

2 10.04.2012 Volcano Activity USA State of Alaska, [Cleveland volcano, Aleuitan Islands]
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]
Scientists detected the explosion on distant infrasound seismic networks.
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

8 16.04.2012 Volcano Activity Colombia Departments of Caldas and Tolima, [Nevado del Ruiz volcano]
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]
"factors signal that the volcano is heating up"
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Thank's!

Etna with vigorous steaming now on cam 2 and 5.
[link to www.guide-etna.com]

On the Iceland rash of eq's There was talk last year about them being from fracking and not "real" quakes.

[link to www.radiostudio7.it] Double Eruption.
Two active vents ejecting lava!
[link to i43.tinypic.com]

A bit more than basic information on different aspects of Etna from the specialist /geologist Boris Behnke (at wired.com, 2010):
1) History of Etna [link to www.wired.com]
2) Current observations on Etna: [link to www.wired.com]
3) on volcanic hazards connected with Etna: [link to www.worldatlas.com]

Best webcams to see this eruption: [link to www.radiostudio7.it]
[link to www.guide-etna.com] USE WebCAM 5.

Etna is starting to spew a bit more violently though as this cam shows. Perhaps still building her strength.