Soufriere Hills Volcano Vents Ash

Image of the Day:  Soufriere Hills undergoes three vigorous ‘ash venting’ episodes

Soufriere Hills Volcano has remained at an increased activity level, after undergoing three vigorous ‘ash venting’ events, with the third event lasting 10 minutes, at 10:00am local time on October 5, 2009. Photo: Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Image may be subject to copyright.

MVO reported a small swarm of VT earthquakes, followed by “a period of tremor associated with vigorous ash venting” that resulted in large ash plumes drifting WNW over the island and out to sea. “Only a very light dusting of ash fell in Old Towne and Olveston as the plumes moved to the south of the inhabited areas.”

MVO observed no explosive activity or pyroclastic flows associated with the ash venting, which ceased at about 12:00am local time. “Two rockfall signals followed the vigorous ash venting,” followed by continual ash venting, however, no further seismicity occurred.

After 10 months of relative quiet, Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat blasted ash into the sky in early October 2009. This natural-color satellite image shows a plume of ash extending westward from Soufriere Hills on October 6, 2009, a day after eruptive activity resumed on October 5th. A pilot reported ash extending 280 kilometers (170 miles) at an elevation of approximately 3,600 meters (12,000 feet). In 1995, a series of major eruptions forced the evacuation of the Montserrat’s former capital city, Plymouth. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of this region. Caption by Robert Simmon. [Edited by FEWW]

Related Links:

• Messages From Earth’s Powerhouse
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 19 March 2009

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Rumble III Volcano “blew its top!”
• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts
• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009

• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Other Related Links:

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

Possible Thule Eruption Disastrous for Antarctic Ice

A Thule eruption may be a harbinger of an intense period of seismic and volcanic activities in  Antarctica, accelerating ice melt

A possible Thule eruption could signal the start of an intense period of seismic and volcanic activities in Antarctica, FEWW Moderators believe. Increased seismic and volcanic activities in the region could accelerate the ice melt by up to  500 percent [possibly by an even larger factor, if the Antarctic plate fragments as a result of enhanced seismic activity.]

Thule Islands. Thule (left) and Cook (right) islands are seen surrounded by ice floes in this ASTER satellite image. Douglas Strait, the ice-free area in the center of the image, is underlain by a 4.3 x 4.8 km wide caldera between the two volcanic islands. A third stratovolcano forms Bellingshausen Island, just out of view to the right. The Thule Islands lie at the southern end of the South Sandwich island arc bordering the Scotia Sea and consist of three stratovolcanoes constructed along an E-W-trending line. ASTER satellite image, 2003 (National Aeronautical and Space Administration, courtesy of ASTER science team). Caption: GVP.

Baker forecast a possible eruption of  the Thule Islands volcano before the end of last century. According to Global Volcanism Program, GVP, “steam was observed at the summit crater of Thule Island in 1962,”  and ash appeared  there as well as on Bellingshausen Island, “indicating possible 20th-century eruptions (Baker, 1968).”  It’s also believed that a “small explosion crater formed on the southern flank of Bellinghausen Island sometime between 1964 and 1986.”

Recent seismic activity near the Thule Islands suggest that an eruption may occur.

Related Links:

• Submarine caldera and other volcanic observations in Southern Thule, South Sandwich Islands

References:

• Baker P E, 1968. Comparative volcanology and petrology of the Atlantic island arcs. Bull Volc, 32: 189-206
• Thule Islands Data Sources

Volcano Watch No. 40

1 – 7 October 2008

New Activity/Unrest:

• Garbuna Group, New Britain
• Karangetang [Api Siau], Siau Island
• Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania
• Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island
• Redoubt, Southwestern Alaska
• Soputan, Sulawesi [Indonesia]

Karangetang [Api Siau] Photo

Karangetang (Api Siau) volcano lies at the northern end of the island of Siau, north of Sulawesi. The 1784-m-high stratovolcano contains five summit craters along a N-S line. Karangetang is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, with more than 40 eruptions recorded since 1675 and many additional small eruptions that were not documented in the historical record (Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World: Neumann van Padang, 1951). Twentieth-century eruptions have included frequent explosive activity sometimes accompanied by pyroclastic flows and lahars. Lava dome growth has occurred in the summit craters; collapse of lava flow fronts has also produced pyroclastic flows. Photo by Volcanological Survey of Indonesia. Caption and details: GVP.

Volcano: Karangetang [Api Siau]
Country: Indonesia
Region: Sangihe Islands (Indonesia)
Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Last Known Eruption: 2008
Summit Elevation: 1784 m     5,853 feet
Latitude: 2.78°N     2°47’0″N
Longitude: 125.40°E     125°24’0″E

Ongoing Activity:

• Anatahan, Mariana Islands (Central Pacific)
• Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia)
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Manam, Northeast of New Guinea (SW Pacific)
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu
• Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Soufrière Hills, Montserrat
• Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan)
• Turrialba, Costa Rica
• Ubinas, Perú

This Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program.

Mount Soputan volcano erupts again!

Lava flowed about 1 km from Indonesia’s Mount Soputan crater

Mount Soputan volcano, one of Sulawesi island’s most active volcanoes, erupted again Monday, spewing flames, fiery spark and clouds of hot smoke up to a 1,000 meters into the air.

Lava flowed about 1 km from the crater, according to Indonesia’s volcanology center.”There’s no order to evacuate but people are asked to stay outside a radius of four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the volcano’s summit because it could spew lava and heat clouds down its slopes,” a volcanologist said.

Indonesia, which sits on the so called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” is home to 150 listed volcanoes. [See below for more information on Pacific Ring of Fir. ]

Soputan volcano spews thick smoke and heat clouds in Minahasa. Source: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Description

Country: Indonesia
Region Name: Sulawesi (Indonesia)
Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Last Known Eruption: 2008
Summit Elevation: 1784 m     (5,853 feet)
Latitude:     1.108°N     1°6’30″N
Longitude: 124.73°E     124°44’0″E

Soputan on a restful day!

The small Soputan stratovolcano, seen here from the west, was constructed on the southern rim of the Quaternary Tondano caldera in northern Sulawesi Island. The youthful, largely unvegetated Soputan volcano is one of Sulawesi’s most active volcanoes. During historical time the locus of eruptions has included both the summit crater and Aeseput, a prominent NE flank vent that formed in 1906 and was the source of intermittent major lava flows until 1924. Photo by Agus Solihin (Volcanological Survey of Indonesia). Image and caption: GVP.

Pacific Ring of Fire

The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area of frequent siesmic activity and volcanic eruptions caused by plate tectonic movements. Encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean, which contains oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts, the 40,000 km Ring of Fire is home to 452 volcanoes. About ninety percent of the world’s earthquakes including 80% of the world’s major earthquakes occur along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin form the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The trenches are shown in blue-green. The volcanic island arcs, although not labeled, are parallel to, and always landward of, the trenches. For example, the island arc associated with the Aleutian Trench is represented by the long chain of volcanoes that make up the Aleutian Islands.

Source: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/fire.html