Volcano Watch Special: Volcán Guallatiri

Volcán Guallatiri could explode after 50 years of virtual dormancy

Based on its recent analysis, FEWW team believes that there’s an 80 percent probability Volcán Guallatiri (northern Chile) could erupt explosively after nearly five decades of dormancy.

Partial map of Chile showing approximate position of Volcán Guallatiri west of the border with Bolivia. Original map: USGS

Volcán Guallatiri is a 6071-meter high symmetrical stratovolcano located at the southwestern end of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcano group.  The snow-clad Guallatiri sits west of the border with Bolivia.

One of northern Chile’s most active volcanoes, Volcán Guallatiri rises to the SSE beyond Laguna Chungará, and steam rises from a prominent fumarole near its summit. The 6071-m-high Guallatiri, a symmetrical ice-clad stratovolcano, lies at the SW end of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcano group just west of the border with Bolivia and is capped by a central dacitic dome or lava complex, with the active vent situated at its southern side.  Thick lava flows are prominent on the lower northern and western flanks of the andesitic-to-rhyolitic volcano. Minor explosive eruptions have been reported from Guallatiri since the beginning of the 19th century. Intense fumarolic activity with “jet-like” noises continues, and numerous solfataras extend more than 300 m down the west flank. Photo by Lee Siebert, 2004 (Smithsonian Institution). Caption: GVP.

Volcano Name:  Guallatiri
Country:  Chile
Subregion:  Northern Chile

Volcano Type:  Stratovolcano
Last Known Eruption:  1960
Summit Elevation:  6,071 m (19,918 feet)
Latitude: 18.42°S (18°25’0″S)
Longitude: 69.092°W (69°5’30″W)

Related Links:

• FEWW Volcano Index
• Earthquakes

Galeras Erupts Again!

Galeras forceful eruption prompts evacuation

Galeras, a stratovolcano, located near the regional capital city of Pasto in southwest Colombia and close to the border with Ecuador, erupted again on Saturday, prompting the authorities to issue a “red alert” for the area. An evacuation order was issued for about 8,000 people who live in the vicinity of the volcano.

Galeras, seen from the city of Pasto.  Credit: Henry Ernesto Escobar Meneses

The Colombia Institute for Geology and Mines said the blast occurred at about 12:10 UTC Sunday. No fatalities or injuries were reported.

According to the local government  “large amount of ash” was falling on Pasto.

The 4,270-meter volcano has been an active volcano for about a million years and is considered the most active volcano in Colombia. In 1991 it was designated a Decade Volcano due to its proximity to the city of Pasto.

Galeras is seen here from the south on March 17, 1989, with steam clouds pouring from vents on the large central cone near the back headwall of the caldera, whose south rim forms the ridge in the foreground. Major explosive eruptions since the mid Holocene have produced widespread tephra deposits and pyroclastic flows that swept all but the southern flanks.  Photo by Norm Banks (U.S. Geological Survey). Caption: GVP.

On January 14, 1993, during a Decade Volcano conference in Pasto, a group of unfortunate scientists launched an impromptu expedition to the volcano’s crater. Shortly after their arrival, Galeras erupted killing six scientists and three others.

In the 20th century Galeras underwent several episodes of unrest including those in December of 1923, October of 1924, October of 1932, February of 1936, July of 1947, January of 1950, February 1974, February of 1989, January of 1990, January of 1993, March of 2000, June of 2002, July of 2004, November of 2005, October of 2007, and several episodes in 2008 and 2009.

UPDATE: February 20, 2009

Authorities in the south of Colombia are on high alert after the Galeras volcano Friday erupted again. Colombia Reports. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• FEWW Volcano Index
• Earthquakes

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Volcano Watch: 10 February 2009

Volcanic Activity Report: 4 February – 10 February 2009

Source: SI / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

• Asama, Honshu, Japan
• Redoubt, Southwestern Alaska
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu, Japan

Volcano of the Week: Popocatépetl

A plume of steam and ash rises above Popocatépetl, whose Aztec name means “Smoking Mountain.” This December 1994 aerial view is of the NE side of the massive stratovolcano, which towers more than 3200 m above the Valley of Mexico to the right.

Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America’s 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 400 x 600 m wide crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.  Photo courtesy of ENAPRED, Mexico City, 1994. Caption: GVP

Volcano Name: Volcán Popocatépetl

Country: México

Volcano Type: Stratovolcanoes

Last Known Eruption: 2008 (in or after)

Summit Elevation: 5426 m (17,802 feet)

Latitude:      19.023°N (19°1’24″N)

Longitude: 98.622°W (98°37’20″W)

“CENAPRED reported that emissions of steam and gas from Popocatépetl were visible during 4-10 February; the plumes occasionally contained slight amounts of ash. On 6 February, an ash plume rose 800 m above the crater at 0839, and was followed by 75 minutes of increased seismicity.” GVP said.

Ongoing Activity:

• Barren Island, Andaman Is
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Colima, México
• Dukono, Halmahera
• Fuego, Guatemala
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka
• Kilauea, Hawaii
• Popocatépetl, México
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Sangay, Ecuador
• Santa María, Guatemala
• Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Soufrière Hills, Montserrat
• Tungurahua, Ecuador

No Doubt about Redoubt Volcano!

Latest photo of Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano

Hot smoke and gas were ejected from two new fumaroles that appeared in the snow and ice layer on Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano.

Photo by Chris Waythomas, Alaska Volcano Observatory /U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

The AVO researchers reported that the ice layer surrounding the volcano is melting rapidly because of the hot gasses  that are spewing out of the fumaroles. The gases reportedly include carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide, which means magma is edging upward. AVO scientists also believe new magma has entered Redoubt, which means that there is strong possibility the volcano will explode in the near future.

The 3,108-meter volcano, considered the 9th most active in the U.S., is about 170 kilometers from Anchorage, Alaska.

AVO report dated 2009-02-03 15:02:56

“Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. Seismic activity remains elevated above background. Clear web camera images show no activity at the volcano. An AVO crew is working near the volcano today. They have installed one new seismic station and are presently working on a second installation.  AVO is monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day.”

AVO Redoubt Scenarios

Based on their knowledge of  Redoubt’s past activities, both historical and from the geologic record, and their analysis of the current episode of unrest, AVO suggests four possible scenarios:

1. Failed Eruption
2. ERUPTION SIMILAR TO OR SMALLER THAN 1989-90
   Unrest continues to escalate culminating in an eruption that is similar to or smaller than the one that occurred in 1989-90.
3. Larger [than 1989-90] Explosive Eruption
4. Flank Collapse

Based on all available monitoring data and AVOs knowledge of the volcano, scenario number two, an eruption similar to or smaller than that of 1989-90, appears to be the most probable outcome at this time. We consider one and three to be somewhat less likely, and scenario four to be much less likely. —AVO

For more information see Redoubt Interpretation and Hazards.

Geologic Summary: Redoubt is a 3108-m-high glacier-covered stratovolcano with a breached summit crater in Lake Clark National Park about 170 km SW of Anchorage. Next to Mount Spurr, Redoubt has been the most active Holocene volcano in the upper Cook Inlet. Collapse of the summit of Redoubt 10,500-13,000 years ago produced a major debris avalanche that reached Cook Inlet. Holocene activity has included the emplacement of a large debris avalanche and clay-rich lahars that dammed Lake Crescent on the south side and reached Cook Inlet about 3500 years ago. Eruptions during the past few centuries have affected only the Drift River drainage on the north. Historical eruptions have originated from a vent at the north end of the 1.8-km-wide breached summit crater. The 1989-90 eruption of Redoubt had severe economic impact on the Cook Inlet region and affected air traffic far beyond the volcano. [Source: GVP]

Related Links:

• Alaska’s Redoubt May Be About to Erupt

• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Two Volcanoes Erupt in Japan
• Volcanoes [Links page]

• Earthquake Forecast 2009 : Japan
• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• Earthquakes [Links page]

• Climate Change, Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions

Content: 500 words, 1 image, 8 links

Mt. Kurikoma Coughs, Still Comatose!

The Year of Volcanoes, Too?

Steam, hot volcanic plumes rise near Mt. Kurikoma

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces personnel observed Monday hot volcanic plumes about seven kilometers southwest of the summit of Mt. Kurikoma, a 1,627-meter-high volcano located on the border of Miyagi, Iwate and Akita prefectures, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Aerial observation from a helicopter showed plumes rising from several spots near both Hanayama in Kurihara, and Yu no Hama hot-spring spa.

Sadato Ueki of Tohoku University’s Research Center for the Prediction of Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions said the plumes might be volcanic gases rising to the surface, or steam coming from underground hot water channels whose course was diverted by the powerful Mw 6.8 quake Saturday. The Iwate quake struck about 22km NW of the Mt. Kurikoma summit.

“There’s a possibility that volcanic gases that had been confined below ground are gushing out through fissures in the mountain created by the earthquake,” he said. However, he ruled out increased volcanic activity on Mt. Kurikoma, because the plumes were very far from the volcano’s summit.

Kurikoma volcano last erupted in 1950.

MT. KURIKOMA is a dormant stratovolcano stretching across three prefectures (states) of Miyagi, Iwate and Akita, standing high at an altitude of 1,627.7m.

Kurikoma volcano seen from the SSE with its summit at the right-center, the satellitic cone of Daichimori on the left, and Higashi-Kurikoma on the right. On the opposite side of the volcano, the summit is cut by a 4-km-wide caldera breached to the north that is partially filled by the Tsurugi-dake central cone, once mined for sulfur. (Caption: Source) Image Copyright: Shingo Takeuchi (Japanese Quaternary Volcanoes database, RIODB, http://www.aist.go.jp/RIODB/strata/VOL_JP/index.htm). See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Coordinates: 38° 57′ 0″ N, 140° 46′ 48″ E
Decimal: 38.95°, 140.78°

Related Links:

• 2008: Year of the Expected Unknowns!
• Will 2008 be year of the tornadoes, too?
• 2008: Year of the Fire

• Volcanoes
• Philippines Taal Volcano Could Erupt Anytime!
• Volcanoes, Santorini Eruption and Crops Failure in China

Image of the day

Kolombangara

Mount Veve is an extinct volcano on Kolombangara, in the Solomon Islands, at 7.95° S 157.0666667° E.

Kolombangara is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the Solomon Islands. Almost perfectly round in shape and about 15 km across, the island is a stratovolcano that reaches an altitude of 1,768 meters at Mount Veve. The island forms part of the southern boundary of the New Georgia Sound; to the northwest the Vella Gulf separates it from Vella Lavella and Gizo, while to the southeast New Georgia lies across the Kula Gulf.

Kolombangara is heavily forested, with few inhabitants. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is “Water Lord” with approximately 80 rivers and streams running down its flanks. [Full Article]

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