Posted on by Jón Frímann

Special Report: Update 2 on the eruption in El Hierro

This is a special report on the eruption in El Hierro. This is also a good time (as any) to announce that I plan to write about volcanoes in Canary Islands in the future. As I plan on moving to the Canary Islands in about 10 years time (no reason to start late on this). But I have already induced the Canary Islands volcanoes into my personal watch system. But I have my own personal system to watch volcanoes in Iceland and now Canary Islands. However, Canary Islands are not part of my personal emergency system until I move to Canary Islands.

Update to the name of this blog is going to happen soon, but I am not sure when. But I am going to move in a about 10 years time (going to live in Denmark until that happens). Until then, they are going to go into special report group and only major events are going to be blogged about. Please note that this might change if I move earlier to Canary Islands then I now plan.

******

The eruption in El Hierro volcano continues today, as it did yesterday. But the strength of the eruption appears to have dropped today from what it was yesterday. But this does not mean that the eruption is over. It just means that the current fissure that is erupting is about to close up, mostly due to the material that it has been ejecting into the ocean floor. That means a new fissure or vents is about to open up somewhere. When and where is impossible to know. But this is the nature of volcanoes that erupt in this manner, but El Hierro is a shield volcano [second link here]. Good examples are Krafla volcano and Vestmannaeyjar Island volcano. Both of those volcanoes are in Iceland.

Today around 14:20 UTC there was a sharp tremor drop in El Hierro. This means that the magma flow dropped in the current eruption fissure. This also means that if the pressure is not enough that fissure is going to stop erupting. Because of this has happened a new fissure or a vent should be expect at any time as I have told before. When and where that might happen is impossible to know, as that outcome depends on where the magma finds its pathways inside the volcano. There might not be any earthquakes before this happens, as the rock is unlikey to be hard enough to make them. Some small earthquakes might happen if the rock layer is hard enough. Today few deep earthquakes have been recorded. This means that new magma is getting into El Hierro volcano from the mantle (where no earthquakes happen). This also means that this eruption might take place for some time now. But it is impossible to know for how long, as there might be a lot of magma flowing up from the mantle it self and up to El Hierro volcano.


The harmonic tremor and the drop in the harmonic tremor today. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

Many people have been wondering why this eruption has not been seen. The fact is that depth drops quiet fast around El Hierro Island. Around 4 km out the depth is close to 1.5 to 2 km, it is only close to the island that the depth starts to get shallower. At the moment is is hard to say what happens next in this eruption on El Hierro. But more vents should be expect to open up then have already have.

I am going to update this blog post if anything changes in El Hierro volcano eruption.

592 Replies to “Special Report: Update 2 on the eruption in El Hierro”

  1. …a bit OT: I re-posted this from the previous blog because it came in minutes before this new one. And thank’s for a spledid job Jòn! 😀

    @ Peter Kobbolt
    Hi Peter! Nice to meet you…

    They are getting the water from the rock. Former Mayor, Cayo Armas drilled after water years ago to prevent/stop people moving from the Island. And he found a large water source in the rock.

    Here you can watch a report from Il Hierro and their water supply development. Shown on Swedish TV today. The programme’s name is: “Korrespondentern” theme; “Peak Oil” approx. 12:21 minutes into the programme: http://svtplay.se/t/103500/korrespondenterna

    Must have been filmed very recently… btw all in Swedish and Spanish

    Cheers
    Christian T.

      1. I was just about to say that I wished someone had told me about the program so that I hadn’t missed it. Then 2 things dawned on me…
        1. I am in England, not in Sweden.
        2. There is something called the internet.
        3. SVT streams it.
        4. You linked to it…

        Har du en trevlig kväll?

      3. Själv är jag svårt Hierrös i kväll.
        Jag undrar hur många svenskar vi egentligen är här.

        No worries, we are just contemplating world domination in our weird swedish calm way.

  2. @Carl.

    I’ve seen more silt kicked up from ships screws than is apparent from this video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jtydI5er9Q&feature=youtu.be

    I’m beginning to think you may be on to something given the alleged depth this is reportedly occurring at.

    Doesn’t seem very energetic at all. With the energy involved there would be no doubt that something was up.

    Possible mechanics that could account for what we see. –

    1) The main event or breach of the seafloor could be much deeper on the slope and what we see is the upwelling and silt kicked up from that as it flows upslope along the contour.

    2) It hasn’t happened yet and all we saw in the tremor was stuff getting ready to go.

    #1 Seems the most likely

    1. You might have a point with 1.

      The really odd one is the supposed number 3 eruption that is very close to the beach. The outer edge is at about the 200 meter mark. But the inner edge is about 75 meter mark on the Admiralty chart I have of La Hierra.

    2. Actually there is a third possibility.
      That the 4,3 quake did two things, 1) opened up a “hairline-fracture”, and 2) made the magma violently de-gas. Then all of the tremoring we have seen during the high tremoring was gas gushing out under very high pressure blowing open the conduit even more as it went. Then, the gas under really high pressure ran out. That would explain the tremoring, and the sudden drop in tremoring, and still we wouldn’t have to have any lava being erupted yet.

      I do believe now that we have no 3 happening. That would explain the really clean ocean, and the large gas saturated areas we are seeing.

      2. Remember, this is speculation on my part.
        No, I think that even if we perhaps have not had an eruption yet, it is just a little while before it starts.

      5. We do not really know for sure.

        But what we have seen indicates to me (not an expert) that there may be more activity to follow because:

        a) there is still a harmonic tremor (even if it less than it has been recently);
        b) there is a lot of activity on the spectroplot; and,
        c) I’m with Carl on this – I would expect to have seen more evidence from the eruption so far.

    3. From my little understanding of Spanish this was at 3,7 km from shore. Then (the) eruption is on the steep slope – west of the ridge – then if lava, it might literally be “rolling downwards” and kick up silt-dirt (not ash, sorry) – and this carried along with “up-draft” current from around the islands southern tip. From what I know the chopper ? this was videoed from rocked like hell (quite windy as seen on TV vide) but there was distinct NE-SW alignment on the edge of this dirt field, quite in line with sea-current chart. Do not belive any ship did this. A series of slope mud-slides could make this, … no?

      1. But… there is no visible silt.
        There is only that greenish/tuqouise water, and that is no silt, that is gas-saturated water. Silty water is either latte-coloured, brown, grey or black. It all depends on the silt in the bottom gunk.
        So, not even a mudslide. My point is that the water is way to pure and unsilty.

      2. I disagree on this only beeing “only gas”. Have pulled up many, many, Cod fishing nets with bottom gunk and even volcanic rock (stuck in it) from 100 fathoms. It was grey (and slimy) like this. Do not let the green “fresh” colour decive. That gunk is Gray and trails like smoke. Shall I call this bottom sediments? Maybe a little of sulphur (gas) to give smell, only this indicates something volcanic. Any solid ejecta rolls down slope. No pumice ejected yet it seems. If pumice, then definately “explosive” event (forthcoming?) Hope not.

      3. I do not see any grey gunk on the images. I only see greenish/turqouise.

        Am I odd who would have preferred the volcanic rocks over the cod? Probably 🙂
        But, salted volcanic rock is not as tasty as oven-baked cod with herbs. 🙂

        Actually, non-volcanic silt smell to high heaven with rotten-egg (sulphur) due to the anaerobic bacteria that thrive there. Sulphite-mud is disgusting when it is stuck on the anchor as you pull it up, yish…

      7. You icelanders are just pure spoiled with volcanic rock 😉

        I am though not complaining, I have a fist-sized olivine-glass chrystal from the Laki lava field together with some really nice pieces of obsidian.

        A couple of tonnes of cod? That is good money depending on how many it is split on.

  3. I’m giving up for now.

    I’ve found only one station in the Canaries that is accessible via IRIS Bud and it’s on the wrong island. No traces for me. 🙁

    I was gonna try and take the tremor signal from two or more stations and slide the time offset until I had the best match in the noise envelope to see what that gave me. If it had worked, and there was enough change between match/nomatch, you might be able to get a better bearing cut to the likely source. This would be a more accurate way of doing the data dance to get a bearing.

    Its amazing what you can come up with standing in line at UPS waiting for a package.

    BTW, digitizing the graphic is just… just… well, disgusting.

  4. Jon, I am delighted to read that you will be covering volcanoes in the Canaries as well as in Iceland! I appreciate that the rest of mainland Europe doesn’t have a great deal to offer with regards to volcanic activity, but I have seen both Santorini and (I think) a volcano north of Kos first hand. In fact, my boat trip to the volcano bit of Santorini was cancelled at the last minute as it was a bit too sulphurous (I’d guess 1998 or so).

    It would be lovely if you could cover the whole of Europe!

    With regards to El Hierro, I’m fascinated by some of the science going on in the discussions. And having learnt French and German in school (and a tiny bit of Latin!), reading Spanish is surprisingly easy. If only listening and speaking were equally as straightforward!

    1. I’d think that Italy for example has a lot to offer when it comes to volcanoes. – And then there are some “you never know”s re. Auvergne in France as well as Eifel in Germany and Vogtland (lots of earthquake swarms there, too) near the Czech/German border. –

  5. Hi, some of those earthquakes are getting deeper, what does that signify? Also seismicity is increasing again?

    1. This means that more magma is entering El Hierro volcano. This also means that the eruption is going to continue for some time. For how long depends on the amount of magma that is flowing into El Hierro volcano.

  6. According to AVCAN’s Enrique, after the first eruption , there was deflation, however, inflation has resumed in the following way:
    FRON – ALAJ – went up 3 mm and keeps around 43mm
    FRON – LPALM – keeps around 40 mm
    FRON – IZAN – up about 3mm, goes a little beyond 40 mm,
    FRON – TN03 – up about 4mm and in the last 24 hs, higher than 45 mm
    FRON – TN06 – up about 4mm, getting close ro 45 mm

    2. Great, Jón, many thanks.
      So, the two eruptive spots are located nearer to the coast than what was thought before.
      And they are still uncertain about where a next vent could open.

      1. About the fish kills, I don’t buy what they are saying.
        The gases are toxic, no doubt about that, only that they are to heavy to come up to the surface, not because of the sort of killed fish they are talking about – “a less-resistant one”.

    3. Interesting video from El Pais.

      Whatever is in the water is not ordinary silt. On my computer, it has a yellowish tint.

      Did not see any de-gassing (what looked like bubbles were dead fish) but I do not know when the video was taken so it may have dispersed earlier.

  8. Question: I have been watching Le Hierro for a while. I notice that when it has quakes, that Gomera and La Palma had some also. Could this mean, MAYBE, that the tube under the island is moving in the direction of the other two islands and this is just the beginning of somethink bigger. Thanks

  10. and more EQ´s…:
    13/10/2011 03:38:29 27.7140 -18.0522 20 1.7 mbLg SW FRONTERA.IHI [+]
    1104894 13/10/2011 03:19:31 27.7046 -18.0601 19 1.6 mbLg W EL PINAR.IHI [+]
    1104846 13/10/2011 02:23:30 27.7152 -18.0647 18 2.1 mbLg SW FRONTERA.IHI [+]
    1104845 13/10/2011 02:04:11 27.6595 -18.0731 16 1.7 mbLg SW EL PINAR.IHI [+]
    1104844 13/10/2011 01:47:05 27.6885 -18.0463 18 1.9 mbLg SW EL PINAR.IHI [+]
    1104843 12/10/2011 23:04:52 27.6912 -18.0590 17 1.7 mbLg W EL PINAR.IHI [+]

  12. So according to the graphic Jon pointed out, the current fissures are away from Restinga main vent and have potential to move closer and join up with it, resulting in a land eruption? Given the depth of the earthquakes there must be a lot of magma down there waiting to come up. I think is a matter of time before this occurs. /that will cause a great disruption to life and livelehood.

  13. I lived in Sweden for almost 2 years; and I can say for a fact that you will never gain world domination!

    Hell; you couldn’t even keep us Norwegians subdued for more than 100 years or so, and we were fat and happy as long as we had a sheep or two around … Even that was too difficult for you to arrange 😀

    *Hidebehindthecurtains*

    1. Arg! This comment was intended for Carl’s post further up:
      “No worries, we are just contemplating world domination in our weird swedish calm way.”

    3. Sooner or later it is Switzerland that will rule the world. As we are nice, we will organise it all as a federation, and grant all the nations autonomy, like we practice it with the cantons (smaller parts of the country, “administrative units” somehow, we’ve got 24/26 – don’t ask, half-cantons… – of them). Everyone will deal with his own crap and be a helpful hand to neighbours and friends when they need it. First help I’d ask is to make a “whipe the banks asses task force”, and as soon as they learned their lesson, we would only have to calm down the egos of politicians and come close to a perfect world…
      Sorry for that one… 🙂

      1. Well no matter who rules the world, We Brits will always rule the waves. (We have a national song that begins “Rule Brittania! Brittania rules the waves” )
        Now whether that applies to seismic, marine or air I am not certain.
        I do know that really it is already not true, as any international fishing trawlers can fish around our shores thanks to the EU. I am presuming though that the Swiss do not take advantage of this free for all!!! 🙂
        As our English politicians find it difficult to rule what they have already, world domination is hopefully not on the Agenda in Westminster .

      2. I’m looking forward to your leadership. Love cookies and tea… As long as you let us free on navigating around the Lac de Neuchâtel…
        But maybe Pippa’s back will rule the world. Will not change a lot compared to all the Buttheads that lead the dance right now.

      5. haha, he laughs about one of the main export-products from my state (i live in Graubünden where the “Bünderfleisch” is made : ) )

      6. Oh, Diana,

        as I’m Dutch , I can’t let that stand… WE rule the seas!! That you have a song about that, can’t be helped. We don’t need a song, we know it. 😛

        GeoLoco: as I’m living in Switzerland, I agree with the taskforce and canton-autonomie.
        You know, Swiss people are to polite to really rule the world. They will go as the “Swiss Guards” … *gç

        (Sorry to be sooo OT – and using my lunchbreak for that)

      7. Autsch, the Swiss Guards. They give swiss men this incredibly manly image… Please, let’s not talk about them where foreigners can see it… Better speak of chocolate, cheese, watches, knives, Willy Tell and the incredible geologists we have… Any more stereotypes? No, my grandma Heidi wasn’t a marmot, but I’m not from Wallis or Graubünden… Sorry to the guys overthere. I know you’re not all hairy long and yellow teethed dudes… 🙂

      8. Don’t be so polite, please take over Sweden.
        I love Switzerland and it’s take on democracy.

      9. Philip, no. Just imagine what would happen right now if the EU was too democratic. The population would have the possibility to influence decisions like whether they want to pay for those who are drawning or not. This would end up in a mess. Guys working 42 hours per week with 4 weeks of holiday per year and a retirement-age of 65 would be pissed to pay for ohers working 35 hours/6-8 weeks holiday/55 retirement. And others who get 300 Euro/month at retirement wouldn’t be happy to pay for guys that have an average 5x higher. Democracy doesn’t work if you want to link it all on a global scale…
        Baaaah, a good volcano to shake that all up, and people will care for true values again… 🙂
        Sheepsheep, hooray!

      10. Ah yeah, you’re right. Well I guess I’ve to move then. If Switzerland accept me I would gladly live there. Can’t think of a country I rather live in. Beautiful landscape, architecture and very nice slopes (winter sport). The trains are in time and the weather is just how I like it. If I happen to get tired of it the riviera is just around the corner. Why do I live here in south Sweden where I’ve to pay +50% taxes so lazy people could live on my money.
        Welfare is nice to some extent but it went overboard since we started to let the third world live here. You two are so lucky to be born in such a brilliant country.

    4. Nah, it was the herringoil that made us let you guys go. Oil from pressed herrings is a vile vile horrible thing. Sadly you guys found better oil later on… *sniffle*

  16. Good morning all.
    Interesting reading this morning. Thanks for all the info.
    My wish for the day: more “classic” evidence for the presumed (give me that without beating me up for saying it) submarine eruptions. Yes most watchers and officials say they are a fact, but some greenish water and a bit of special waves… Come on, there could be more.
    My guess: whether there was eruption in a classic way or “only” faaaaat degassing, it’s a fact that there’s still something interesting to happen.
    My hope for today: finding the time to follow the show, or even (what a daredevil) manage to participate to the exchanges here in an active manner.
    My message to America: I love your country (amongst many others). What landscapes you have. Boah, stunning. Met some nice people there, too. Now read me well: El Hierro is one of the smallest problems you have. Look in here from time to time, we’ll tell you if really the whole island jumps in the air to fall down in the sea again and make a several hundred meter high wave.
    Stay hungry.
    PS: Di, it’s morning, and after yesterday, I can’t help see you coming out of your shower and gliding your legs in this lava-hot thermo panty… I need a psy… 🙂

      2. As tireless (showing sustained enthusiastic action with unflagging vitality) amateur I doubt very much about the “eruptions” until now. Gases escaping under very high pressure, yes, probably transported to the site through the already existing network of lava tubes. But now I want to SEE lava, at lest one little pillow, before I believe there are eruptions going on.

      4. Your just gaining the status of second godess (you’ll understand Di stays nb1 in these matters) of this blog, at least from my point of view… 🙂
        Might the sheep be with us.
        More seriously: please, officials, fulfill my wish for the day. Or don’t, so my scenario and prediction from monday keeps still standing… ooooooh yessss…

      1. If this is not hot enough to blow Hierro and Katla at the same time, I should accept that I didn’t understand a shit about geology…

      3. As food and shit are probably the 2 most important questions in life (add shelter, of course – if you want to be “complete”), I’d say that volcanoes have solved 50% of the important problems of life. So it’s ok if they don’t care for geology…

  17. Bali, Indonesia:

    Magnitude 6.1
    Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 03:16:29 UTC
    Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 11:16:29 AM at epicenter
    Location 9.378°S, 114.628°E
    Depth 35.1 km (21.8 miles)

  18. I realize that this info may not be relevant in any way shape or form to what is going on here, but i thought i would share it with you anyway. I have been a resident in La Restinga for over three years and in El Hierro in general for about 7. Just above La Restinga (about 2-3 km up the road toward El Pinar) There is an entry to an cave/tunnel system called -Cueva Don Justo- . It was closed off for public entry somewhere around yr -99-01. It is said it is a labyrinth of tunnels leading down under the sea ( i have been told the biggest such in the world, but have nothing confirmed on this) in a web like manner and some older people on the Island has entered in one of the larger tunnels some time ages ago, so far, -he said -there was no air anymore, but water was dripping from the ceiling and he could hear the sea above him. I have never heard any official reports of anyone having been down there, just that it is an extremely dangerous place as it is easy to get lost in due to the labyrinth like manner it has developed. Just thinking…if there is a web of tunnels ALL around the coast of La Restinga, could it have play any role in any of the -phenomenon- taking place there now? Meaning..a possibility of air pockets and tunnels under the sea? Just a thought. I am obviously extremely alerted to everything, having lived on the Island for so long. Love this blog and all your comments. Very clever people here!!

  19. Good morning!

    So, after all does anybody explain what that vertical yellow/orange bars in spectogram means??? Are this explosive traces??

    I try to follow up the blog but yesterday was ‘ON FIRE’ 😀 , good idea to split it Jon.

    1. Not sure what you’re talking about, but if I get you, these are earthquakes “big enough” to “break through” de pattern of the tremoring.

    2. While not having found an explanation of the spectrogram I intuitively think that the amount of energy on the different frequencies is color coded, from cool blue = little energy to hot red = much energy. A vertical, maybe orange, line then would mean a sudden increase of energy on all frequencies. I think that may be earthquakes.

    3. on some, but not on all stations, there can be seen horizontals lines too, and at the stations, where you can see them, for example CCAN or EOSO, but not CHIE, some are at the same frequencies, 10 Hz, 8 1/4 Hz, etc. Maybe these are produced by the stations themselves?

  20. A lot of eq activity in Greece recently. Precursors to the next Great Anatolian quake? Or, what?

      1. During my studies, most of the examples for seismic effects on buildings where houses in Izmir…

    2. Observe that too. Am always suspicious about EQ in that part of the blue ball.
      Turkey is a hot spot (not volcanic… :-)) to watch in the next decade(s). I repeat it probably to often: Big one in Istanbul. That could be one of the fattest catastrophes in the next 10 to 20 years. An earthquake of 8,9, even 10 (?) in such a megacitiy, build on standards I would call medium (’cause I don’t want to be rude, probably quite poor) in matters of paraseismic construction. Wow, tough stuff. And this is no fear mongering like a Hierro-Tsunami or a Katla VEI7…
      So always interesting to have an eye on what’s happening down there. In Geece, right now you never now if the EQ is natural or if it’s the citizens exploding because of their situation.

      1. Katla will only produce a VEI 7 when Jon’s going to leave her all alone when he’ll migrate to the Canary Islands in 10 years or so.

      2. GeoLoco, Istanbul ranges from will fall apart in dustparticles houses to the absolutly best in the world.
        Many of the houses built currently could teach the San Fransiscians and Japaneze quite a lot about how it should be done.
        One that will stand though is the Haggia Sophia, it has allready stood through many of them.

        But many would die if a large quake hit istanbul.

      3. I knew they have good ones too, but thought there are very fiew of them. Do you know something like in % how many houses are built following recent standards?

      4. All new ones are.
        Turkey has lost to many people receantly, and the last government lost the election due to not enforcing the rules stringently with deaths as a result.
        Now they are very picky, and they have the money, the knowledge, and the will to be safe.
        It is not Greece we are talking about 😉

      6. Check out the safety precautions on the new tunnel under the Bospor (Bosphorus, how the heck do you English-speaking spell it?).
        There they have really done the homework.

    3. Don’t know but there has been a lot of activity from Turkey westwards through the Mediterranean and North Africa.

  23. BOSEG!!!

    (big ‘ole shit eatin’ grin)

    I managed to do something rather… unconventional with the GPS elevation data.
    It might give a better perspective of the elevation changes. It uses Takeshi Sagiya’s GPS data.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUWh-VmLJ48

    I imagine that if I can find good location data for those other sites, and can munge their data in it would be a better plot.

    But for now… I be happy. 😀

    (Happy since I figured out how to do it. Take a maul and beat the @#$ out of the spreadsheet program until it either coffs up a hairball or gives you the data)

    2. Uau! That means to got it under your nose 😀
      Nice work but can you tell me where is the reference point?

      1. Ummm which one?

        Initially, the GPS stations that I used were labeled until I tilted the plot, then I took them out to reduce clutter. REST is down by Restinga. Thats the redish part of the plot with the most uplift.

    3. Once again you have come up with an amazing plot! A fine example of never giving up.
      I am looking forward when I see this applied to Hekla et Al 🙂

    4. And very clever idea to add description to the start! The “loaner’s” can not now use it without the readers getting correct information about the true authorship.

      I suppose it would be worthwhile to update the other videos by you with similar feature?

    6. I’ve learnt a new word again 🙂

      This is for the Grammar guy
      To/you Boseg
      He/she/it Bosegs
      I am Boseged
      Will be Boseged
      He was behorkingly Boseged.

      @Lurking:
      That was Bosegedly good and informative!

    7. That’s good plotting there and no mistake.

      Looking for patterns it very roughly looks like the whole graphic is rotating about the green axis – down on the purple side, up on the red side.

      or is that just magma moving away from purple are toward red area ?

      1. Where does El Hierro sit in relation to the tectonic plates?

        This movement could be a result of plate movement in addition to magma.

      2. It sits smack bang on a triple junction fault. That is why the island has that triangular shape.
        All eruptions on the island are rifting fissure eruptions as the island is being pulled apart. The active rift right now is the southern trending one.
        It also sits on top of a hotspot. We all know how that combination is from Iceland.
        The hotspot is moving ever so slowly to the south, so in a while we will have a new canary island over at the large southern seamount. Perhaps even in our lifetime.

      3. @Carl, There is no rift at the Canaries, The Canaries is well inside the African plate boundary. The African plate is being pushed roughly eastwards by the mid atlantic rift. and the Canaries lies over a hot spot…so as the plate moves over the hotspot the Volcanic activity moves west..maybe the hotspot drifts I am not too sure. Hawaii is also a hotspot and the the pacific plate is being pushed west towards asia…which explains the trail of islands in the area as the plate is pushed over the hotspot

      5. Greg,
        Carl is nevertheless right in this: there are not only the big rift zones where continental plates meet, but also smaller rift zones and there is such a triple junction on El Hierro. (See: e.g. J. C.Carracedo & Simon Day: Canary Islands. Classic Geology in Europe 4.)
        Don’t have time to look for the page – have to go to a reading of Hallgrímur Helgason in Munich.

    8. Very interesting graphic. As I understand it, in October 2011:

      the green area has not moved compared to the other areas;
      the blue area has dropped; and,
      the red area has lifted.

      Which is consistent with seeing a near perpendicular area of earthquakes to the western ridge.

      1. Welcome to Jon’s Blog Armand Vervaeck ; )

        That’s the way it should be done, i think all of us on this blog like the way You’ve handled Lutkings amazing work.

  24. Hey Baby, where’d you get all of that beauty from…
    Supberb. Once more. Pretty cool. Love that it is a plot and no laser stuff.
    You seem to see where it pushes. Question is from there, where will it find a “weak point” for the breaktrough.

    1. Haha, the funny part is that they claimed that only 7 volcanos on Iceland are active… How could they miss the rest of them in their search of Doom and Gloom?
      If one counts together from west to east with erupted volcanos since 1000AD you have:
      Geirfugl at Reykjaness Ridge, Svartsengi (Reykjaness), Krysuvik, Brennisteinsfjöll, Hekla, Torfajökull, Vestmannaeyjar volcanic complex, Eyjafjallajökull, Katla, Öraefajökull, Esjufjöll, Grimsfjöll, Hamarinn (may be part of Bardarbunga), Bardarbunga, Kverkfjöll, Askja, Krafla and Eldeyarbodi/Heimaey. And I probably missed one or two in this list… 🙂

      1. The only thing I can come up with here is that The Guardian has experienced a secret take-over from the Daily Mail. It is a load of nonsense.

      5. The editor must have taken that bit out as I cannot find it in the article. Must have toned it down too as I do not find the article particularly alarming.

      6. It is both toned down, and the erronoeaus data on Iceland is removed.
        There was a journalist on here (I noticed that her blue name linked to the Guardian) so I guess she noticed that we pointed out that obvious error about the number of volcanos.
        What I do not understand is why the article is not signed? Is it common practice in England to publish articles without signing them with you name?
        Never ever happens here nowadays, they kind of noticed that journalists get more stringent with details if they have to put their real name under an article.

  26. Dear Jon,

    You’ll be welcome. Spanish fans carefully follow your blog. We also greatly appreciate your interest in what is happening on the el Hierro.
    Thank you very much,

  27. A note on Bali – A seemingly harmless quake far out in the sea with a moderate but prolonged shaking made a lot of injured in Bali.
    The tourists over there were frightened and did all the wrong things. Running out of hotels – crashing in to each other and getting stones, tiles and glass on their heids and in their faces.
    I am lobbying for months now that tourists should be prepared by hotel owners in earthquake sensitive areas in just 30 seconds + a leaflet, but NO – NOBODY does anything.
    Crazy – Armand ER

      1. There were just incredible examples for “survival of the fittest” on youtube…
        Like “Yellowstone rumbles, let’s go there to make some nice pictures”…

      2. I have an example of it…

        What do you do if it is -52C for 3 days and then you have a large snow-storm roaring in. To cold to get help and then to windy for help. What do you do?
        You send out the army on an exercise… I have never felt that miserably, and hope I never ever will.

      3. I don’t start my army stories… Put on the jacket whet you walk in the hot sun, the pull it off when you enter the cold tunnel… Exercise jumping in the lorry in 30 sec (24 people…) when everything is slippery on a rainy day… The real “good/big” ones I don’t share here – too ashamed…

  28. The writer has not done much research into this piece of sensation seeking. It is full of inaccurate statements.
    However I applaud the common sense approach of Thorir Kjartansson, here is the quote from that piece.
    Those following the doom and disaster mongers should heed his words well!

    “Thorir Kjartansson, who manages a souvenir and wool shop in Vik – a town close to the flood path of Katla – says he’s been waiting for a large eruption since he was a teenager. His father, who witnessed the 1918 eruption, used to warn him before he set out in his car to look north toward Katla’s glacier cap.

    Residents say they only had about 20 minutes from that eruption to escape its raging floodwaters.

    “We’ve been waiting for it for a long time, and we know that it will come one day,” he said. “Until then, there’s no point in worrying about it.”

    1. Only an Icelander would be that cool about it. Lovely.
      I wonder if we should hire all of Iceland to go to the US and hold a course in stoicicity about natural disaster for all of the “end of worlders” over there. Would probably decrease the amount of “Megasuperdupertsunami” lunatics.

      1. Let’s hope the aliens in december 2012 land in Iceland rather than in the States…

  29. Goodmorning everyone, or good day as it was..

    Seems Mr. Hierro hasnt quite finished his rumbling yet. Noise picking up and I would expect the tremorchart to follow suit in a few hours.

    http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-10-13&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=10&Dia=13&tipo=2

    @ Lurking. Awesome plot as always. 🙂 Seems there is a focal point of inflation on the southern tip of the island. If the magma will break through the bedrock at this point however is a good question. Might as well find another less resistant way to the surface. 😉

  34. It was only the most stubborn and brave that went from Norway to Iceland in the first place. Those that could not keep peace with their neighbors at home. And this continued at Iceland too, according to the sagas. So they were used to a little bit stormy weather.

  35. My husband, a trained chemist, says the green is due to sulphur reacting with the sea water.

    1. They are the specialists with the freshest raw-data, see the situation in-situ under their feet, have titles and background/historical info/data like no-one else. We are only hobbyists making guesses as educated as possible. They take and bear decisions, and sure they don’t make themselves the task easy. Let’s trust them. They wouldn’t do something like that if they were not sure for some reason.
      Starwoman: isn’t that a good example for swiss “politness”? 🙂

      1. But its the Mayors/Councillors, not the specialists who are calling for it…or at least thats my understanding of the articles? At the end of the day, who ultimately get the say-so? Surely they should be a bit more cautious, and a little less concerned about their (for want of a better word)popularity..?

      2. You just have said it all.
        Be afraid of politicians, not of volcanoes. Volcanoes won’t hurt you if you run when the geo-scientists say so…
        Politicians all have a personality problem. Who would show himself and his fake-smile on big posters along every half-important road (election period) if he didn’t have a problem of some kind. Never foget that when you deal with this kind of person. It’s a shame the life of persons lies in their hands. The biggest problem with democracy – in the end, the decisions are not taken by the smart, but by those who screamed loud enough to be elected. Doesn’t mean they have any competence…
        But well, we do have the elected we deserve, don’t we…

    2. Can’t access the full article at the moment but it would seem a little premature, unless they have more data than we do. But we do not know how long it would take to evacuate again (La Restinga, Frontera, El Plinar and / or El Hierro) compared to the amount of warning the volcanoes or faults would give in the event of another incident or continuation of this incident.

      The local authorities seem the believe that the biggest risk is landslippage not magma eruption. If the EQ activity has dropped the former risk may be less (unless they have heavy rainfall) but there is still a lot of magma down there, including beneath Frontera.

      There is probably a lot of local pressure to get back to business as normal, especially as not much is visible at the moment.

    3. This is about the people living in La Frontera en the Los Guzmines area, they were evacuated after the large earthquake because of the danger of landslides (desprendimientos). The tunnel was closed because of the same danger. It will reopen because there are no scientific arguments to keep it closed any longer. There will be additional safeguards for the tunnel in place though.

      I’m not so sure that we have seen the end of the danger of larger earthquakes taking place, and that there is no more danger of landslides in more northernly parts of the island in case of more and heavier quakes. But I’m no earth scientist… Yet, I can imagine that it is useful to have the tunnel open in case of an evacuation. Haven’t located the tunnel on Google maps yet…

  42. arrgh hashtag Iceland on Twitter and you would think Katla was going to blow within minutes… Wonder if it’s because of this mornings paper report that they are all doing it now….

    Like an expectant mum I will await for Katla to blow.

    1. Katla has looked fairly quiet in the rain while we have been focusing on El Hierro in the sun. Catching up on her sleep before the week end?

      Pity the Mila webcam at Geysir is not working, I use that the check the wind speeds.

      1. Lol Karen! I do that too and the direction. I also love watching unsuspecting tourists getting caught in a strong second eruption!! 🙂

    2. Idiotic. Even “sheepic”.
      Not you of course, but anyone pretending Katla will blow today. For tomorrow, well, I wouldn’t bet anything… 🙂

      2. She’s a woman, she will do it when she is good and ready and only then hehehhe. Maybe she is like me and without warning she will blow her top. Personally I am hoping for a mid December eruption.

      3. Now I have seen the tremor graphs from El Hierro I think I know what to look for on the SIL recording as an eruption is imminent. However knowing Miss Katla (Or should I say NOT knowing ) she will, like any Prima Donna react the way SHE wants to!
        I do believe though that at the moment the SIL readings at Skrokkalda, and Krokotuvotn look more magmatically active than even Slysaldar
        http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/sly.gif
        http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/skr.gif
        http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/kvo.gif
        I think Katla is snoozing in the very bad weather.

    1. Edges of the African, Eurasian and Arabian plates. But a lot of activity aroung the Arabian plate.

      1. yes…very active in the last days…
        ..and there is a new one in spain:
        13/10/2011 12:32:39 37.9853 -2.4602 11 2.5 mbLg NW PUEBLA DE DON FADRIQUE.GR

    1. Thanks for that image. It can clearly be seen how these “clouds” are rising from the ground in the lower part of that image.

    2. Looks to me like sulfur-coloured smoke (gas) coming from a fumerole so still de-gassing or only a small eruption so far.

    3. Oh Yes! Lots of slutch churning about there!
      *Slutch = a Northern English word meaning muddy sludge.

    1. It’s the proof that there’s something colouring the water down there. Sulfur contained in degassing would do it, and it would look like that, even without lava output. But I might be stubborn, not denying that… 🙂

      1. Ok, tanks. Stubborn is good untill otherwise proved, stay with your gut feeling 🙂

      2. Thanks, but I won’t go on Brokeback Mountain with you just because of that, ok? 🙂

      4. You’re right. So no problem with Brokeback Mountain, but nevertheless always stay carefull neau Brokeass Hill…
        Had to be. Have to correct the image of too polite swiss citizens…

      6. Give me a typical accoustic signature, a picture, some “shit” coming up with these coloured “clouds” and I stop being sceptical about a real eruption going on. Until then, I maintain that it’s not a proven fact, and that the tremor we see might be magma movement and not lava outburst.

      7. Agree. We will have to wait for the water sample analysis from IGN. I hope they will not have a siesta before doing so and act asap. It cannot take that long

      8. Really not a soooooo difficult analysis to perform.
        Depending on the result it might be trickier to communicate afterwards… 🙂

      10. Spanish has hell of good scientists, I hope they really consult them ans LISTEN to their advice.

      12. So there something near La Restinga killing a few fish, disturbing the bottom sediment, clouding the sea over a small area, and venting sulphurous gasses. That’s not an eruption: its a submerged fumarole.

        If I were on El Hierro I’d be looking at old eruption sites, especially in the areas above the EQ activity, for signs of fumarole activity. As fas I know Hierro had no fumaroles – so new activity should not be difficult to see or smell.

        We do not know how deep the source(s) of the tremor is. Could it be that the tremor is the result of deep magma motion within the volume of rock fractured by those thousands of earthquakes?
        Its worth rembering at the south of the island the EQ activity was at its deepest, centred on roughly 15km. That’s closest to the MOHO and to a fresh magma supply. In my view the key question is: how deep is the tremor?
        But then I’m only an amateur…

      13. With the exception of 9/10/11 when there were shallow EQs reported by IGN, most recent EQs have been occuring between 10km and 20km.

        http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaListadoTerremotos.do?zona=2&cantidad_dias=10

        Depends on what you mean by new activity, this episode started in mid July, starting on the central peak of El hierro then moved towards the north of the western ridge for a prolonged period of activity before moving towards to south of it.

        What is interesting is that the very intense activity in the north of the area did not result in a reported eruption or fumerole, whereas the activity in the south did. In fact there was no / very little EQ activity near La Restinga until a few days prior to the eruption.

  47. Sorry got my plates mixed up – not “aroung” but nearer to the Arabian Plate [on the Eurasion plate]

  48. A question for Jon/Carl/Lurking or other experts:
    how do the spectral plots on IGN compare with icelandic tremor plots?

    For example, this
    http://www.01.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-10-13&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=10&Dia=13&tipo=2#
    and this
    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/esk.gif

    The way I understand is this:
    if we were to imagine the icelandic plot as the spectral one, then I suppose the height of each of the three ranges (green, blue, red) would represent the colour at the pixel at the corresponding height in the spectral plot (i.e. at whichever frequency, 1Hz, 2Hz, etc.). So the higher the line in the icelandic plot, the redder the pixel in the spectral plot. Is this correct?

    1. Yes I think so – but without a legend on the IGN plot we have to assume its ROYGBIV colour coding. As to precisely how amplitude is calibrated to colour we need a legend from IGN.

      (Its sloppy science that lack of a legend, bad presentation. I would not have let my students get away with it! Nor would it pass refereeing for publication – but its the http://www….so its good enough, and its anonymous… ugh. Still its better than nothing. Beggars can’t be choosers.)

      1. I understood IGNs spectrogram to be:

        Y axis: frequency of the tremor
        X axis: time
        Infill: coloured lines represent the strength of the signal in the tremors at each frequency (blue is weak signal; red, brown and darker is strong; and, yellow is something in between).

        Amplitude is shown by the blue line above the spectrogram.

      1. Brilliant!! thankyou.
        We can see the Canaries Current taking the plume south westwards. If we kenw time the image was captured and current speed we’d get idea of when the plume arrived at surface.

      3. Thank you, I can see the green areas clearly.

        But what exactly is the brown dot above them but south of El Hierro? It appears to be fairly solid and substantial.

      4. That’s just an artefact in the banding of the image – Frontera appears twice too.

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