Posted on by Jón Frímann

El Hierro volcano enters Surtsey eruption phase

This is a short blog post about latest events.
***

Earlier tonight a Surtey eruption started in El Hierro volcano. Before this phase did start there has been increased harmonic tremor on seismometers that are located on El Hierro Island. Volcano ash is to be expected while water can still get into the crater. When the water does no longer get into the crater it is going to stop making volcano ash. The ash plume can go up to 3 to 10 km high, depending on the strength of the eruption. New vents have also been opening up south of town of La Restinga. That means the fissure is still growing, at least that was the case yesterday and earlier today from what I can gather. I am unsure of that has continued or stopped.

Earthquake activity still high north west of the town of Frontera. This suggests that fissure might open up there. But so far that has not happened. I do not think this are earthquakes due to tectonic stress changes due to the eruptions in south El Hierro volcano. But this stress changes are because of the magma injections at depth in El Hierro volcano.


Harmonic tremor from the eruption in El Hierr volcano. It now shows clear signs of explosions (strong ones) and increased eruption activity. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

If new vents open up closer to the shore there is going to be instant Surtsey eruption activity. But that might only last for a short while the water gets into the crater. There the lava stage is reached much sooner then on the vents that are erupting on more depth at the moment.

I am going to post more updates on this. If I can get more details on what is going on.

Sources:

Renewed Eruptions at El Hierro in the Canary Islands (Eruption blogs)

I also want to thanks reader how email me about the current status of what is going on in El Hierro volcano. My Spanish is weak at the moment.

342 Replies to “El Hierro volcano enters Surtsey eruption phase”

  2. La Cueva de Don Justo

    Can’t find the damned thing. Found lots of references to it, and nearby landmarks though.

    Montana de Irama o de Prim
    27.653014° -17.99007°

    Montana del los Muertos
    27.670358° -17.988321°

    And… found a few more caves.

    Las Cuevas Valverde (Las Playas Scarp)
    27.7251838957 -17.9710727089

    Montana Cueva de la Paja (North of Tinor)
    -17.9273232809 27.8291481531

    Cueva Del Diablo (San Andreas failed slide (north end))
    27.7869684336 -17.8992788484

    Puntilla Cueva Barcos (El Julan scarp – Far western tip)
    27.7082722541 -18.1523268406

    And I did find a photo purportedly to be the inside of La Cueva de Don Justo.

    http://i39.tinypic.com/34ozgj5.jpg

    This cave is reported to be about 1,360 meters long and descends for 135 meters.

    I think MRK may be on to something there. Does any one happen to know if the temperature of these caves is monitored on a regular basis?

    Many Thanks to Ursula for the link to http://visor.grafcan.es/visorweb/

    1. Not all of those lats and long were put into a common format. I tried to get them into a common sequence but see that I missed a few as I was gathering more link data.

      The 27. series numbers are the Latitude. The other number is the Longitude. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    2. Good morning Lurking,

      You can’t find the cave? You have the coordinates. – You can go to Montaña de Irama o de Prim on the topographic map http://visor.grafcan.es/visorweb/ (the name is listed, try Búsquedas). This map gives the coordinates
      lat 27°39’07 long – 17°59’14 which also work for Google Earth.

      On GE you see this mountain (cinder cone) NNW of La Restinga close to the road to El Pinar. You can also see “cracks” in the surface which I guess are
      ceilingless lava tubes.

      Here are some pictures including “A view to the north, to Montana de Prim, unlocked cave entrance in the foreground”:
      http://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2007/El_Hierro_2007_VII.html

      What I’m not sure is where the cave goes to from here, but I’m sure some of the Spanish readers know more about this.

    3. I don’t know exactly what u mean by not being able to find it, but i can tell you that the entry is not visible, nor is the site marked in any way in El Hierro. It has a locked iron gate on a very small entry.

  3. I recommend that you open the graphic in a separate window so that you can follow along

    1) – “Dike Fill” events
    2) – Quakes drop south and deeper to region 2 where they seem to hit a wall and increase in amplitude.
    3) – With virtually no quakes to signal it, a submarine eruption occurs at location 3. The only indication that anything was going on, was the onset of harmonic tremor. (Likely drowning out any smaller quakes that may have occurred)
    4) – Deeper and stronger quakes begin in the mantle region. This is possibly due to depressurization of the overlying “reservoir” at location 1.
    5) – As time goes on, quakes begin to appear in region 5, which is inside the lower bounds of the 2 SD depth envelope of region 1, the “dike fill” area.
    My thoughts.
    If the deeper quakes signal magma on the move, and it manages to cross over to the shallower “dike fill” area, this will effectively recharge the system. Other posters here have noted that “Bob” may not have emptied enough magma to empty the system. If this is the case, the activation of the deeper magma may signal the onset of long term activity.
    As of yet, I have seen nothing in the seismic data (publicly available seismic data) that indicates anything is happening in El Golfo. As MRK pointed out, the island has several cave systems that were built as lava tubes. It is possible that one of these tube systems could intersect with the deeper flowing system and produce an outbreak or flow in an unexpected location. I cannot state the probability of it, but it is plausible.

    Caveat: I’m not a geologist and have no formal training in the field. My opinion is just as valid as that of a Jack Russell Terrier.

    http://i42.tinypic.com/359j0r5.png

    1. The sporadic quakes in the plot around region 2 are probably due to the loss of magma that is driving the formation of Bob.

    2. @Lurking – I think we all value your opinions, plots and remarkable twirling graphics. You are becoming a legend in your own time.
      Whatever you do, don’t stop – where would we be without you?!
      PS if you manage to find a Jack Russell with your brainpower, I just might change my opinion of them 🙂

    3. Lurking, How does your view fit with the EQs from 1907/2011 to 30/10/2011
      for SW and S Frontera (which I assume is close to your area 1):

      overview: http://oi40.tinypic.com/nodblv.jpg
      analysis by lat and long: http://oi43.tinypic.com/30wnjn8.jpg

      An alternative view is that magma has been rising under SW & S Frontera. Rock is more ductile above the magma reservoir (heat rises) so that fewer large quakes above it. But cooler rock at the sides of the magma reservoir is less ductile and fractures – giving the larger quakes.

      The rock fractured first on the side of Bob, letting initially gas and old debris out followed now by magma.

      The rock is continuing to fracturing on the other side, with now deeper and larger EQs. This may be being caused by refill of the magma reservoir; rock settling after the initial de-gassing of the magma reservoir; and / or deeper rifting.

      A question I have is does anyone have any views on where the crust would be under El Hierro and what was El Golfo?

    5. Hum – I have a Jack. It’s not a dog, it’s a Jack. And when it looks at me right now, I’m like afraid it actually has an opinion about “things” and you should be ready to face the consequences if you don’t share it… 🙂

    6. sorry, I posted this below by mistake..

      IMHO, I don’t think lave tubes buried more than 1Km-3Km deep could survive the pressure of their overburden . I am also voting against lava tubes being an effective conduit. I thin the have great potential for monitoring gases and temperatures, however.

  4. Lurking . . . I think your opinions have been spot on 🙂 just because u haven’t trained as a geologist doesn’t mean u don’t know how it works as you’ve proved over the last year as your plots and analysis is brilliant. Thanks.

  5. Just copied from Avcan FB .
    This person who wrote this works at Diarro de Aviso

    twenty times more magma than expected? an eruption as the Timanfaya? the truth is that I read some disturbing for news.

  6. In Spanish

    veinte veces más magma del previsto? una erupción como la de Timanfaya? la verdad es que leo algunas notici inquietantes.
    15 minutes ago · Like · Translate

    2. Me, too. No connection.

      But, this must not mean anything. Perhaps just too many inquiries.

    1. @All, thanks for the accolades, but my warning/caveat is mainly for the transient reader who mistakes me for an expert, which I’m not. That is unless you want someone that can bring a piece of gear back from the dead. I’ m pretty adept at that.

      2. “malicious javascipts” – translating into: photos of guys with beer cans and aquavit glasses/cans (?) in their hands and so …??

  12. Did any of you happen to read the comments on diarioelhierro per chance? On Betzwiesers blog some people were thinking one comment by an erik was from Erik Klementi and that he was on the island. That comment was in spanish. Others corrected it cant be the EB host because he is back home. Still, i wanted to let Erik K know about this but my comment is still in has to be monitored phase on EB.
    So has anyone read it and the reactions afterwards?

    1. I don’t think it’s Erik Klemetti, because this “Erik” in the comment speaks of his country “Iceland”!
      And Erik K. is since two weeks father of a newborn baby. I hope he will not go to El hierro now…

      1. Yeah i know. Still i think Erik K should know that some people think it is him and quote him.

  14. The helicopter has gone up already, so maybe later we’ll get some more video. It all seems to have calmed down since last night and gone back to gently simmering.

  16. A report about the development leading up to the eruption by Sr. Carracedo and his team of volcanologists: http://www.laprovincia.es/noticias-hoy/El_Hierro/crisis.html

    I’ll copy the Spanish version, perhaps so. else has the time to translate it (I don’t know, but seems I am to stupid to activate Giggle … – I just can’t up to now):

    En la madrugada del 10 de octubre de 2011 cesaron bruscamente los terremotos que venían ocurriendo en El Hierro desde mediados de julio, registrados con gran precisión por el Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN). Los temblores fueron sustituidos por tremor volcánico, una señal sísmica de muy largo periodo, característica del paso de magma por un conducto eruptivo.

    A media mañana comenzaron a difundirse noticias sobre una posible erupción submarina a 8-10 kilómetros al sur de la isla y a unos 1.000 metros de profundidad, aún por confirmar definitivamente.

    Esta erupción submarina habrá sido la culminación de un proceso de casi tres meses, cuando una bolsa de magma se emplazó en la base de la corteza oceánica. Desde entonces emigró hacia el sur manteniendo la profundidad hipocentral, buscando una zona propicia para salir a la superficie. En esa migración conectó finalmente con una de las dorsales de la isla, la Dorsal Sur, que tiene una espectacular prolongación submarina de unos 40 kilómetros de longitud, alcanzando 3.200 metros de profundidad.

    Esta dorsal o rift submarino, donde se han localizado buena parte de las erupciones recientes de El Hierro, constituye una zona de mayor debilidad cortical, por las inyecciones de magma asociadas a erupciones prey, posiblemente, la permanencia de una “memoria térmica”, lo que habría permitido, finalmente, la relativamente rápida salida del magma a la superficie, en este caso en el flanco del rift submarino.

    El Hierro, con poco más de un millón de años, es la isla más joven de las Canarias. Situada, junto a la vecina isla de La Palma, en el extremo occidental del archipiélago, descansa sobre un fondo oceánico de entre 3.500 y 4.000 metros de profundidad.

    Una erupción submarina no es excepcional en islas oceánicas como las Canarias, sino todo lo contrario; abundan más las erupciones submarinas que las subaéreas, hecho por otra parte lógico teniendo en cuenta que la parte submarina de estas islas supone alrededor de un 90% del volumen total.

    A pesar de ser la isla más joven de Canarias, El Hierro no tiene volcanismo histórico, que sí existe en La Palma, Tenerife e incluso Lanzarote. En 1793 terremotos de considerable magnitud sacudieron la isla de El Hierro entre el 27 de marzo y el 15 de junio, provocando gran temor en la población.

    Temiéndose una gran catástrofe (una erupción volcánica), se llegó incluso a elaborar el primer plan de evacuación de una isla en la historia de Canarias, que comprendía medidas para la protección de la población. Los temblores de mayor intensidad se registraron en la zona de El Golfo y se extendieron luego a toda la isla. A partir del 8 de mayo fueron de tal intensidad que la población abandonó sus casas y dormía al raso. Todos esperaban de un momento a otro una gran erupción volcánica. El epicentro volvió a localizarse en El Golfo a partir del 15 de junio, produciéndose desplomes y afectando a algunas casas. Finalmente fueron decreciendo en intensidad hasta desaparecer y volver la isla a la normalidad, sin que se llegara a producir la temida erupción, o ésta fue submarina y sin otra consecuencia apreciable que los terremotos.

    La crónica de Dacio Darias Padrón (1929), donde aparece el relato de esta crisis sísmica de El Hierro, no alude a una erupción, sino más bien al contrario, al indicar claramente que las medidas planificadas se hubieran implementado “si el vulcanismo hubiera destruido la isla azotada”, sugiriendo que la erupción no llegó a producirse.

    Si observamos la pauta seguida por los terremotos, la mayoría insignificantes por su riesgo, pero muy útiles para seguir la evolución del fenómeno, vemos que se localizan inicialmente al norte de la isla y en la cuenca de El Golfo. Posteriormente, aumentan paulatinamente su magnitud al tiempo que emigran hacia el sur, emplazándose en la zona de El Julan y el mar de Las Calmas, con una tendencia a desviarse aún más hacia mar adentro y hacia la Dorsal Sur.

    Más ilustrativa aún es la visión de la profundidad de estos terremotos. Teniendo en cuenta que la base de la corteza oceánica está a una profundidad de unos 10-12 kilómetros, la mayoría de los epicentros se concentra inicialmente en esa interfase, sin acercarse hacia la superficie. Por el contrario, con el paso del tiempo los focos sísmicos ganan en profundidad y se desplazan lateralmente en dirección sur.

    Este comportamiento parece sugerir que la bolsa de magma, más ligero que el material del manto, asciende y choca con la base de la corteza oceánica, donde se acumula y expande en forma de cabeza de champiñón. Este fenómeno puede ser debido al contraste de densidad existente entre el manto y la corteza, de forma que el magma surgido en el manto queda atrapado en la base de la corteza oceánica (discontinuidad de Mohorovicic), ya que ésta presenta una densidad similar o ligeramente inferior a la suya.

    La subsiguiente presión ascendente del magma abomba la corteza generando los sismos y provocando la hinchazón en la superficie de la isla medida con GPS y que ha rondado los 40 milímetros en la vertical.
    Si esta erupción se confirma con las características que se han mencionado (y todo parece indicar que así será), se habrá ceñido como un guante a las previsiones científicas. Se produce en la isla más joven, actualmente en la vertical de la anomalía térmica del manto que ha generado el archipiélago, correspondiendo la mayor probabilidad de ocurrencia a las islas de El Hierro y La Palma. Es submarina, lo que está en consonancia con el mayor volumen submarino de las islas, y se ha localizado en uno de los rifts activos, estructuras de enorme interés volcanológico porque estructuran y dan forma a las islas, concentran las erupciones y, por tanto, el riesgo eruptivo, y son responsables, en escalas de cientos de miles de años, de provocar deslizamientos gravitatorios masivos, de los cuales el más reciente en el archipiélago es precisamente el que ha formado la escarpadura de El Golfo, de 1.400 metros de corte vertical, ocurrido hace unos 100.000 años.

    EL ARTÍCULO ESTÁ FIRMADO POR LOS VULCANÓLOGOS JUAN CARLOS CARRACEDO, JOSÉ LUIS FERNÁNDEZ TURIEL, FRANCISCO JOSÉ PÉREZ TORRADO, ALEJANDRO RODRÍGUEZ-GONZÁLEZ, VALENTÍN TROLL Y SEBASTIAN WIESMAIER.

  17. Banner in the newspaper La provincia (ultima hora – last-minute item):
    La mancha de azufre en El Hierro amanece burbujeando pero sin proyectar material magmático

    (my transl.: The sulfur plume of El Hierro begins to make bubbles, but without magma ejection.)

  18. On the morning of October 10, 2011 ceased abruptly earthquakes that were occurring in El Hierro since mid-July, registered with great precision by the National Geographic Institute (IGN). The tremors were replaced by volcanic tremor, a very long period seismic signal, characteristic of the passage of magma through eruptive.
    Mid-morning began to spread news about a possible submarine eruption 8-10 kilometres to the South of the island and about 1,000 meters deep, yet to be confirmed definitively.
    This underwater eruption will have been the culmination of a process of nearly three months, when a bag of magma was placed at the base of the oceanic crust. Since then, he emigrated to South keeping hipocentral depth, looking for a permissive area to surface. In this migration it finally connected with one of the ridges of the island, the South Ridge, which has a spectacular underwater prolongation of 40 km in length, reaching 3,200 meters of depth.
    This dorsal or submarine rift, where much of the recent eruptions of the iron, have been found is an area of higher cortical weakness by injections of magma associated with eruptions prey, possibly, the permanence of a “thermal memory”, which would have ultimately enabled the relatively rapid output of magma to the surface, in this case on the flank of the submarine rift.
    Iron, with little more than one million years, is the youngest island of the Canary Islands. Located next to the neighbouring island of La Palma, at the western end of the archipelago, it rests on an ocean of between 3,500 and 4,000 metres in depth.
    A submarine eruption is not unique on oceanic islands such as the Canary, but quite the opposite; abound most submarine eruptions to the subaéreas, made on the other hand logical bearing in mind that the underwater part of these islands is about 90% of the total volume.
    Despite being the youngest island in the Canary Islands, El Hierro has no historical volcanism, which does exist in La Palma, Tenerife and Lanzarote. In 1793 earthquakes of considerable magnitude they shook the island of El Hierro between 27 March and 15 June, causing great fear among the population.
    Fearing a major disaster (a volcanic eruption), it was even the first plan for the disposal of an island in the history of the Canary Islands, which included measures for the protection of the population. Greater intensity tremors were recorded in the Gulf area and then spread throughout the island. From 8 May were of such intensity that population left their homes and slept at the satin. Everyone expected from one moment to another a large volcanic eruption. The epicenter returned to locate in the Gulf as of June 15, causing crashes and affecting some houses. Finally they were decreasing in intensity to disappear and return the island to normal, without that could produce the dreaded rash, or this was underwater and without another appreciable consequence than earthquakes.
    The Chronicle of Dacian Darias Padrón (1929), where it appears the story of this seismic crisis of El Hierro, does not refer to an eruption, but rather on the contrary, to clearly indicate that the planned measures had been implemented “If volcanism had destroyed the natural island”, suggesting that the eruption did not occur.
    If we look at the pattern followed by earthquakes, most insignificant at your risk, but useful to follow the evolution of the phenomenon, we see that they are initially located north of the island and in the basin of the Gulf. Subsequently increase slowly its magnitude while migrating southwards, placing in the area of El Julan and the calm sea, with a tendency to deviate even more towards offshore and the South Ridge.
    Most informative is still the view of the depth of these earthquakes. Taking into account that the base of the oceanic crust is at a depth of about 10-12 kilometers, most of the epicentres focuses initially on this interface, no move toward the surface. On the contrary, with the passage of time seismic sources gaining in depth and moving laterally in a southerly direction.
    This behavior seems to suggest that the bag of magma, lighter than the mantle material rises and collides with the base of the oceanic crust, where it builds up and expands head of mushroom-shaped. This phenomenon may be due to the contrast between the mantle and the crust density, so that emerged in the mantle magma is trapped at the base of the oceanic crust (Mohorovicic discontinuity), that it has a density similar or slightly lower than yours.
    The subsequent upward pressure of the magma balloons generating earthquakes and bark causing swelling on the surface

    great captcha: elyshn Carlsberg

    1. Thank you, Jenny, for the translation of the am. article by Sr. Carracedo, e.a., in La Provincia.

    2. “1793 earthquakes of considerable magnitude they shook the island of El Hierro between 27 March and 15 June, causing great fear among the population.”

      I would guess that would be the latest eruption before this one.
      As you know I have hypothetisized about later eruptions than recorded. I guess this is a s close to “proof” we will ever come. But it sounds suspiciously much like what we are seeing now.

    1. Interesting, thank you. There were also some blogposts (I think it was Lurking and some others) who had liked to have the coordinates of the cave. Would you have these, too? It seems to be in the wall southeast of La Frontera over the El Golfo indentment. Is this correct?

      Are you on El Hierro at the moment?

      1. Sorry, my English is detoriating – inventing new words …

        Should be valley, not indentment.

      2. I think I should do sth. elso now – like correcting the stack of German essays of my pupils awaiting me on my desk …

        This last should have been “deteriorating”, of course (sic!!) … 🙂

      5. Thanks Inge, I’m not in El Hierro, I have family and friends in the Islands
        I Answered to lurking, indicating the coordinates a post above. The cave de Don Justo is in Montaña de Irama, La Restinga.
        Sorry my english es too bad, but I prefer them giggle.

        lol captcha (cal anal ogyroti)

  20. I got to thinking this morning, and was wondering. Would the dry redisue from the sea water would have any effect on the lave/magma? Other that salt I’m not sure what else is in seawater.

    I did try toolgling it, but only found out how to make modeling clay from seawater and a number of articles on the cleaning of septic tanks. Oh, and a review of Bauxite management!

  22. Also –

    http://geomar.geo.ub.es/eurodom/documents/Massonetal01_ESR.pdf

    See p30, re Tenerife

    ‘Building on the early work of Navarro and Coello 1989., and with the support of several studies which show an extensive field of landslide debris offshore Teide Group,
    1997; Watts and Masson, 1995, 1998, 2001., several recent papers have proposed that the Canadas Caldera is primarily a complex landslide scar, created by several episodes of lateral collapse Ancochea et al., 1998, 1999; Cantagrel et al., 1999; Carracedo, 1994; Watts and Masson, 1998, 2001..

    According to these authors, volcanic activity is mainly responsible for the construction of unstable. volcanic edifices, which are then destroyed by lateral collapse, i.e., landsliding, rather than by vertical collapse related to caldera formation.

    The contrasting view is that the Canadas Caldera formed during a complex sequence of vertical collapse events B Marti et al., 1997. associated with explosive volcanic activity Booth, 1973; Bryan et al., 1998; Marti et al., 1990, 1994, 1997; Ridley, 1971.. In this scenario, lateral collapse of the north wall of the caldera occurred only after it was weakened by the vertical collapse. ‘

  23. I wonder why at the moment there is so little news? Is there now one (or more) geyser? If Bob has calmed down, then is there nothing to see at sea? Perhaps no one on at la registinga because the evacuation. I kinda hang in the air. If it is not as dramatic as yesterday evening /night sounded, it would be nice to hear about it.
    Probably all have to do better things.

    1. They’re football on at the moment, but have being showing it on an off all morning including live reports from a viewing point. They said there is a new 2nd stain in the water, near the bubbling area, but I haven’t seen anything like the photos from last night, just what we were seeing before – it quietly simmering away. There was a helicopter up earlier so maybe we’ll get more later.
      http://www.rtvc.es/television/enDirecto.aspx?canal=tv

  24. According to http://www.laprovincia.es early in the morning, the volcano woke up quite calm, just bubbling, few hours later they wrote that the bubbling was intensifying, but currently they say nothing about it. Diario el Hierro has moved to El Pinar to report from there and we are waiting for the news.

    2. Yes, but only for an hour, to pick up belongings:
      http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=237072
      They will be transported there and back with military vehicles (used yesterday for evacuation) and can go there for one hour only between 8 and 18h.

      The Frontera evacuees are also allowed to go back to pick up things, but only from 10-11. Why so short, do the authorities expect more imminent danger in La Frontera now?

      1. Let’s see, La Restinga neighbours are allowed from 8:00 to 18:00.

        And La Frontera ones just from 11:00 to 12:00 to pick up things.

  26. i assume you are interested in the caves mostly from a temperature monitoring standpoint ?

    1. Yes.

      Its a perfect setup. A natural feature that could alert to something major changing in the system.

      As long as they plug it in.

      (Ref the geophone issue.)

  28. Creo que el hecho de no volver a ver a Bob esta mañana puede significar que efectivamente sea un tipo de erupción de fisura, y se esté acercando a la costa en “horizontal” y por eso no sea tan visible, ¿qué opináis?

  30. Pues te dire que esa teoria la estoy oyendo cerca de mi, a personas dignas de el mayor credito. Si hubiera sido un volcan en toda regla, a estas horas habria expulsado ya miles de toneladas de lava. Aun quedan acontecimientos que ver.

  31. AVCAN put out a release from Pevolca now:
    “Tras la realización del vuelo de reconocimiento que se llevó a cabo a primera hora de hoy y el análisis de los diferentes datos aportados durante la noche y la mañana, puede afirmarse que se ha producido una disminución de la actividad por lo que el proceso eruptivo se encuentra en una situación de normalidad. El foco de erupción continúa a la misma distancia de Punta Restinga, una milla, y no se aprecian en estos momentos el fenómeno de columnas de vapor de aguar observadas ayer. La mancha ha adquirido un tono más marrón y mantiene un cierto nivel de burbujeo.”

    Following the completion of reconnaissance flight that took place in the early hours of today and the analysis of the various data provided during the night and morning, one can say that there has been a decrease in activity so that the eruptive process is in a normal situation. The focus of eruption continues at the same distance from Punta Restinga, a mile, and not evident at this time the phenomenon of dampening plumes observed yesterday. The spot has acquired a brown tone and maintains a certain level of bubbling.

  34. Hey Jon… can you tell us what is happening with Katla.. is it possible that katla erupt in next two weeks. Thanks

    1. Don’t think iceland is talked about much these day’s on here. :/

      Given that late last night a quake at 28.2km was recorded under Katla i would expect, going on what has happened in the past, a large earthquake swarm in the coming days. Possibly with some M3+ thrown in.

      2. Sorry to pop your theory, Katla is slumbering quite well really.
        What you are seein are the series of storms that have pushed passed Iceland every 2 – 5 days. There has been no harmonics at Katla during the last couple of weeks, and very few EQs.
        I do not think anything will happen at Katla for now.

        What will most likely happens is that Hekla erupts, that releases pressure (statistically it does), and Katla goes back to bed.

      3. I rather enjoyed your vertically penetrating, Midatlantic ridge aligned, spatio-temporal varying melting and freezing of fault zones theory. Spatial and temporal patterns of earthquakes seem aligned from the fracture zone in the north to the sea off the SW peninsula. The spread is inexorable.

        The green circled rise in the IMO energy release plot is a real tease however.

    3. Nobody knows when Katla volcano goes big on the eruption. The eruptions this summer (there where more then one I think) where sudden and without warning.

      So the same thing can be expected when a large time eruption happens in Katla volcano. But when that might happen is a question that nobody can answer.

  36. What bumped El Hierro?
    Devils Advocate here. Are the events since July reflecting a magma diapir spreading across the MOHO under El Hierro, or something different? Here follows an unconventional interpretation – its hugely speculative.
    The EQ pattern has many ‘organised’ aspects:
    http://www.01.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/jpg/Eventos_HIERRO_2011.jpg
    The pattern is that of a cone, but flattened east-west. It slopes up to the south at about 45degress and slightly westwards. The EQS occurring at present are at its deep apex. The curvature of the top surface seen in the EW vertical section in also noticeable. The north end of the early swarm comprised the weakest Eqs (July) . The Eqs became stronger magnitude as the swarm trended south – another sign of ‘structure’.
    I propose that the degree of organisation in that conical pattern might reflect not magma rising but an impact event. A slow impact event caused by something about 7km long slowly impacting the lower crust where theEQs are now. In July the deformation started and the northern small mag.Eqs started, reflecting the weakest rock succumbing to strain first. The strain then trended south. The upper half of that swarm is in sedimentary rock that will have been infiltrated with a labyrinth of magma dykes and sills during formation of Hierro, but which offers little support to the intrusions. What we see now – the deep Eqs under Frontera – is the impactor responding to the impact by itself melting under the pressure and generating Eqs over the contact area, about 7km long.
    Now Newton told us that ‘ action and reaction are equal and opposite’. And we see a really strong suggestion of that in the accumulated energy plot:
    http://www.01.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/jpg/energia_HIERRO.jpg
    The swarm in July-10th Oct equalled 1.25^12 joules . Then followed a quiet gap with few Eqs. Then the deep Eqs started and have to date raised the total to 2.3^12 joules. The deep Eqs show signs of decreasing now and I suggest they will stop at around 2.5 ^12, when the impact will be completed. There we are: action and reaction, equal and opposite. The GPS deformation during the deep EWS in October has not been as pronounced as July-Oct, also suggesting the ‘reaction’ force is now spent.
    What could the impactor be?
    For 30 years Hierro has had very few Eqs: this is a sudden event that does not suggest to me it results from additional heat added as a magma diapir. The heat flux under the Canaries is low and disputed – they are not exposed to a typical plume, a fossil plume is often described. The cone-shaped pattern suggests that the impactor hit at an angle from vertical: 45degrees south and perhaps 15 west. It would be co-linear with the impactor ( Newton again).
    Perhaps the impactor is an old section of oceanic crust entrained in the plume’s slow convection. Slabs of broken oceanic crust ca 18km long and embedded in the crust has been detected west of Hierro;
    http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~tony/watts/downloads/collieretal98.pdf
    Should such a slab be suspended free in the upper mantle under the crust at the MOHO, rather than within it, we might have an impactor. There is also evidence for ancient recycled crust in mantle, although its precise condition (essentially, has it dissolved) is not known:
    http://geology.rutgers.edu/Herzberg%20pdf/Herzberg%202011%20JPET.pdf

    The impactor concept is pure amateur speculation and not to be used for predictive purposes. Fire away!

    1. Interesting idea, and would explain the very deep earthquakes in what should be ductile mantle plume, if they were happening . However, I’m not sure it would really work… I know there are slabs of subducted crust that have been imaged seismically, but those are descending from a local subduction zone. In this case, where’s it come from? It’s some distance from the nearest subduction zone, and there must be a time limit for this to work. If it heats up too much (to ambient temperature) then its lower melting point will come into play – and even if only the margins are starting to luiqify, I would expect the result to have been a more gradual increase in seismicity as the custal base is affected by changes in density and pressure – a few months just seems too quick (unless all we’re seeing are the result of buffering in the magmatic system, pushed over the edge). How buoyant would it have to be, and with how thin a ductile margin, for the impact to take so little time? I would expect decades, minimum, to get to the stage we’re at now. But then,what do I know?

      1. Joe,
        I reckon we need a ballistics expert to try to put numbers on it.
        There have been some Eqs at 35km depth – well into the upper mantle where as you say ductility should not allow them.
        I’m not a geologist – cell biologist – so have onlya rudimentary feel for volcanism. But that pattern and the accumulated energy bug me.
        Peter

      2. The impact idea has some merit. But I think it is a rather boring and volcanologically boring thing that impacted, namely a Blob of magma from the plume…
        The plume under canaries is a bit slow and old, but it still seems to push quite a bit of magma.

      3. You’re probably right, Peter – it needs someone else’s input, anyhow. I’m a palaeontologist, by the way, so my tectonics and petrology goes back to when I was teaching first and second year geology ten years ago…

        I suspect it’ll turn out not to be right, but worth looking into a bit, in my opinion. It’s an intriguing scenario.

    2. As all volcanoes El Hierro volcano would have few earthquakes. Same goes for other Canary Islands. But as it is on a hot spot the earthquakes start when new magma flows into the volcano.

      So this follows logical lines and nothing else. It has also been well observed and documented.

    3. Highly unlikely to have been an impact event because one large enough would have provided other evidence.

      Not seeing many EQs for 30 years does not disprove hot spot or plume, because 30 years is a very small time frame in the life of a volcano. But there was some EQ activity, just not the massive swarms we have seen from July.

      What could have “upset” it? The magma has reached a stage where the pressure built uo from de-gassing was too much; the magma reservoir had reached capacity; or accumulated stress from the slow movement of the African place has caused local rifting.

    4. OK no support for an impactor. Scheme B is a compressive fold, as proposed for Canaries:
      http://www.mantleplumes.org/WebpagePDFs/Canary.pdf

      Envisage an accumulation of crustal compression from SW, the direction of motion of the plate (25mm pa NW-wards). Initial response is the early upper swarm and GPS motion in July to Oct ( Frontera moved towards Gomera) reflecting weakness of intrusions infiltrating the sedimentary layer. Compressive force is relaxed by end of upper swarm, but leaves lower crust under new strain, so a second deeper swarm occurs after a short lag. Accumulated energy plot shows two phases: first phase is relaxation of strain that accrued in upper layers over many years. Second phase is lower crust relaxing the strain that developed during July-Oct GPS motion. Strain would be roughly equivalent hence equal energy plots.
      The swarm is parallel to and offset from the NS dorsale of Hierro by 6km. At 25mm pa that is about 250,000 years. Same compression mechanism?

      1. Compression may well be occuring but strain build up and release is more likely to produced tectonic quakes, not a harmonic tremor. Also given the distance the Canaries are from a plate boundary, the pattern of quakes would be similar to those we see in central and nothern Europe, not these massive swarms and harmonic tremor.

      2. Harmonic tremor could all be from Bob- it looked like that when we had access to the other stations. The structure of Hierro – sitting on a 25km layer of sedimentaries may predispose it to low-magnitude stress fractures, diffcicult to identify mechanism. A few of the bigger deep ones were reported as tectonic, two weeks ago.
        It will be fascinating if all eqs stop when the accumulated energies are about equal, becasue thay derive from two different swarms in rock with different properties. That will take some explaining on conventional mechanisms.

  37. Increased activity again:
    “El límite del perímetro de seguridad, que estaba en el Cruce de Tacorón, se sitúa ahora 200 metros más arriba – El burbujeo se ha intensificado en el Mar de las Calmas después del mediodía”

    The limit of the security perimeter, which was in Tacorón Crossing, now stands 200 meters above – The bubbling has intensified in Mar de las Calmas after noon.

    http://www.laprovincia.es/especiales/2011/11/06/guardia-civil-eleva-perimetro-seguridad-restinga/413700.html

  38. ‎Read in a response in Avcan Group:

    14:06 diarioelhierro.es: El Gobierno de Canarias confirma una disminución de la erupción –Gobcan confirms the dismunition of the eruption
    14:42 laprovincia.es: El burbujeo se ha intensificado en el Mar de las Calmas después del mediodía — bubbling has intensified in the Mar de las Calmas after midday.

    2. Also, AVCAN commentors again feel ground vibrating in Mocanal and also Echedo (which is to the north of Frontera, towards Valverde).

      Some people have tried to go take photos of jacuzzis, but they say they don’t come out good on pictures, since they are too far away. However, the air stinks so much that they could not stand it.

      And people seem to be getting really upset, there are all these arguments about politicians, scientists, not obeying the evacuation measures, etc. etc. to the point that some people were banned from AVCAN fb page…

      1. Now also reporting vibrations in Guarazoca – again in the NE part, on the top of the escarpment. Strange that vibrations are now reported from the NE part, between Valverde and the escarpment, but hten on the other hand perhaps the whole island is trembling (tremor increasing on the graphs) and noone from other parts is online at Avcan fb and reporting…

      2. some serious shaking and it’s apparently increasing all the time now. Alse see the latest bulletin on earthquakereport.

      3. What I can’t understand, is why they don’t go in with big ships and helicopters and get the whole population of this island out of there. This is an unbearable situation.

      4. To Evacuate the whole roundabout 11.000 people from the island is technical not a really big problem.
        As I posted: The tourism infrastructure of the Canry islands is great, so there are I think 3 or 4 Ferry operators and on the other islands enough “beds” to house the people.

        The orther parts of an evacuation are the challenge:
        First, You have to bring the people to the boat, even with helicopters it will take a while to fly out these 3000 people in the El Golfo Bay, when the tunnel is closed. I don’t know how many buses are on the island which can go the road, which is called the “old road”.

        Second, the non technical part. To leave Your home, Your social enviroment, Your belongings is a very very hard. Even if you know, Your are sitting on a volcano, your fellings says I will stay here. It is easy for us from at home to say that.
        (http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/09/11/the-holdouts.html)

        Another part is the legal side. I don’t know spanish rights, but who is responsible, if the evacuation was not nescessary or someone dies while getting evacuated (i.e. traffic accident).

      6. They closed the page for the finding of a name for the new Volcano. I couldn’t go to this site, so I don’t know, what some people wrote there…

  39. Magnitude ML 3.4
    Region CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN REGION
    Date time 2011-11-06 16:30:31.3 UTC
    Location 27.77 N ; 18.04 W
    Depth 19 km
    Distances 186 km SW San cristóbal de la laguna (pop 139,928 ; local time 16:30:31.3 2011-11-06)
    99 km S Los llanos de aridane (pop 19,635 ; local time 16:30:31.3 2011-11-06)
    80 km SW Valle gran rey (pop 4,983 ; local time 16:30:31.3 2011-11-06)

  40. UPDATE 06/11 – 16:18 UTC:
    That’s probably the reason why Bob was not seen today:

    UPDATE 06/11 – 16:18 UTC:
    Conversation between Armand (ER) and Raymond Matabosch

    “And now almost all action stopped in the jacuzzi. I think that a partial collapse of the top eruptive vent has occurred. A few hours of subsiding activity and it will be followed by a more beautiful eruption after the eruptive vent will build up the collapsed height again.”

    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

  41. Hi guys, sorry for my absence. Have occasionally been lurking however had had not much to say, so can somebody please get me up to date? Thanks? First of all:

    Has the Island broke the surface yet?

    -Sam

    1. Look here from yesterdays comments (one step back):
      Ursula says:
      November 5, 2011 at 23:57

      with some photo-links of bobs head above the sea. But today he is back underwater. Probably he comes back now/tonight?

    2. There seems to have been some collapse that made the top go back under the ocean. But that might not last long. But the question is that more collapses of the eruption cone can be expected now.

  42. I think that the cone has not reached the surface yet, if it was anywhere near we would have an eruptive column. I think the cone was getting near but slipped back.
    My guess it was 30 meters or so and now has slipped back to over 50 meters.
    Photographic evidence of the breach of the surface of course would invalidate my statement.

    1. That is a fascinating video of a squall with strong downdraughts Jon. When you consider there is nothing of note between there and North America it is not surprising the strong winds and storms> The far north of Scotland is the same for the same reason.

      1. Fascinating to watch the container being blown into the sea, thanks for posting, it gives a good insight into why the tremors rise in a storm.

    2. Oh that is really tough! No good day for swimming back there. Container blows away, stones in the air (probably) ….

      It is a little luxury to see a video on the blog itself, not having to link to somewhere else all the time. Will this remain? Can we also upload pictures / video’s in the future?

      2. I really enjoyed the embedded version. It worked very well. Any chance it might be permanent? Try it for 24 hours to see what others think about it? Please?

      5. Every time I reload the page it reloads the whole video again. It’s a waste of bandwidth in my opinion.

      7. @Mr. Moho, It did so first time around for me. But not now, as I did get the embedded code directly this time around.

        I am not sure what might be the issue this time around.

    3. Insurance will believe the video.
      I can see why the EQ graphs do not work sometimes in Iceland now…

  44. theory (it’s not mine)

    1st, see the photo:
    http://www.imagengratis.org/images/hierroqv2xq.jpg

    1. Comienzo del primer enjambre sísmico.
    El ascenso del magma proveniente del manto, hace que el magma de la cámara magmática residual de la última erupción se caliente (se ve claramente esta cámara en las tomografías. Su parte media y superficial esta delimitada por todos los hipocentros de los terremotos del primer enjambre.)
    Julio- Agostro- parte de septiembre.
    El magma de esta cámara esta diferenciado y estratificado. En la parte superior se concentran elementos incompatibles, gases y fluidos.

    2. Cambio en la dirección de los epicentros.
    La cámara magmática se agranda y progresa hacia el sur, profundizando, debido a la forma de la corteza y el edificio volcánico en profundidad. Los epicentros nos lo indican.
    Comienzo de la erupción, primero salen los gases fluidos y demás elementos exueltos del magma.
    Posteriormente salen los distintos tipos de magma que se habían exuelto, magma basáltico, traqui basáltico y traquítico.

    3.Un nuevo enjambre sísmico, comienza en la zona de Frontera, debido a la despresurización de la primera cámara magmática.

    Esto acelera el ascenso masivo de magma del manto, fracturando la base de la corteza, hasta alimentar la primera cámara magmática.
    Este proceso viene acompañado de terremotos de mayor magnitud. Se crean los conductos de alimentación y se ensanchan.

    4. Se abren nuevas bocas.
    En el norte es posible que se llegaran a abrir, pero debido a la profundidad tan elevada, casi de llanura abisal. pronto quedarían obstruidas.
    La erupción el la Restinga se vigoriza y aumenta expectacularmente. No se descarta que la fisura progrese por la dorsal sur hacia la restinga. Tampoco la evolución hacia una erupción surtseyana…

    Al estar tan bien alimentada la cámara desde el manto. Sospecho que tendremos erupción para rato. (timanfaya 6 años…)

    Las tomografias sismicas las han realizado geofisicos (Jesus Ibañez et al ) de la Universidad de Granada y se ve claramente la cámara magmatica somera, en la tomografia una zona de baja velocidad de las ondas sismicas, que coincide con la nube de hipocentros del primer enjambre.

    La fiesta dr verdad ha empezado

    Google:
    1. Start of the first seismic swarm.
    The ascent of new magma from the mantle, makes the old lava hot in the residual magma chamber of the last eruption.
    (This camera is clearly seen in CT scans performed)
    Its middle and surface is bounded by all the hypocenters of earthquakes of the first swarm.
    July-August-September part.
    The magma in this chamber is differentiated and stratified. At the top are concentrated incompatible elements, gases and fluids.

    2. Change in the direction of the epicenters.
    The magma chamber enlarges and progresses southward deepening due to the shape of the crust and volcanic edifice in depth.
    The epicenters shown us.
    Onset of rash: First come the fluid gases and other elements s
    e to the magma.
    Then come the various types had differentiated magma: magma basalt, trachy and trachytes.

    3.A new seismic swarm starts at the border area. Because the first depressurizing magma chamber. This speeds up the mass of magma ascent tablecloth. Fracturing the base of the crust, to feed the first magma chamber. This process is accompanied by earthquakes of greater magnitude. You create the supply pipes and widen.

    4. New mouths open. In the north is possible to get open, but due to the depth so high, almost abyssal plain. would soon be clogged. The eruption on the Restinga expectaculares is strengthened and increased. It is possible that the crack progresses along the ridge south to the reef. Neither the evolution towards an eruption surtseyana …

    Being so well fed from the mantle chamber. I suspect we’ll have erupted for a while. (Timanfaya 6 years …)

    The seismic tomography have been the geophysical (Jesus Ibañez et al) from the University of Granada and clearly shows the shallow magma chamber in an area of ​​low CT speed of seismic waves, which coincides with the cloud of hypocenters of the first swarm .

    The party really started

    From here:
    http://tenerife.todogeologia.com/viewtopic.php?p=8668#p8668

    1. OK, I can’t read the giggle-mangling anymore, doesn’t make any sense. Here’s a proper translation:

      1. Start of the first seismic swarm
      The ascent of the magma from the mantle causes the residual magma from the last eruption in the magma chamber to warm up (this magma chamber can be clearly seen on the tomographic (?) mapping of the area. Its centre and its surface are delineated by all the hypocentres of the earthquakes of the first swarm). This is July, August, part of September. The magma in this chamber is differentiated into layers and stratified. On the top of the chamber the incompatible elements, gasses and fluids are concetrated.7

      2. Change in direction of epicentres
      The magma chamber is enlarged and starts to stretch soutwards and at the same time getting deeper, bounded by the form of the crust and lower part of the volcanic edifices, which is what the epicentres indicate at this point.
      The eruption starts and the first thing to exit are gases, fluids and other intermixed elements. In the second phase exit different tuypes of magma, which have intermixed: basaltic magma, basaltic trachyte and trachyte.

      3. A new seismic swarm starts in the zone of Frontera, stared by the depressuriation of the first magma chamber.
      This accelerates the process of ascending magma from the mantle, which fractures the base of the crust and feeding the first magma chamber. Along with this proces come earthquakes of hither magnitudet. Feeding conducts are created and widened.

      4. New vents open
      It is possible that they will open in the north, but because of the great depth and almost abisal (?) plane, they will quickly get obstructed. The eruption in La Restinga becomes more vigurous and increases spectacularly. It is not excluded that the fissure will progress in the direction of the rift towards La Restinga. Nor do we discard evolution into a surtseyan eruption…

      If the magma chamber keeps beeing well fed from the mantle, I suspect we are going to have an eruption for quite a while (timanfaya was 6 years).

      Seismical tomographic maps were made by geophysicists (Jesus Ibanez et al.) from Univeristy of Granada and on these you can clearly see the magma chamber, which shows up on the tomographic map as a zone of low velocity of seismic wawes and this coincides with the cloud of hypocentres of the first swarm.

      So the party has begun for real…

      3. Almost as if Christian Guitar had been reading this little blog, and then whipped up something on it… Remarkable… 😉

        I miss my old Ibanez Goldfarter II Guitar.

      6. et tenebrae super faciem abyssi
        et spiritus dei ferebatur super aquas
        (genesis)
        abyssal = the very deep sea where is no light

  45. Giggle strikes again:
    Magma del manto = magma table cloth!
    …Where can I order one? 😀

      1. Heard the new jacuzzi dealer just down south, Bob Perfidio, might stock them… store (and island) still under construction, though.

  47. Another 3.9 quake.
    1110645 06/11/2011 18:25:39 27.7838 -18.0482 20 Sentido 3.9 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI
    These big quakes seem to be getting steadily closer to shore I think.

    1. Unlikey that it will flow through the old system, but can flow alongside the old system. There would be a natural weak section alongside the previous magma path.

    2. I don’t even try dude.

      These guys are on quakes like stink on hooie. It’s almost impossible to beat them to the post.

Comments are closed.