Posted on by Jón Frímann

Special report: Update 3 on El Hierro eruption in Canary Islands, Spain

I am going to fully integrate Canary Islands into my watch volcano monitoring system in the beginning of next month, but Canary Island won’t be part of my emergency system until I move to Canary Island (that is because of technical reasons mostly). When that happens, blog post regarding earthquake and volcano activity won’t be a special report. Just a normal blog post as with Icelandic volcanoes. I am doing this as I plan on moving to Canary Islands in about 10 years time (+- maybe few years depending on how my plans work out). A name change on this blog is planned in the beginning of the year 2012. But it takes a while for me to think up a new name for this blog.
******

The eruption in El Hierro volcano continues at the same phase as before. With little change so far. Currently the eruption seems to be in two vents, as it did when it started on Monday. There have been unconfirmed reports of new vents opening up closer to the coastline. But given lack of direct evidence that should be there. I do not believe that a new vents have opened up closer to the coastline so far.

Deep earthquake continue in El Hierro volcano. But that means a new magma is coming in from the mantle and is flowing upwards into the volcano. For long as deep earthquakes are being recorded the eruption is going to continue. It is impossible to know for how long this inflow of magma from the mantle is going to continue. But this means that the eruption is going to continue for time being. With the risk that new vents might open up at any time on and around El Hierro volcano. This inflow of new magma has also been confirmed by GPS measurements on El Hierro volcano (the island). But since the eruption did start, no major change has been seen on the GPS real time data.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano yesterday. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano today (until 21:20 UTC about). As can be seen by comparing the pictures between today and yesterday. Not much has changed since yesterday in terms or harmonic tremor. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

If a eruption vents open up on a land. The following eruption is going to be lava only. No volcano ash and no explosions as El Hierro is a shield volcano like the one on Hawaii and that means only lava eruptions. If a eruption vents opens up on the shallow coastline, there are going to be explosions for as long the ocean water can get into the crater. The moment it closes up the explosions stop and lava eruptions starts.

Please note that I am on slow internet connection (3G). So I am not going to post anything if the internet connection is really slow, as sometimes seems to happen. I am going to try and solve this issue by using my 3G phone and connect that way. At least I am going to try and see what happens.

Blog post updated at 03:20 UTC on the 15 October, 2011.

598 Replies to “Special report: Update 3 on El Hierro eruption in Canary Islands, Spain”

    1. Ursula: we are all watching this closely. 🙂
      I am concerned about the excess of sensationalism posted at the AVCAN site. People are getting hysterical, no matter what we say.

      1. Yes, I know, everyone seems to be making an elephant from a fly (as we say in my language).

        The pyroclastic flow thing at this blog, however, may also be due to giggle translate inability to properly translate “piroclastos humeantes” -> anything derivation of a “piroclasto” seems into the adjective “pyroclastic” via giggle, unfortunately…

    2. Mysterious!

      If it’s floating it must be pumice. I presume the ‘smoke’ is steam, which means it’s still very hot.

      Either that or the cooking remains of one very unlucky whale that happened to be passing by at the wrong time!

      1. Pumice is commonly associated with Canary volcanics… Try searching Google (Scholar) with canary islands pumice

      2. Thanks. Found it from Teide – a stratovolcano formed above a shield volcano.
        Given the youth of Hierro, I don’t think we have much of a felsic magma erupting. But this is just a hunch.

      3. What if a freatomagmatic eruption occurred at very deep waters strong enough to throw some lava bombs above the surface, which mixed with air and formed such “smoking pumice”?

      4. As the magma coming up on the surface normally is really very hot – over 700 °C, it takes a lot of time to cool down so that would be explain that the pumice reaching the surface through water would still be hot enough to emit steam. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lava

        Also pumice is normally very light weight and so can float on water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumice
        also: http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~oesis/rocks/ign8.html

        And pumice can consist of rhyolite, andesite and other silicic or intermediate rock, but also of basaltic rock (which would explain the black colouring). http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/483354/pumice

        For example the often mentioned volcano Hekla in Iceland tends to produce pumice (http://www.theochem.org/Raunvisindathing06/abstracts/gsv-en.pdf) examples of which I found e.g. at Domadalsleið.

  4. Peter, Lurking (earlier),
    A few thoughts… More questions than answers

    Only way I can think of sedimentary rocks delaying uprise of magma is (1) through sill formation, i.e. vertical ‘parting’ between strata (due to stress or melting) and sideways spreading of intrusive igneous material (adding to the layer cake rather than reaching the surface).

    (2) The sedimentary stratigraphy beneath El Hierro (rather than the volcanic ‘island’ sitting on top and depressing it) must already be riven with sills and dikes from millions of years of intrusive activity? In effect, a kind of honeycomb; magma invades ‘compartments’ of softer sedimentary rock semi-enclosed by a lattice of igneous/metamorphic materials which impede propagation.

    (3) There must be a certain amount of metamorphic materials down there, i.e. previous history of heating and pressure on sedimentary rocks will have produced an array including silica and carbonate based metamorphic rocks which (partially) melt at a higher temperatures (c. 800-1300 deg C for carbonates, 1700 deg C for silicates) than the temperature of the partial-melt magma (c. 700-1300 deg C) invading it?

    But on this kind of scale, I had presumed that sedimentary groundrock just heated up, cracked and crumbled, decomposed, then melted away into the rising igneous material due to pressure/temperature/density gradients? I know nothing about the relative buoyancy of groundrock versus intrusive rock; but the differential must ‘control’ the uprise of magma to the surface?

    1. Just read that there is a “stratovolcano” on the island. If that’s confirmed, would that somehow support your reasoning as well as the pumice fragments?

      1. El Hierro is not a stratovolcano. It is a shield volcano. But if the magma breaks the crust in the shallow ocean you are going to pumice fragments from that eruption.

    2. Pretty likely (3)… but as you note, the entire structure is going to be laced with a honeycomb of previous intrusives. But the “country rock” will still be predominantly sedimentary in nature. This would account for the lack of quakes since the whole she-bang is pretty pliable to begin with.

      The idea of how much material is/was picked up into the eruptive mass is something we won’t know until somebody gets a sample and tests it. So far, the only possible sample is be wafting away on the ocean currents.. and that is just as likely to be material kicked up from the sea-floor. If an ROV can get down to the eruption point and get a sample, a lot of questions would be answered.

  6. OK – not a pyroclastic flow, looks like a small amount of actual eruption though, nearly breaching the surface of the water.

    1. or it could just be hot and floating pumice, but at least that does confirm an eruption, even if it’s only small – not just gas

    2. Definitely proof that hot igneous material is extruding into seawater, but most probably at the seabed rather than near the surface (the pumice is a kind of glassy rock foam that is full of bubbles, so it quickly floats to the surface – the actual formation of the pumice takes place several hundred meters down below the sea surface, for now).

      1. PS. It might not look like a volcano down there. Could be more of a depression in the seafloor filled with blackened boulders, some occasionally moving or glowing incandescent before splintering and releasing the pumice material, all surrounded by turbulent frothing water/steam and gases. Some hydrophone deployment would be nice, or might the pumice scratch the ship? ; )

    1. OK, submarine volcano, close to shore of a volcanic island. Any precedents? Well, I don’t know how similar or not the geology is and whether or not any useful comparison can be made with the developments at El Hierro…

      Vulcão dos Capelinhos / Capelinhos Volcano, Faial Island, Azores, 1957-1958.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capelinhos
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewv_wazJhYY
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNGe1eDWiw&feature=related
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cJMVZarCAI
      http://www.vulcaodoscapelinhos.org/

      1. Thanks Renato. Like a jigsaw puzzle, things begin to fall into place (I just need another lifetime to catch up on the reading!) So, the Serreta Oceanic Volcano! Fascinating and highly relevant.

        Also, I see Victor Hugo Forjaz et al. have a nice ROV… Already tried and tested for submarine volcano work! “This submarine is available for underwater scientific investigation – Very low cost” (http://www.sveurop.org/gb/articles/articles/Serreta.htm) Gobierno de Canarias hint, hint!

      2. That’s not reassuring given that they were reporting sightings of blue water and de-gassing near the shore yesterday afternoon.

      1. The ‘eruption’ site looks to me to be near the sounding marked ‘451’. Is that in metres or fathoms?

  8. Enrique at facebook AVCAN explains the floating hot stones (pumice) with this figure:
    http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/337/p13gb.jpg
    He says this is a reconstruction of what was going on in an eruption in the Azores in 1999 and what is happening now at El Hierro is likely very similar. Explains both green water and floating smoking stones.

  9. No deformation laterally today: H103-Fron is still stable, just noise.
    So can magma rise through the ‘silent’ 3km of sedimentary rock without being recorded on GPS?

    1. I’d say slim to none, but if this escalades and lasts long enough, then possibly.

  11. @ PrensaElHierro
    Cabildo of iron Scientific data indicate that issuance of material occurs less than 150 m of depth and 2.4 Km away from the coast.
    há 11 minutos via Mobile Web

  12. Update from Government of Canary Islands… (c/o google translate)
    http://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/noticias/?module=1&page=nota.htm&id=143789

    “IGN-CSIC scientists confirm a fissure eruption type submarine in shallow waters

    15/10/2011 … 17:16 – Ministry of Economy, Finance and Security

    The Canary Islands government rises to the emergency red light, level 1

    Residents should be reassured because preventive measures have been taken

    Scientists at the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and National Research Center have confirmed, in the afternoon today, the leadership of the Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk, a fissure eruption type submarine in shallow waters.

    In response, the Canary Islands Government has decided to raise the emergency to red light, Level 1, in which, in addition to the mandatory evacuations, mobilized the necessary resources for intervention activities and logistics. This was transmitted PEVOLCA address to the people of La Restinga, which must follow closely the recommendations of the authorities and members of civil protection.

    As is known, the researchers IGN-CSIC, spotted at the inspection carried out from a helicopter in the header area of ​​the spot, about 2,400 meters from the nearest point on the coast, numerous steaming lava fragments in suspension , in an area of ​​approximately 100 meters and surrounded by rows of gas bubbles. Also have observed a change in the color of the head, and this is more dark and turbulent aspect. This would mean that the eruption is occurring within 150 feet deep.

    With this information, the direction of the Plan gave the order to close off access to the village of La Restinga, and prohibit air and sea traffic in the area. In this sense, Professor Ignacio Lozano vessel ceased research and returned to port.

    From the direction of PEVOLCA want to convey to the people that this situation does not imply increased risk for them, since they are already taken “at the time” proper precautions, and summons the media to a hearing with the spokesmen of scientists so that they can clearly define the characteristics of this phenomenon. Headquarters will be in CECOI in Valverde, at 19:00.”

    1. Yet another giggly issue: note that giggle translate “cleverly” changed 150 metres of depth into 150 feet.

    2. “Residents should be reassured because preventive measures have been taken”

      Armas has arranged a new underwater photo competition to celebrate the instalation of the worlds largest cork. 🙂

  13. Current Volcanic Islands (AVCAN) We comment on the phone that Fernando and Javier new green spots appear about 4-5 km SSW of the current position of the spots where the pyroclasts have been spotted floating in the Restinga and Cala Tacorón about 4-5 km from the coast. (Enrique) new spots;

    1. No, No, No… Only La Restinga in El Pinar municipality is Red Level 1!

      Rest of island is still Yellow.

      They have put a precautionary 2km exclsuion zone around the village of La Restinga on the southern tip of the peninsula… Just in case there is some explosions above sea level in next few hours.

      Please be careful with spreading “scare” stories… It’s not Halloween yet ; )

      1. Andy, can you translate this sentence better than Giggle?

        From link Xana above:

        “Asimismo, han podido observar un cambio en la coloración de la cabecera, siendo ésta más oscura y con aspecto turbulento. Esto querría decir que la erupción se está produciendo a menos de 150 metros de profundidad.”

        Giggle:
        “Also have observed a change in the color of the head, and this is more dark and turbulent aspect. This would mean that the eruption is occurring within 150 feet deep.”

        A change in the color of the head???

      2. They could also observe a change in the colouring of the inital area of the spot (the “head”), which is becoming darker and turbulent. This means that the eruption is now at less than 150m depth.

      4. Cabecera here means the ‘top’ of the stain/cloud/spot.

        Andy, I read that too in the AVCAN group on facebook, that the Level Red Nivel 1 applies only to the Restinga area… the article on the official site however says the alert level has been raised to red. Just that. It says nothing however that this implies only a part or parts of the island. (El Gobierno de Canarias eleva la situación de emergencia a semáforo rojo, nivel 1.)
        The government of Canarias themselves spread unnessary doubt in this manner – although, if the rumours in the AVCAN FB group & Twitter are correct (boiling spots, white rings) then a phreatic event may not be ruled out, and raising the level for the whole island should not be too far off.
        On RTVC “el fúbol” of course is more important that informing the locals who are dying to know what is happening and want clarity from their officials …

      1. Beacuse people in El Hierro and other Canary Islands are becoming increasingly nervous about what might happen to their islands, their homes, their lives… And we don’t want to fuel press speculation and sensationalism. As the saying goes, “shit spreads faster than fire!”

      2. PS. Just my personal view. If we (as an online community) can spot something, some small clue, that might turn out to be important to understanding this rapidly evolving volcanic situation — we can congratulate ourselves. But not if we scare the s#~t out of people based on rumours and no good evidence!

        We have a vital role on this and other forums/blogs like Eruptions… Scientific institutions tend to move more slowly than is needed in times of crisis. Communities of “volcano-heads” (or, in my case, “tsunami-head”) can process new info and react much faster to events as they unfold. Which is why I think we have a responsibility… No offence to anyone intended.

      3. There is no risk of a eruption in the other Canary Islands. They are just as dormant as before. Nothing to worry about there.

        I say that. Because there has not been any sign of other Canary Islands getting ready to start a eruption. Until those signs start to appear, there is no reason to worry about it.

  17. been away for more than a day, so it’s nice to see that you all are exited as usual 🙂 – love this blog, and with acitivity increasing, at least for Hierro, this looks good for a Saturday night show. Now it’s a seriously hot chilli con carne with some good red wine on the table, after that “blog- reading”. Keep up the good work……

      1. Sorry Sissel, I get your point, easy to forget that for some of us. But, for me this blog is “a better show” than what the TV stations produce, thats what I was trying to say…

      4. I’m an old fan of Kees Verkerk and Art Schenck, even Jan Bols. These names may not be familiar to you? .. but I have seen them perform live.
        Again – this is an earthquake/eruption blog, and I just want to be able to follow it to learn more of something I unfortunally think is extremely interesting. I promise to keep my “head low”, and comment in a fashonable way.

      5. Sorry, I did not mean to tell you to keep your head low! Just think about those who live there in a good way. – And this is a great blog, I agree – much more informative and interesting than most TV programs. A lot to learn from nice, sometimes really amazing people who even have a lot of humor. Jón’s blog is a good place to stay. Please enjoy it and have a nice evening!
        – I do know the names, also remember Knut Johannesen, Fred Anton Maier and Per Ivar Moe (that’s probable because I’m norwegian, but live in the Netherlands).

      6. Fint, da er vi på bølgelende:) – la oss se hva som skjer, så får vi ta det som kommer, med fornuftige holdninger og kommentarer…

    2. I think that the instruments are sometimes just out of order. You can also see that Ásbjarnarstaðir has stopped functioning, too. And on the other hand, Hveravellir on Kjölur road has been out of order for some time now and come back into the system.

      1. To Carl:
        That would be a bit of a way to go up to Ásbjarnarstaðir from Hellisheiðarvirkjun just to knock it out, but they took perhaps a short cut over Kaldidal.

      3. That’s right, I like that too.

        So if it wasn’t the men from the power co., but just some Japanese having come to look at evasive northern lights and not seeing them so that they went berserk in their frustration.

        (Ásbjarnarstaðir in Reykholtsdalur is, as you perhaps know, also home to a joint venture scientific observation station for aurea borealis.)

      4. To my own comment (20:10):

        No offence taken, I’ve also met a lot of really very nice people from Japan!

      5. Would though be fun with mad japanese running around in their bare serks (think, shirts).
        For those not familiar with scandinavians. Bärsärk means that you remove (at minimum) your shirt and that you are in a state of mad anger.
        Normaly the Vikings ate mushrooms to willfully get into that state before a battle. Imagine a large scandinavia running naked towards you with an axe in one hand a sword in the other with foam frothing from the mouth… Why did we get civilized? It seemed like our ancestors had more fun really.

      6. @Carl

        Re: Bärsärk

        I commonly listen in on the local law enforcement dispatch channel as I drift off to sleep. It gives me a sense of security knowing what is going on in the around me.

        Overheard on the channel.

        Officer one – “yeah, he was completely naked and didn’t know where he was at.”

        Officer two – “Well it sounds like he matches the description of the suspect, where can I find him?”

        Officer one – “In the jail”

        Officer two – “Really? What did you charge him with?”

        Officer one (incredulous) – “Uh, indecent exposure”

      1. Tectonics and volcanics can be interpreted in the social spectrum as equivalently corresponding… No disrespect, I do agree on your discrimination just for sanities sake tho’, (catching up with manifestations otherwise need not distract from observations specialised).

      2. Oh and by the way luisport thanks for the news posts in the BIN…. (B4it’snews)

      1. No, they stoped updating, compare with Skrokkalda for instance. Notice the date of the last datapont for Krokur and Heidarbear. It stopped recording 24 hours ago.

      2. And it’s just Ásbjarnarstaðir and three stations around Hengill, not e.g.the stations in the west of Reykjanes: Kaldarsel/kas, Grindavík/grv, Reykjanes/rne are ok., but also Sandskeið is functioning (http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/san.gif) , but vos went down, Krokur/kro is coming back now. If the malfunctioning had sth to do with the earthquakes, wouldn’t esp. also Sandskeið being down?

      6. Funny thing about power issues. Yesterday I came home and had no electricity.

        I’m thinking that it may have been related to the mini-van that had traveled up a guy wire and was stuck, dangling from it’s front axle 15 feet up the pole at the intersection.

        They were in the process of trying to lift it off with a crane when I went by.

    1. What is the green spot in the middle of the Island? Is this a NASA photo that shows heat?

      2. If you mean on the bottom photo, the green area on the island is, I think, only an effect of some sort of filtering/image enhancement procedure. The top image is the original one, cropped from the Aqua/MODIS from NASA’s Rapid Response website, taht I linked to somewhere above.

      3. Can’t tell; the resolution is not clear enough. Could just be cloud.

        Checking Google maps the summit is a small bare crater above the forestation.

    1. If these “balloons” occur at nisht, will they look like small “fire bombs” on the water? Or have they cooled down too much already?

      2. From the text:

        «These phenomena were discontinuous but persisted until the night of 23 December when local residents observed orange lights several miles W of Terceira.»

      3. I asked this, because when all this started some time ago there was somebody (fishermen?) who reported to have seen “fire bombs” at see. – So maybe it started started earlier, on a smaller scale?

      4. I think that might have been wild imagination.
        I do not think that EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob erupted untill we saw that large shift down in tremoring.

      5. Fishermen, speak up if you really saw them.
        – By the way, EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob is a good name. At least easy to remember and to pronounce correctly!

  27. I’m still trying to visualize the processes involved.
    I understand the island is like 3 parts, joined seismically, however it is one mountain, which is very big from sea floor to island cap. There are also historical ‘slips’ visible on all 3 sides. Does a slip occur after a vent below water removes the underpinning of the edge of the island?

    There are also the cinder cones on the island, which would seem to be at the top of narrowish tubes venting from depth.

    There is the 3km thick layer of sediment on top, and there is the raised mountain, with a magma chamber below. Are the seismic joins therefore ‘turns’ around the raising of the island?

    I’m not thinking fully clearly through this.

    1. Alyson:
      All there is are fissure vents, old ones, which formed cinder cones, just like in Laki, Iceland.
      No magma chamber,; yet two ancient caldera forming events (crust subsiding into the net of magma conduits) creating huge landslides.
      The slips are like rift zones, along which the fissures tend to form.
      Correct me anyone because this is my understanding of the island so far. 🙂

    2. Alyson, check this paper that Peter linked to earlier today:
      http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~tony/watts/downloads/Gee_etal_ElHierro_2001.pdf

      Bascially, if I get it right, the island was built by rifitng events on three axis of the “Mercedes star” and ancient caldera forming events, followed by four huge lanslides (see figures 2 and 3). There’s lots of small cinder cones on the island, results of previous fissure eruptions. Now we have a submarine fissure eruption on the south rift, sinmilar to the one near Azores and the green water and floating lava stuff illustrated by this picture (from Azores):
      http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/337/p13gb.jpg

      I think this is what is going on. But please feel free to correct me.

      And, off-topic, but finally I figured out something I didn’t understand yesterday in the Spanish texts: “dorsal” means “rift” 🙂
      From here:
      http://www.laprovincia.es/servicios/lupa/lupa.jsp?pIdFoto=1858594&pRef=2011101100_5_407013__Sociedad-Cronica-erupcion-anunciada

      1. Yes, rift in Portuguese is also dorsal, but we don’t have the derivations like “rifting”, in English. Dorsal stands strictly to the main line where rifting occurs.

      2. Corresponding to the back/spine.”En Englaise”
        Ursula… very good graphic link btw!

  28. må ikke misforstås – “fornuftige” fra min side (ikke sarkastisk ment!) 🙂

    2. Get on your horse and drink some milk!… (As blog master says… This is an english language blog… If you aren’t going to share the info/joke… What do?)

      1. It is Norwegian, they are of course discussin world domination through intense snorting of lizzards.

        Det är alltid alltid lika roligt med engelskspråkiga som blir sura för att de är mono-glotalister.

      2. Oh dear… As the Japanese may advise… Face masks could be useful… Frogs i can deal with, lizards on the other hand can be dangerous!

      3. Good thing the Geiko Gecko is an amphibian… with a really mangled accent. Part Brit, part Aussie, pure American in stupid phrases.

      4. It is on a high level – not possible to translate to English.

        De har jo et kjempestort handicap, skjønner bare det de selv sier!

      7. Who is a monoglot – even I can read that and German Language is as close to Norwegian as I get normally 🙂

  30. @ Jòn. I have followed your blog more than a year, and mostly been interested in Katla. When looking at the eq activity last months it seems that Katla area has increased its frequence of eq’s (as you and many others here already have pointed out). I have read comments both from you and Carl (and some others) that when Katla “blows” she will do that after a more or less serious earthquake. What kind of magnitude do you recon that quake will have?

    1. It is believed that Katla volcano can make up to Mb5.5 earthquakes just before it starts erupting. But earthquake swarms until then can go up to ML4.5 in size, but the largest earthquakes so far have gone up to ML4.1 in size.

      2. Problem is that there were no instruments there, when Katla had her last big eruption in 1918. But people living in the area told about heavy earthquakes shortly before.

      3. Well, a 5, 5 is very noticable. I expericenced a 5,6 in Carlsbad, just south of LA back in July ’86. Makes furniture “walk”. Good thing about it is that people in the small community Vik will wake up, even if it’s at night, and hopefully get away just in time.

      2. If I have it right the Tanganasoga volcano is the southern fissure volcano, ie. the one that is currently erupting.

        Think Laki here, Laki is the fissure of Grimsvötn, like Bob is the fissure of Tanganasoga.

      4. You are right, Carl. Hierro, Golfo and Tangagasoga are the three fissure vents on the island.

  32. Andy:
    I understand that the alert level has been raised to the whole island, because La Restinga had been already raised to red . But you may be right, only for the South of the island.

  33. Has drilling or water pumping being going on again at Hengil? Surely two 3.8 quakes as well as the swarm of smaller ones couldn’t be caused without that stimulus, could it?

    2. The events noticed recently “may” be the result of humans tinkering with the circulation of Gaia as expected, (you know what we’re like), time scale regarding knock on effects is not immediate.

      1. Ahem, Gaiatic superstition set aside.
        What we are seeing is what happens if you pump heavilly carbonated water under enormous pressure down to a magma-chamber to fracture the rock. It is a knockon effect, but it is very emediate.
        FYI, this is probably the most dangerous thing you can do to a volcano.

      2. Superstition is only for those that can’t see… ie: wool pulled over eyes… What i was alluding to was the organism called earth having “her”, “its” way of doing things… As we mess about and take advantage of the resource in some ways, there will be a corresponding reaction in other ways. (It is not a closed system)… Please !its
        FORGIVE THE PERSONIFICATION… !

      3. You do know that two of the most unstable geologic arrangements are subduction zones and triple junctions right?

        What do you suppose would happen if you start putting high pressure water laced with carbonic acid and H2S into a triple junction?

        No religiosity needed for that one.

      4. To put it simply, you get horcastic amounts of dung flung around sooner or later.
        Anonymour, Hengill is one of those volcanos on Icleland that can produce something called a flood basalt rifting fissure eruption. That is a fancy way of saying a volcano that can produce 10 cubic kilometres of lava and more.
        The others are Katla (Eldgja), Grimsvötn (Laki), Bardarbunga (Veidivötn) and þeistareykjarbunga. Or to ut it in a current situation, they are not poking into something as piddly and small as EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob.

  34. AVCAN facebook (my translation below):
    Resumiendo la entrevista de Ramón Ortiz en la RTVCanaria se puede concretar que ha respondido llanamente para que todo el mundo lo entinda:

    La erupción volcánica se encuentra mas cerca de la costa y a unos 150m de profundidad, y a unos 2.5km de la costa, apareciendo trozos de magma que suben hasta la superficie. Si la erución continua, pronto veremos una columna de humo blanco marcando el sitio de la boca. Si continua, la columna se iria volviendo más negra a medida que va subiendo y ganando altura. Se verian las explosiones, como los que se produjeron del volcán en Azores.

    No se sabe lo que tardara en hacer esto, y no descarta que se abran nuevas bocas, por lo que habra que seguir monitorizando los parámetros de control como la deformacion, los seismos y los gases.

    Otra cosa de la que avisa es que puede haberr seismos fuertes según se produzcan roturas de las nuevas bocas. Es importante recalcar que ha dicho que con la delimitación de las zonas de exclusión, la población estará a salvo de todo, a no ser que se salten a la torera los cordones de seguirdad impuestos de la zona de exclusion.(Enrique)

    Following an interview with Raom Ortiz on RTVC where he was speaking simplt, we can now explain so that everyone understands:

    The eruption is closer to the coast and at about 150m depth and at 2.5km from the coase. There are pieces of magma which raise to the surface. If the eruption continues, soon we will see a column of white smoke, marking the position of the vent. If it continues further, the column will become darker and darker in the middle and it will rise and gain altitude. We will see explosions, same as those that were present in the eruption in Azores (1999, I presume, because that’s what he keeps referring to).

    We do not know when this will be finished, nor do we dimiss the possibility that other new vents will open. Therefore it is imperative to continue monitoring the “symptoms” (if I take a translator’s freedom, what he said was controlling parameters, but that can be misunderstood in English, as noone is controlling anything), such as deformation, the earthquakes and the gasses.

    Another thing that we would like to point out is that there have to occur strong earthquakes before any rupture of a new vent. It is important to emphasise that he said that with the delimitation of the exclusion zones, the population will be safe, unless you disregrard the security cordones and jump into the exclusion zone (Enrique).

  37. Thanks Ursula, and thank you Peter.

    It is a brilliant paper, with clear definition of historical data, though it doesn’t seem to satisfactorily draw conclusive evidence of one model over another, as far as I can follow so far. How then does what is there, evidenced from the past, contrast to what is visibly occurring? Could you experts evaluate it, contrasting the different contexts?

    I am still not wholly convinced that the El Golfo is ‘just’ a slip.

    There is allegedly history of the disappearance of American tribes of European origin from the east coast of America about 15,000 years ago, but unfortunately my source is the much maligned early tectonic plate theorists, the Flem Aths… Not that I consider that would be a repeatable scenario. This is something different, to be sure, but will the main eruption be on the El Golfo side of the island? At the base of the ‘slip’? Or am I out on a limb here?

    1. El Golfo, itself, was a large volcano that last erupted 130,000 years ago, forming a caldera – see GVP http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1803-02-.

      El Golfo bay & the surrounding ridge are part of the remains of that caldera. There is a second vocano on the island to the east, Tinor – still looking for the paper where I found that info.

      El Golfo may be connected to the current activiy because some of the deep EQs have occurred in El Golfo bay and NW. Probably be a long shot but worth bearing in mind.

  39. Carl, my comment above shouldn’t be considered.
    I was talking about shield volcanoes, Tanganasoga is merely a cinder cone belonging to the fissure vents. (GVP)

  42. Is it true what some of these studies suggest? That the more KATLA protracts the period between the last Catastrophic Eruption, & the next; the larger & longer the next eruption could be?

    And this isn’t aimed to cause alarm Jón, but I’d like to ask you.. Do you believe that these are nascent earthquake swarms of an impending eruption? Or do you believe that these will dwindle & eventually subside following another long winter; outside of Katla’s earthquake season – & cease until next year?

    (Notice I asked what you “Believe”, as I want not your professional assessment, but your presupposition from your gut feeling, & instincts!) 😀

    Kind Regards,
    Darren

    1. All in flux Darren K… And as for belief?… Science is notably quiet about wool pulling over eyes. Observation and accumulation of evidence is ongoing non the less… Don’t hold your breath over this one

      1. Please…! I do not understand the icelandic prefix to “Bob”… Could it not be labeled as Roberto ?

      2. It is quite simple, EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob is just the same as this:
        Volcano that is known as Bob.

        Of course EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob is easier to pronounce then “Volcano that is known as Bob”.

      7. Sissel…. That could be construed as nationalist discrimination… You know English is the mother tongue of intelligent species! (ho,ho,joke)

      9. @Sissel

        “Yes of course….. ehhhuuum…. but Icelandic is her prettiest baby…..”

        Actually should be the other way around. English is like the unruly teenager that ran away from home and became distorted and confused from what it once was.

      11. Yeahhh! – for once I read something correctly. Thanks, and cheers… (try Gammel Oppland – nasty Norwegian potato aquavit – huuuhhh)

      15. Do not forget the geitost, herringoil, fiskeböe and of course moonshine that is specialy produced to have a very high percentage of gunk that in swedish is called finkelolja.
        But, the fjords are devine, the girls stunningly beautifull, and the shrimps… Yummy!

    2. Awesome picture! So, the “de-gassing” theory just died. Congratulations to Jón and others that always claimed that there was an ongoing eruption.

      1. Not actually. Pure degassing, yes. But those rocks don’t float by themselves. Gas entrained in the rock formed bubbles (vesicles) that allow them to be lighter than water.

        That or small aquatic creatures are holding them above their heads.

  48. Actually there have been spikes in the harmonics of tenerife and gran canaria. at deepest level, read somewhere the hierro and la palma share magma chambers.

    1. Hold your breath, love and pray NIST that mother does not include the whole Canaries in this. (fearmongering?)

  49. News from Mt. Cleveland volcano in Aleutians

    After many cloudy days satellites finally could measure its temperatures, and they are on the rise in summit crater. Lava dome is on rise too and if it escaped from crater, it could be explosive event. Explosions would produce ash cloud exceeding 20 000 feet above sea level.

    That is so isolated place that only way to indicate its activity is by satellite views. But that area is cloudy most of year. There are no seismographs installed there either.

    http://avo.alaska.edu/activity/Cleveland.php

    1. Interesting… So ground breaking news on the cusp of the Pacific/North American line… Where do the winds go? (apologies so caught up with this blog, can’t handle my own research!)

  50. makes the trick on a saturday night – at least as long as your sitting all alone by the pc watching this blog:) – tounge is all lame, but fingers still kinda workin’

    1. sorry – my comments end up in the strangest places, maybe my fingers are “infected” as well.

    2. Realise “Old Equestrian” … Consciousness is what matters… Hold that thought, despite the wavering doubt… After all we are human, not alone and survivalists, despite how much the ground shakes and the earth throws rocks!

      2. Glad some of us know what it takes for stability… “come what may”… Meanwhile… Back to the research,speculation!

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