Posted on by Jón Frímann

Special report: New eruption vent (or vents) might have opened up in El Hierro volcano eruption

The current tremor data now suggests that a new vent or vents have opened or are about to open up just outside north-west coast of El Hierro volcano. The depth where the main earthquakes have been taking place is about 100 to 300 meters (but might be more). So far the largest earthquakes to take place in this area was a ML3.9 with the depth of 22 km. What is important in this is not the fact that the earthquakes are at great depth. But also the fact that a more shallow might not take place. As that was not the case when the eruption started in El Hierro on 10 October, 2011. It is unlikely that there is going to be any shallow earthquake activity before a new eruption vents opens up. As that was not the case on the 10 October, 2011 from what I can remember.


Current harmonic tremor in El Hierro. So far there has not been much change in harmonic tremor as can be seen here. But that can change without warning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

I am not sure how strong earthquake this area can make. But I am guessing that it might well be in the upper Mb5.5+ range. The earthquakes that are now taking place are due to magma injection. Not a tectonic one. There is a difference between the two. But this rifting in El Hierro might trigger a earthquake close to El Hierro Island in near future, that earthquake would be a tectonic one. Not a earthquake created by magma movements.

So far the new vents are still unconfirmed. But there are signs in the harmonic tremor data that new eruption vents might be opening up or have already opened up. But at this moment I am waiting for a confirmation on this actually taking place. That is going to take a few hours, given the experience so far.

654 Replies to “Special report: New eruption vent (or vents) might have opened up in El Hierro volcano eruption”

  2. The harmonic tremor at around 0.2Hz present on various of the Canary island seismographs greatly diminished last night. It would be interesting to know if this has also happened on the UK traces that were mentioned yesterday. If this is indeed related to magma flow deep under El Hierro then maybe the source pressure has reduced or a blockage has developed.

      1. Nope, but what they all are picking up is the background noise of the planet.
        But you are absolutly correct, there is no connection at all between them.
        This is the seismic equivalent of the ambient background noise of the universe. Wherever you look, you will see it, because it is everywhere.
        Does it have any meaning at all? Nope, not more than that the planet is a bit noisy around that frequency. 🙂

      2. Carl, it’s not that I don’t believe you but I can’t find any references to the background noise of the planet. Could you point me to a text that discusses or describes this please. I’m familiar with this in reference to the magnetic field of the earth but not ground vibrations. I would like to understand.

      3. larger earthquakes can set off long lived low frequency oscillations in the earth , not to mention ocean wave related seismic noise (I’d google it again, but I’m supposed to be working)

      5. No need to groan. I only mentioned it because someone else did. I didn’t believe it either.

      6. @Robert Somerville
        Yes but here we were (I was ) talking about a constant sine wave with a frequency of about 0.17Hz (and another smaller component at a slightly different frequency) that were constant in level, started at a defined time and went on for days at that level. An earthquake excited resonant response should die away exponentially. The sea could excite a resonant response in the earth but I doubt that as a global effect it comes and goes so significantly.

  4. from AVCAN/GiggleTrans:
    “”The working group of the scientific committee states that without an acceleration of deformation can not talk of an impending eruption
    …
    The Steering Committee of Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk (PEVOLCA) met this morning in El Hierro has confirmed a seismic shift in the north of the island that is being evaluated to “determine whether or not there is a possibility of an eruption at that zone “.

    In this sense, the working group of the Scientific Committee met this morning, and attended by representatives of non-tip, IGN, CSIC and IEO, have referred to “a seismicity occurs at 20-26 km depth, associated with a possible feedback mechanism magmatic eruption process in progress. ”

    Also establish another scenario “at 10-15 km, which itself could be valued as a precursor to an eruption.” Anyway it is still early to forecast, since the acceleration of seismicity at that depth, shallower, it is not producing an increase in deformation. The deformation would have to provide evidence in the coming days designed to ensure that there would be a new source of emission in the north.

    For his part, hoped that the results of the analysis of helium, performed by the non-tip, to give more information. Recall that a month before the eruption of La Restinga there was a significant increase in the gas.

    La Restinga

    The eruption process of the South, continues to develop normally, as indicated by the tremor signal recorded, and data collected by the ship Ramon Margalef, IEO, who believe they have seen a collapse of the volcano, with the data obtained with the echo sounder. Given the murky water, it is unlikely that the ship can take video images of the underwater eruption.””””

    Helium measurements? – who are ‘non-tip’??

      2. I wish you had said that before we mashed the stone… It is something obvious that we should have done.
        I will try to get a new set of SvampurinnBobs so that we can analyze the captured gases. Sadly I would have to hork up the money to have it externally analyzed.

      4. Carl, when you at it, this article implies that there was also a different kind of material captured now by the boat Ramón Margalef.

        ”El volcán submarino de La Restinga parece haber incrementado hoy la expulsión de material magmático a la superficie. La mancha provocada por la erupción se ha tornado más oscura y densa que en días pasados, según ha podido comprobar DIARIO EL HIERRO.” (My translation: The volcano of La Restinga (i.e. Bob :)) seems to have increased the output of magmatic material to the surface. The eruption plume has turned into a darker and more dense one during the last days, as the newspaper Diario El Hierro could prove.)

        Asimismo, este periódico ha podido saber que el buque Ramón Margalef recogió hoy muestras de este material, diferente al del inicio de la erupción. Al parecer, se trata de una especie de lapilli, de color rojo, diferente al primero hallado en la zona, de color negro y con fondo blanco. Este nuevo material tendrá que ser analizado por los científicos.” (Also, the newspaper could find the information that the samples found by the boat Ramón Margalef today were of a different sort than the ones found at the onset of the eruption. It seems to be a sort of red coloured lapilli, different from the first samples of the zone which were black and white within. This new material will be analyzed by the scientists.)

        http://www.diarioelhierro.com/ (31.10.11)

      6. Oh yeah.. cumulative is read off of the right side, individual quakes off of the left side.

      7. That’s about ten percent of the energy released from July to early Oct ? – and at 20-25km deep not the earlier 8-18?
        And we have greater overburden at greater depth.
        So are these the reasons why we are not seeing GPS change at present?

      8. Niiiice! 🙂 The two 3.9s (?) really stand out on the individual quakes “histogram”.

      9. Peter, yes that is why.
        Prof. Nagoya wrote quite well about the overburden hindering gps motion from the new magma injecting into the system. It is a comment page back. Really good comments.

    1. Sometimes the box for the square doesn’t line up. You may have to poke around to find it, or use the all station link in the word “here” where it says:

      “From here you can view tremor plots from all our seismic stations.”

      2. The submarine volcano has returned to El Hierro Monday eject pyroclasts (fragments of magma) steaming the sea surface off the coast of La Restinga, as confirmed to Efe Canary Islands Government.

        Vecinos de la localidad costera más próxima a la erupción han notado en la tarde de este lunes que la mancha generada en el mar por el proceso volcánico se ha agrandado y ha cobrado un aspecto más oscuro. Residents of the coastal town closest to the eruption have noticed on Monday afternoon that the spot generated at sea by the volcanic process is enlarged and has taken a darker side.

        Ese cambio se debe a que el volcán ha vuelto a expulsar piroclastos que llegan a la superficie del mar todavía incandescentes y humeantes, como ocurrió el pasado 15 de octubre, de acuerdo con la información que maneja el comité científico del Plan de Protección Civil por Riesgo Volcánico de Canarias (Pevolca). That change is that the volcano has returned to expel pyroclastics that reach the surface of the sea still glowing and smoking, as occurred on October 15, according to the information handled by the scientific committee of the Civil Protection Plan for Risk Volcanic Islands (Pevolca).

        Además, esta vez se ha apreciado que los fragmentos de magma que emergen desde el volcán son de mayor tamaño que entonces y provocan una coloración más oscura en el agua. In addition, this time it has found that magma fragments emerging from the volcano are larger then and cause a darker color in the water.

        Una portavoz de la Dirección General de Seguridad y Emergencias de Canarias -el organismo que coordina el Pevolca- ha indicado a Efe que, según los científicos, esta expulsión de magma forma parte del mismo proceso que se inició el 10 de octubre. A spokeswoman for the General Directorate of Security and Emergency Canary-the body that coordinates the Pevolca-has told Efe that, according to scientists, this expulsion of magma is part of the same process that began on October 10.

        La primera prueba visual de esa erupción fueron, precisamente, las manchas con olor azufre que se detectaron dos días más tarde y su confirmación definitiva llegó con los piroclastos humeantes que emergieron el día 15. The first visual evidence of this eruption were precisely sulfur smelling spots that were detected two days later and final confirmation came with the smoldering pyroclastic that emerged on day 15.

      3. Just compared the comment above with this:
        DIARIOELHIERRO, Spain (31/10/2011. 14:01 pm)
        “The director of the Geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen Lopez, said Monday that the eruption in La Restinga continues, “but it has stabilized,” he said. “In fact, he added, there was a slight deflation, coupled with a process beginning to stabilize” he added.
        Lopez, who appeared before the media after a meeting held on Monday by the office of Pevolca Ceoci Valverde, confirmed that the seismicity in the south of the island has disappeared almost entirely, he said.”

        Isn’t it strange that one authority concludes that the eruption is stabilized and deflated while another authority the same day claims an increasing eruption with smoking and glowing floaters (see quotes above)?

        @Mr. Armas, what do you think about this?

      4. Cabilde Armas has once again decared a photographic diving competition at La Restinga to celebrate that the bottom Margles has corroded away… 🙂

        I would definitly go with Professor Nagoyas analyzis. It is in accordance with what is happening, it follows the facts of it, and he has the best analyzis tools of the Island since he and his department own their own GPS:es.
        That he also is the only one in the vicinity that has actually seen a volcano before also helps a lot.
        I find him refreshing, cool, calm and authorative. Finaly a pro has talked.

      5. Dear Carl, thank you so very much for your humor and your wisdom! Got tears in my eyes from the laughing – again.
        What is the easiest way to find articles of Professor Nagoya?

    4. Hello Ursula!

      Use the Icelandc version, it has all of the stations active.
      http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/

      Krokkotuvötn is the northern half of the Krafla Volcano. Krafla is divided into two distinct halfs by a transverse Graben. So it in a weird way works as two separate volcanos now. Krokkotuvötn was the part that erupted in the Kraflafires. It has been growing in activity the last couple of months.

      Todays activity is Krafla, but the activity you see a week ago was most likely the slowly reawakening Theistareykjarbunga. They seem to alternate in a sense of it causing harmonic tremoring in the area. They are not connected in any way, but they are both on the same rift.
      As you notice, the activity one week ago was much more powerfull. That little hoho actually made two stations clip out as the signal got saturated, here is one of them, the central one for Theistareykjarbunga.
      http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/gha.gif

      This one if also caused by Theistareykjarbunga, even though it is much closer to Krafla. This is because the fissure swarm of Theistareykjarbunga runs straight under it. Compare it with todays activity. Now you see the difference in power between the two events.
      http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/mel.gif

      Since 2007 Theistareykjarbunga inflates at a rate of 3 cm annualy.

  7. i think that the vents have opened already and that the volcano is going to begin to erupt more than it already has.

  8. DIARIOELHIERRO, Spain (31/10/2011. 14:01 pm)

    The director of the Geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen Lopez, said Monday that the eruption in La Restinga continues, “but it has stabilized,” he said. “In fact, he added, there was a slight deflation, coupled with a process beginning to stabilize” he added.

    Lopez, who appeared before the media after a meeting held on Monday by the office of Pevolca Ceoci Valverde, confirmed that the seismicity in the south of the island has disappeared almost entirely, “he said.

    Meanwhile, in the north of the island in the Gulf, “there is a new stage with this seismicity and it has two scenarios: a deeper area between 20-23 miles which we believe is associated with the feedback from the shallower seismicity, ie, nuance-magma coming from deeper and is about 20-23 miles at this time. At this time it is not able to climb to the base of the oceanic crust. Until then there will only be potential to cause an eruption on the surface ” he said.

    (This particular last line was hard to determine intent. I think he has acknowledge the two chamber scenario, along with that one is higher but the distance is shallower than 20 to 23 kms, but it is not filling… I think that is right)

    Dr. Carmen Lopez said, “that we are noticing increased seismicity now, is more associated with the deepest part of feedback,” he said. According to Lopez, “this also has appeared to be shallower seismicity, between 10-14 km in the area, but is still very small in magnitude and number.”

    (This bears out the first line. It is apparently rising, but he acknowledges it finally. Attaboy Jon F. -If it pops he gets to name it, just no crazy Icelandic names )

    In this sense, Lopez said, “Now we have to do is be very aware of how strains evolve,” he said.

    (No kidding Lopez.)

    There is insufficient data confirming an eruption at Frontera.

    (Well slip a boat over there and have them sit and look, you see bubbling, gases, and floating pumice stones Lopez you might find that an eruption is underway).

    Also, the director of the Geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen Lopez, argues that we are now assessing how it will evolve, or intensify the process thats already running and starting a new eruptive process.

    Lopez said, “For now, we do not have enough data to know if we have a new eruption starting in the coming days, weeks, or something imminent. We dont have enough information at this tim to think of this as an eruption. ”

    So basically we are going to sit and wait. But here is a nifty little fact. Both of the eruption sites are on the corners of the inverted “C” rift. Rifts are known for slipping on the corners and ends and they are notorious about it. If thats the case then the flank fault or worse comes into play. Jon gets his eruption confirmation and us Rift/flank fault failure types get our slide into the ocean. Not LOL on that one in either case. The important thing is that they are now acknowledging most of what we are seeing and have been saying and that is bad ju-ju.

    Lurk-Witchdoctor headdress on cause we are going to need a mojo I think put. This I think is going to rise like a rocket in the coming days, they will confirm Jons findings and much to the shrieking terror of most of us. The implications of this are grave simply because of the size. Toba is a two or three chambered volcano. This is two very likely and the size is basically from 25-30 kms, 60 kms wide and multi tiered in a stepping stool kind of thing. Restinga is likely a vent for the main event which is under the island and El Golfo bay. A fissure is likely opening and that doesnt necessarily mean in the bay. If it faults and falls on the SW corner then I can think of all sorts of scenarios that could happen.

      1. Only that it is multi chambered Pieter. Even on a small scale that is something to be considered. My thought is that La Restinga is a vent for the bigger show to come. We have to be clear. The island is about 5500 feet and rose about 4500 to 5000 feet just to clear it out of the water.

        Its going to do what it wants to do. Which may or may not be anything or the big potato… Have to wait and see.

      5. I have a new exception to the general rule actually… I would not trust any volcanologist that is spanish, regardles of gender. I am an equalist in most things, so my scorn should also be equal. Professor Nagoya is of course not counted since he/she is japanese.
        Icelandic Volcanologists are always right, so I therefore follow that A) they are not spanish and B) they are all female.

  11. So…

    Looking at the NASA images would it be possible that all the south west coast is now bubbling with various jacuzzis? The width of the quake zone on the north-south axis could suggest that heat is accumulating under much of the Western half of the island. Could this then consume the sedimentary layer rather than raise it? Hence no inflation?

    Also – interesting looking at the global picture to try and understand whether the rift is widening at the junction at El Hierro.

    http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

    And a look at currents: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4226/monsoons-are-spinning-earth%E2%80%99s-plates

    I think I agree with you Peter that the island’s weight sinks it into the mantle-crust boundary, so 14km may be the depth outside of the island, but as no quakes are really registering above 16km, and those at that depth are growing in magnitude, it would seem they go quiet above this level under El Hierro.

    1. And I’m remembering Carracedo’s description of a large ball of magma in El Golfo and 250 magma chambers under the rest of the island on 29 September. He predicted effusive growth, rather than collapse. And he did not predict the El Golfo magma breaching the surface, seeing it as part of the rifting process at depth. I wonder if he has changed his mind at all.

    2. This is MODIS Aqua this afternoon, 250m resolution:
      http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/imagery/single.cgi?image=crefl2_143.A2011304143000-2011304143500.250m.jpg

      I don’t think the stain in El Golfo is a new one, if you look at its colour, it’s the same diluted dark greenish colour as west from the island. It is only from Baby Bob that you see a ribbon of light green (fresh) stain emanating. I don’t think there are any other stain sources and/or jacuzzis. Yet.

      1. You should read the comments about the currents I put in over at Eruptions. 3.5 kts of current there would keep it from even making a loop in the bay past the point. I think there is a vent opened up and its starting to pump crap out of it.

        It should be noted they wont put a boat into that green/blue stuff because it would eat the hell out of a boat engine and prop system. If it contains Hydrogen Sulfide, it could start an invisible fire as well.

      2. Sorry Randolph, the satelitte pictures clearly show a vortex as it builds up. It is quite normal behaviour when two currents meet up that there is backsuction.
        Simple fluid dynamics really. Trust me on this one.

      3. No vortex Carl. The current is too strong in that area. In and around La Restinga the bay is called “Las Calmas”

        There isnt anything but Northeast to Northwest winds on the island. The currents are all from the N to NE and moving S to SW. There is also a large underwater seamount to the SW side running for miles. It would have to defeat wind, currents and the mount to make the vortex.

        I think it has already opened a vent of at least sulfur bearing hotwater because alas, they say the eruption in La Restinga is diminishing.

        So, it if is why isnt the water clearing? If its not abating, how are the currents carrying up and around the seamount into a 4 mph current?

        It could in some really proper conditions do what you are saying but the wind, currents have been steady for the last 8 days. Actually for my read the streamer from the SW corner of the island is bigger almost than the SE corner. .

        But a smart guy will always say that he could be wrong. I want to hear how this could be happening in the face of all the things against it. Vortex would have had to have been there and it would have cleared since the 26th. No indications that I can see that it was pushed or pulled around the corner of the island. All of the wave action is to the S.W.

        ????

      1. True – there has been a 1.5 at 15km and a 1.7 at 13km, so it looks like the slow and steady climb continues in NW Frontera.

    1. I wouldn’t jump to any too fast conclusions, they are just saying that the stain is darker and denser than yesterday, that’s all. And that the Ramon Margalef picked magmatic material different from the one that was picked before.

      1. They didn’t happen to publish a chemical analysis of the magma did they?

        It would be nice to see that.

      2. No, it is a one line notice. It says just what I wrote and nothing more.

        But I did check Ramon Margalef every now and then this afternoon on http://www.localizatodo.com/mapa/, it was circling around half way on the straight line between Baby Bob and La Restinga, so they were measuring something there.

  13. The submarine volcano of La Restinga seems to have now increased the expulsion of magmatic material to the surface. The stain caused by the eruption has become dark and dense that in recent days, as he has seen newspaper EL HIERRO.

    Also, this newspaper has learned that the ship Ramón Margalef today collected samples of this material, other than the beginning of the eruption. Apparently, it’s a kind of lapilli, of red, unlike the first found in the area of black and white background. This new material will have to be analyzed by scientists.

    Also, sources consulted by DIARIO EL HIERRO have assured seismic stations of La Restinga has been an increase in the signal of the tremor.

    Precisely this same morning, the Director of the geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen López, ensured that the eruption in La Restinga continues, “Although in a very stable way”, said. “In fact-he added-is is a small deflation, joined an already stabilized process,” he added.

  14. The underwater volcano of La Restinga today seems to have increased the expulsion of magmatic material to the surface. The stain caused by the rash has turned darker and denser than in recent days, as has been shown DAILY IRON.
    http://www.diarioelhierro.es/t26496/pag02.asp?BD=ESPECIAL%20CRISIS%20S%CDSMICA&id_registro=140612&Id=26496&BDi=INICIO&nt=p&Md=&rf3=1&rf3=1

    The director of the Geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen Lopez, said Monday that the eruption in La Restinga continues, “but in a very stabilized,” he said. “In fact, he added, there was a slight deflation, coupled with a process already stabilized,” he added.
    http://www.diarioelhierro.es/t26496/pag02.asp?id_registro=140608&Id=26496&BDi=INICIO&Md=

    1. also see :

      http://tinyurl.com/3wn2bz6

      “Seismic background noise is omnipresent and
      recorded in a broad frequency band, from few milli
      Hertz to several tens of Hertz. The weakest and
      strongest known ambient noise are the hum and the
      microseisms (Figure 1), respectively. The hum [e.g.,
      Suda et al., 1998; Tanimoto et al., 1998; Roult and
      Crawford, 2000; Rhie and Romanowicz, 2004]
      consists of continuously excited free oscillations of
      the Earth at about 5–20 mHz while the microseisms are dominantly Rayleigh waves observed at 0.04–1 Hz. ”

      Also see:
      http://tinyurl.com/3nbtrt5 Fig 1 , page 8

      1. The G3 and the ambient seismic noise papers are good stuff but again, whilst in the right area of the spectrum they are descibing essentially broadband noise with a few local humps to add colour. They also describe a phenomenon which is omnipresent and has only small seasonal variations. Whilst local storm activity undeniably adds to its intensity my memory of the Icelandic seismograms during storms was strong but broadband noise.
        I really don’t see what the problem is with believing this to be harmonic tremor generated by the movement of magma since we patently have the movement of magma going on. The waveforms also look fairly precisely like the examples I have found for continuous harmonic tremor. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…
        And no, I only keep hens and geese.

    2. Interesting stuff, sadly my days of fourier analysis are dead and gone, not to mention Nyquist diagrams. However the spectrum of what was appearing on the seismographs was a broadband signal plus one or two sharp spikes in the frequency domain. It’s like a pure note heard over the roar of the seashore.

  16. Posts: 2832
    Gender:
    Holidays for a few days 🙂

    Images of the volcanic cone formed south of La Restinga obtained by the ship ‘Ramon Margalef’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/presican/ Images formed volcanic cone south of La Restinga obtained by the ship of the Spanish Institute Oceanography ‘Ramon Margalef’. Date: October 31, 2011 Location: La Restinga (El Hierro)

      2. But it’s still not checked, it an automatic update. There are no tremor spikes or anything significant on Jon’s helicorder, this is definitely lower than M2.5 and most probably even lower than M2.0

    1. So i have to go to bed now, because i must stand up early to read all the late-night-posts before i go to work.
      Good night, Iceland!
      Good night, El Hierro!
      Good night, Bob!
      Good night to all!

  19. The volcanic monitoring surveillance network 24 hours of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) has confirmed, to the direction of the Plan of Civil protection by volcanic risk in the Canary Islands (Pevolca), the emergence of smoky pyroclastic of large size on the surface of the sea as advanced newspaper EL HIERRO.
    This afternoon, sources consulted by this newspaper confirmed the increase in the flow of magmatic material to the surface of the sea of La Restinga. La mancha has become dark and dense than other days and pyroclastic smoldering remains were in the area.
    On the other hand, during the October 30th is located 93 earthquakes, seven of which were felt by the population. Two of them were recorded with 3.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, the largest after the start of the eruption to the South of La Restinga.
    The majority of these movements were lined up in the NNW-SSE direction in the Gulf area, from the sea about 12 km from the coast, until the center of the island. The depth varies between 14 17 km and 20 25 km. In total, from July 17, have been localized 10,708 events.
    The amplitude of tremor stays stable, remains at levels similar to the previous day, and without significant episodes, advises the Pevolca.
    DEFORMATION
    According to reports from scientists at the University of Cádiz, and in reference to the deformation of the ground, continue two distinct scenarios. South of the island shows a remission in the increase of deformation, clearly marked by the eruptive process and evidence in the data recorded in the GPS station of La Restinga.
    In the North of the island, deformations shows an increase in the North component and to a lesser extent in the East, directed by an acceleration recorded in the GPS station located in the NW of the Gulf.
    DOES NOT PRECLUDE AN ERUPTION IN FRONTERA
    For its part, the situation of new seismicity that occurs in the North of the island does not rule out the scenario of a possible volcanic eruption…
    For this reason, from the direction of the Pevoloca, follow to the residents of El Hierro attentive to the advice and recommendations that are sent through the Civil protection authorities in the same way they have done throughout this eruptive process.
    http://www.diarioelhierro.es/t26496/pag02.asp?BD=ESPECIAL%20CRISIS%20SÍSMICA&id_registro=140615&Id=26496&BDi=INICIO&nt=p&Md=&rf3=1&rf3=1

  20. If the processus of the first eruption would repeat itself, the strength of the quakes will weaken, which is indeed the case today (if you want to see it 🙂 ) – it should be confirmed the following 24 hours. If it continues to increase than we talk about something completely different. A + 4.5 magnitude quake may change events completely.
    Just wrote an update stressing Carl’s initial scenario

      1. Yesterday we had 2 3.9’s – Today 1 – 3.6 and since 16:50 they did not get above 3 anymore. The stain image was taken at 18:00
        But Pieter, agree … this is a scenario as good or as bad as many others.

      2. I am glad you wrote that Pieter, I was totally consued to read weaker earthquakes when there has been a tremendous increase in number as well as a marked increase in the 2-3 sized quakes and 5 so far over 3 strength.

      4. I think the log scale for earthquakes can be confusing – Armand is right – the quakes are not as strong. A 3.9 is much stronger than a 3. I don’t know the exact difference but a 4 is 31.6 times as much energy as a 3 … not just an extra 1/4.
        Hence the huge jumps on the accumulated energy chart when there was a3.9 and the even bigger jump for the 4.3 earlier in the month.

      6. So are you saying that the increase in the amount of smaller quakes doesn’t equal the preceding day when there were 2 quakes at 3.9 quakes? Wouldn’t the fact of the larger number be more significant in looking at a build up to an eruption? I do understand what you are saying about the amount of seismic energy expended yesterday though, just wondered if that had more significance than the amount of seperate quakes.

      7. @newby: It depends on the volcano. Some volcanos have plenty of small quakes, some have fewer but stronger. In any case, even a large number of small quakes (<M2) can not match a hefty one (M3.5+) in energy, as the M-scale is logarithmic. M3 is 32 times stronger than M2, and M3 is 1000 times stronger than M1.

    2. May be Armand Verbaek is referring to the fact that the few days immediately preceding Bob we saw stronger EQs than on the day Bob emerged.

  21. @ Maria

    Some time ago, before the underwater eruption, there was a strong tremor that was felt in La Restinga. We saw a video with two bottles of water. The water surface was undoubtedly trembling.
    Do you know if this tremor has stopped by now or is it still going on?

  22. ahem – apparently a 9.4 at Grimsey
    21:40:27,7 66,659 -18,399 5,2 9,4 31,10 21,6 km NW of Grímsey

    glad to see such low quality.

      4. Thanks for that info Jon, could have been a bit worrying as they are all now registered between 4.5 and 6.2 which I suppose could have been a remote possibility.

      6. Looks like the Siglufjörður station that’s screwed up. Yeh, definitely a false alarm, other stations aren’t showing the slightest blip, which would be more than unusual for this size of earthquake.

  23. Followed by a 5.4 and a 6.2:

    Monday
    31.10.2011 21:43:41 65.555 -22.450 5.2 km 6.2 31.22 38.6 km WSW of Hólmavík
    Monday
    31.10.2011 21:42:18 65.823 -18.238 5.3 km 5.4 42.51 14.3 km S of Grenivík
    Monday
    31.10.2011 21:40:07 66.119 -18.685 5.1 km 4.5 35.71 5.5 km NNW of Ólafsfjörður

  24. Just an idea.

    We were talking about the magma (=heat) reaching the sediment layer. This layer contains aluminiumsulfates, (and chloride, bromide, fluoride) calciumcarbonates and probably ironoxides (chlorides?)

    When this heat reaches this layer, the aluminiumsulfate will decompose at 800 degrees C, The calciumcarbonate will decompose at even a lower temperatures. With this decompositions the heat is opening smal holes or tubes in this sediment layer. The volume of an amount of Calciumoxide is much smaller then the volume of calciumcarbonate that is decompesed. The gases will stay in that sediment layer until there is a smal? opening somewere. (old lava tube?) This could lead to a jacuzi style eruption (BoB) away from the heat source. The volatiles (AlBr3, AlCl3, FeCL3) and gases SO2 and CO2 will erupt. Possible with smal amounts of lava.

    If, and its a big if, this is the fact I think its possible that the heat source below el Golfo is releasing pressure with BoB and we could expect a non explosive eruption at the el Golfo area?. With a lot of steam that is.

    This scenario could explain BoB, composition at BOB, the stain of BoB, lack of eq’s in the sediment layer and the movement of the eq’s from north to south and back.

    1. Or there are 2 different kinds of magma – the more crystalised magma in the 250 chambers which have been stable for a while, and the new source in the mantle which is under El Golfo, which may be hotter and more fluid.

      1. There are no 250 chamber of magma under El Hierro, that is just something that he farted out of his mouth to sound important.
        If I count together the likely options I get to this list.
        One or two in the northeast, one down at La Resting, then you have Tanganasoga, and two out at El Golfo ontop of each other. There could perhaps be one or two more, but that would be it.
        If there where 250 of them they would be so small that they would have cooled into your average garden rock within just a few decades.

  25. What were we saying about no 3.9’s today ?? at Frontera
    1109223 31/10/2011 22:06:23 27.7815 -18.0620 24 Sentido 3.9 4 NW

  26. A short comment on the eruption of El Hierro:

    As far as I can understand the chemical composition must have changed since the new magma is red in colour, but still seems to float.
    That sounds more like Fe(III) rich pumice. The size also seems to be bigger.

    My take on this is that a high part of the original lava ejected was in part displaced old magma that had changed in composition as it travelled through the thick sedimentary layer. And that the new ejecta has inherrited the very high gascontent of the original ejecta, but that it is now almost pure new magma. The high ferro content is consistant with deep magmas borne up by a hotspot “plume”.

    This is probably the same basic basaltic lava that logically should be the main bulk of El Bob de la Restinga, with about 50 – 80 million cubic metres of ejecta volume. There is no way that old dislocated magma could have that large volume.
    The incease of activity at Bob of La Restinga is probably not due to increased real activity, but is instead caused by the volcano closing in on the surface. The next few days might become a bit of a bumpy ride as the volcano closes in on the surface. My guess is that we will see the first phreatic explosion at Bob sometime soon. That is of course unless Jón is correct and it closes before that.
    My personal take is that Bob will be running for at least another week. But, I would not rule out a second El Bob de la Severiano Balesteros (famous dead spanish golfer) over at El Golfo. I actually think it would be fitting to name that Bob after him if it happens (serious for once, he is almost a national saint after all).

    The size of the deep magma is probably a bit larger then before mentioned.
    After doing a bit of calculation (thanks to Prof. Nagoyas work and comments) it seems as the volume under the crust of fluid magma would be about ten times larger than previously calculated. What was forgotten in the previous calculations is to compensate for the chrustal pressures effect on inflation. Combining that deep sourse of magma under the chrust and the known chambers we are looking at 1 – 5 cubic kilometres of magma kayng under El Hierro as a flattened eliptic Blob. This sounds like a lot, but remember that only about 10% is likely to become ejecta. So, we would then see about 0,1 to 0,5 cubic kilometre of ejecta surfacing. Of coure I am not then counting any magma coming up from the deep during the eruption. Coincidentally, Bob of La Restinga is soon going to hit the 0,1 ejecta mark, so it could actually die out before any new fissure opens up. But the lack of measured COMBINED deflation makes this not to likely. My guess is that new magma is coming up to the entire “neighbourhood” at the same rate as Bob ejects it. So, this eruption will probably go on for quite some more time.
    But, my guess is that the feeder of Bob of La Restinga will sooner or later go dry. Probably before Bob hits the 0,2 cubic kilometre mark judging from deflation in the La Restinga area.

    After that I think we could quite well see a new fissure open up, perhaps over at El Golfo. I do not in any way think there is an eruption there yet.
    Remember that this is a rifting fissure eruption, they can go on for a long time. Years in many cases.

    1. Thanks for pointing out Prof. Nagoyas comments. I missed them the first time.

      Looking at the EQ patterns (see graphs posted last night), the magma reservoir could be within the following ranges:

      – Longitude: length -18.10 and -18.0; top -5km, bottom (or no further EQ activity) -20km.
      – Latitude: length 27.60 to 27.8 / 27.825; top -5km or -15km, bottom (or no further EQ activity) unclear.

      I am surprised that the N-S picture is much less clear than the W-E one (very focused) but this may be due to a combination of magma, rifting and the fact that the volcano is a shield one.

      But what is interesting is that is still no obvious path that the magma has followed to feed Bob. There was only a cluster of shallow quakes between 27.6 and 27.55, Bob’s patch. However, there have also been shallow quakes (<-5km) between -18.10 to -17.96 approx and 27.9 to 27.55.

      1. I think we will never see a clear path for Bob.
        Since Bob opened directly ontop of the rift (the valley on the ocean floor) I guess it was really weak to beginn with. That is the drawback with rift-episode driven fissure volcanos. It is already so weakened that they pretty much do not give any sign before going off.
        This is true for Hekla (although she is not a rift/fissure volcano, she is a type of her own), but mostly for Krafla that was fairly silent before her fissures opened up.
        My guess is that the new upwelling of magma is “searching around” for another part of the rift systems under El Hierro, and when it finds one it will open quietly at that place to. My biggest question is if there is a rift out in the ocean at El Golfo. As far as I know there is no known rift. And that could bode very ill for the residents close to the known rift of Tanganasoga.
        On the other hand, there should be a rift in El Golfo from when that volcano was active….
        Time will tell.

      1. Better twice than not at all!
        Anyway I am off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… will be interested to see what happens in the morning – there certainly were lots of earthquakes today.

      2. Strange they haven’t recorded the ones between 20:26 and 22:06 as there most certainly were some smaller quakes howing up on the graphs. Perhaps they will correct this later.

  28. Twitter #elhierro http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23elhierro is going a bit crazy since the last 3.9… I can translate some of it.:
    – “that was no joke”
    – “volcano smoking again”
    – “very intense”
    – “huge earthquake”
    – “steaming eruption at La Restinga”
    @cornical looks like he is in ElHierro given how fast he tweeted the 3.9, maybe worth a follow.

  29. A new group has been set up to monitor safety of Health, Food and Enviroment on the island of El Hierro.
    http://www.emergenciaselhierro.org/

    THey will be testing Air quality: Analyzed parameters: SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), O3 (ozone), CO (carbon monoxide), SH2 (hydrogen sulfide) and PM10 (particulate matter). Hourly and daily evaluation.
    Sea water quality: To this end, there will be control samples collected in other areas of the island unaffected by emissions vulcanológicas which will be used to compare with samples collected in the affected area.
    Drinking water quality: (in the storage and distribution network.The parameters that are evaluating are residual free chlorine, temperature, pH and smell.

    And they say that they will be posting the results on the web

    2. They’re also testing the dead fish for heavy metals – mercury, lead and something called Cadmium.

      2. Cadmium…. a metal associated with Zinc, copper and mercury, like them they have a very negative effect on ecosystems, both marine and soil. Eventually it will enter the food chain and affect human health causing amogst other symptoms of txicity, long term liver disease and cancers.

      3. I think cadmium came also as a by-product from the Dutch coal mines in Limburg? In the 1970’s the Dutch governments decided to paint all trains yellow, that’s how they got rid of the useless waste.

        Given the Jurassic sediment under El Hierro that would make sense…

  30. Number of EQs today – over 130 by my count. If sheer number is anything to go by – something is brewing !

    1. I make 129 so far as one was further away from El Hirro, still a significant increase in quakes. I think things are hotting up there in more ways than one. I wish they would evacuate the danger areas now,

      2. “Still think it will be offshore though.”
        I sincerely hope so Jim. I keep getting this uncomfortable feeling that no-one really know what is happening here. Even more so than is usual with volcanic eruptions.

    1. I still think your theory has merit, you just forgot to vector in the most important thing of all.
      Shit happens.

      Seriously, I just think you are a bit to early in the cycle, I think we will se a couple of weeks, and then you theory will get into effect.

  32. There is an interesting lack of earthquakes after the ML3.9 earthquake. The magma might well have found a clear path to the surface now. Depending on speed. It might reach the surface in about 6 to 24 hours. If there is not anything that blocks it path to the surface. But then the earthquakes start again.

    1. I guess then my new theory will be happily exploded again 🙂
      I still guess at a week, but you might well be right. I would just wait a few hours and see.

      By the way, our favourite scaremonger preacher has struck again up in the list.

      1. Have you checked out his site now ? – looks more like a dating site. Well – needs to make a few bucks before oblivion eh ?

      2. Nope, I did not go to his site. I would feel to violated if I did really… And please, no need to repost it 🙂
        I guess that the preacher is starting to feel lonely while waiting for the end of the world as he knows it.

  33. Comment from Enrique at AVCAN facebook page:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Actualidad-Volc%C3%A1nica-de-Canarias-AVCAN/163883668446

    “In the moderate seismicity map, events of 3.0 or higher, you can see updated today as well that shows what’s going on, same thing happened months ago but in another place and a different depth.

    In the first swarm (17/07/2011-10/01/2011) there were many earthquakes at or above 3.0, specifically … 98, but none in the north, all in the Sea of Calm … (Violet) and the stronger the 4.0 in (yellow).

    But now in this second swarm (11/10/2011-31/10/2011), things have changed radically, and 24 today and now we all are located in the north of the island in the Sea Valley Gulf (Orange) and 5 older than 3.5 (green) are all together but one, the first of 3.9 and a while ago is to the left, but all rather close together, as mandated by the Swarm and 3 of them aligned NNW -SSE with 4.4 and the area of ​​eruptive mouths ..” – Giggles translation

  34. IMO have removed the offending “quakes” from the system. All is back to “normal” in Iceland..Although Skrokkalda and Krokottuvotn are still showing odd tremoring.
    It’s nearly time for me to go sheep counting.
    Take care everyone.

    2. I’m off to my bed too – catch up on all this tomorrow ! Take care you all-nighters.

  35. All sub-comments that where in a replay to Pastor CJ aka shepherd comment have been deleted. Along with the comment from Pastor CJ aka shepherd. How has now been banned due to scaremongering (link in his nickname to his scaremongering forum).

    1. Well done Jon. Although, if you took it all with a pinch of salt – was a bit of amusement to see his doomsday coomments – must be short of followers. That’s the way relgion has worked over the centuries – terrify the s$@t out of people. Nothing has changed.

    2. What I find interesting is that Professor Sagiya is not a hot spot specialist but:
      “”….My goal is to understand large earthquakes at plate boundaries and inland active faults, from the viewpoint of earthquake cycle, including tectonic loading, pre- and post-seismic effects, and other various processes.””””
      One of the several theories for origins of Canaries that competes with hotspot is summarised here:
      http://www.mantleplumes.org/WebpagePDFs/Canary.pdf
      “””…Uplifted tectonic blocks: Compressive tectonics give way to ocean-fl oor
      shortening and crustal thickening, and this process may be the main cause of
      magmatism and the uplift of blocks forming the Canary Islands. The occasional
      relaxation of tectonic stress would permit magma eruptions”””

      So I change my hypothesis: maybe not rebound flexure following mass-shedding but a tectonic process. A compressive mechanism between two plates oriented East-West under the ridge might explain the distribution of >mag3 Eqs shown here:
      http://www.avcan.org/mapas/AVCAN1717.jpg?d=1320101699
      ( purple are pre-1 0ct).
      We may have an early southern zone of tectonic fracture and another at present in the northern EQs (a couple of which IGN have described as tectonic.)
      And in the middle exposed to a compressive pressure from south and north we have the swarm of EQs from July to Oct . The bending strain from the squeezing found relief in the sedimentary/upper crust zone, arguably the weakest zone under Hierro.
      That could expalin why we have not seen upward EQ action from the July-Oct swarm of 8000: fresh magma did not trigger them.
      I do hope we hear more from Professor Sagiya.

      1. GiggleTrans of legend to that EQs>3 map;
        “In the moderate seismicity map, events of 3.0 or higher, you can see updated today as well that shows what’s going on, same thing happened months ago but in another place and a different depth.
        In the first swarm (17/07/2011-10/01/2011) there were many earthquakes at or above 3.0, specifically … 98, but none in the north, all in the Sea of Calm … (Violet) and the stronger the 4.0 in (yellow).
        But now in this second swarm (11/10/2011-31/10/2011), things have changed radically, and 24 today and now we all are located in the north of the island in the Sea Valley Gulf (Orange) and 5 older than 3.5 (green) are all together but one, the first of 3.9 and a while ago is to the left, but all rather close together, as mandated by the Swarm and 3 of them aligned NNW -SSE with 4.4 and the area of ​​eruptive mouths .. (Enrique)””

      2. Clarify: the putative plates’ boundary runs east- west under Hierro and they have been colliding – slowly – since July in a north south relative motion.

      4. Ah yes, hadn’t thought of that.
        Perhaps that chain of submarine vents along the long ridge to the south of Hierro has a similar origin to Bob? – wonder if they’ve been dated?

      5. I would bet those are remnants of earlier Bobisms from episodes in the past.
        To be honest my guess is that they are pretty young. There is nothing saying that those could not have been done up to historic times. They could assuredly have erupted up to cirka 1500, and most likely even later since they would at most have given off a Broken Diaper of Bob at worst. I guess if there had been a big brown/green stain back in 1900 nobody would really have cared, or just thought it was a stream carrying up mud or something.

      5. I particularly like the overview graphic. Setting the end on view next to the length run allows quick comparisons.

      1. That quake list is giving me headaches.

        Some of the data keeps getting revised and I had to shit-can about half the spreadsheet and put in new data since so much had changed.

      2. Yes, I noticed that yesterday so I downloaded the whole list again. Unfortunately I won’t get the time to do another one until late tomorrow.

        But good that you took the time to point out the shallower quakes, which seem to get otherwise overlooked.

  38. Karen
    Thanks – looks like the >3s in the southern swarm were late. Doesn’t kill the idea but not quite so satsifying! Can’t be certain if >3s in the south were deep. Any chanve of you isolating them?
    Peter

    1. Yes, but not until tomorrow evening.

      But if you want 4D plots, Lurking may be a better person to do them as I haven’t cracked how to do decent ones yet.

    2. Peter, the second plot shows that the ones in the south ranged from 17 to 12 km. (green to red)

  39. Lurking,
    Great, thanks. Those in the south in Oct are roughly at the MOHO “14km” or shallower.
    Karens plots show no 3+s before event 1097000 – any chance extracting 3+s from then?
    Peter

      1. Thanks Karen. Is it sad to get tingly looking at eq stats? 😉

        From your plots, is there anyway of looking at how the >3 have developed over time? What I mean is looking at location as the process has evolved. Not sure if there are enough points on lat but long seems to have quite a few. The reason I’m asking is to see how they focus. There are groupings but I wonder how far apart they are. Lurkings colours are brilliant for this – and I mean that as no slight on your work GeoKarenZ. I know vaguely how to do stats (did it for a living believe it or not but that was sometime ago and my grey matter decided to absorb many other things since) so more power to you for doing this 🙂

      2. Karen. Thankyou. So the early EQs at around 1100000 ( Septmeber?) were around the crust/upper mantle boundary and quite clusteed in time. It might fit a collision/compression model. But maybe there are other reasons for having the larger 3+ EQs on two foci, south and north?

      3. First EQ >3 was event 1098394 24-Sep-11 27.6523 -18.0298 13km 3.3(size) SW FRONTERA.IHI

        There are only 84 EQs in the analysis to 30/10/2011 (early evening) so I doubt you can get a decent focus on them. Also if the event is magma induced, excluding EQs <3 may cut out too much data.

  41. Translation of Judith’s link……At about 17:35 eastern time but they also are on standard time in El Hierro as of Sunday. So its 5 or 6 hours of difference depending on what you are looking at. That also makes it about 6 hours ago since the posting by El Hierro Diary.

    CRISIS SPECIAL SEISMIC – 31.10.2011 (22:35 pm)
    3.9 degrees earthquake felt in Valverde and Frontera

    DIARIOELHIERRO.ES, writing (31/10/2011. 22:35 pm)

    The National Geographic Institute (IGN) recorded at 22:06 hours on Monday, October 31, an earthquake of 3.9 degrees on the Richter scale and Mercali-IV magnitude and was felt in Valverde and Frontera.

    The quake was located in the northwestern border, 24 miles deep, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN) nd published by the EL HIERRO DIARY and could be subject to change.

    As recorded by the IGN, an earthquake of intensity IV on the Mercali seismic scale is felt inside the buildings by many and only a few abroad. They wake up some people. The level of vibration is not frightening and the vibration is moderate.

    Observers feel a slight tremor or shaking/swaying of the building, room or bed, chair, etc..

    It will sometimes knock tableware, glassware over, crack windows and make doors move. Hanging objects swing. In some cases, visibly trembling light furniture. In some cases it will cause cracks in the woodwork and plaster. No major damage done.

    And it was just upped to a 4.0

    http://www.ign.es/ign/resources/sismologia/www/dir_images_terremotos/sismos_cana_move_pro.gif

  42. New large quake at El Hierro, 3.9 again.
    1109364 01/11/2011 04:15:28 27.7818 -18.0577 21 Sentido 3.9 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI

  43. Does this mean anything that thenew quake of 3.9 is showingcloser to La Palma.

    Magnitude

    3.9

    Region

    CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN REGION

    Date time

    2011-11-01 04:15:26.0 UTC

    Location

    28.02 N ; 17.98 W

    Depth

    10 km

    Distances

    170 km W San cristóbal de la laguna
    (pop 139,928 ; local time 04:15:26.8 2011-11-01)

    70 km S Los llanos de aridane
    (pop 19,635 ; local time 04:15:26.8 2011-11-01)

    53 km S Fuencaliente de la palma
    (pop 1,894 ; local time 04:15:26.8 2011-11-01)

  44. Well, I just blew away an hour of my life.

    In summary, the hotspot that drives island formation in the Canaries have have changed modes of operation following the formation of Gomera.

    La Palma and El Hierro have formed near simultaneously, with alternating intensity levels from island to island. While one goes strong, the other peters along, then they swap roles with the other having the intense activity.

    This is similar in mode of operation to the Hawaiian hotspot driving two near simultaneous lines of volcanoes. The theory has some problems, but that’s the closest fit to the available data and assists in accounting for the age differentials in the islands.

    From the paper: “GEOLOGY AND VOLCANOLOGY OF LA PALMA AND EL HIERRO,
    WESTERN CANARIES,” Carracedo, Badiola, Guillou, Nuez, Torrado.

    During the Pliocene, a submarine volcanic edifice or seamount formed in the island of La Palma, made up of pillow lavas, breccias and haloclasties, intruded by trachytic domes, piugs of gabbros, and a highly dense dyke swarm. The íntense magmatic and dyke intrusion uplifted the searnount up to 1,500 m, tilting it 45-50° to the SW. This intrusive phase was foiiowed by a period of quiescence and erosion of the emerged submarine edifice.

    …

    Another point of interest is that the islands of La Palma and El Hierro are the first of the Canaries to form simultaneously, with possibly alternating eruptive activity, at least in the most recent period. This separation in a «dual line» of islands and the greater depth of its oceanic basement account for the long time they have required to emerge since the formation of the prior island of La Gomera.

    …

    The activity of the subaerial volcanism began in El Hierro with the development of Tiñor volcano on the NE fiank of the island (approximately from 1.12 to 0.88 ma), with the emmission of massive typical basalts. The volcano developed quickly, with different stages of growth, the eruption of Ventejís volcano being the terminal explosive stage, and probably the precursor of the collapse of the NW flank of the edifice some 882 ka ago. The emissions of the new voIcano -El Golfo, approximately 545 to 176.000 ka- totally filled the depression of the lateral collapse of Tiñor volcano, the lava flows of which then spilled over the flanks of the earlier volcano. The beginning of the construction of the El Golfo volcano seems to have taken place after a relatively Iong period of activity, probably coinciding with the maximum development of the Cumbre Nueva rift on La Palma.

    …

    The excessive growth of this volcano triggered the failur of its north flank, generating the the spectactular scarp and present El Golfo depression.

    And the paper link:

    http://acceda.ulpgc.es/bitstream/10553/383/1/1463.pdf

    1. I hate the yellow press. They do not even bother checking the basic facts. If any nuclear waste was sunk in those years at this location. It was sole responsibility of the Spanish government at that time. But there are no data to suggests that to be the case anyway. So I call this nonsense.

      http://ec.europa.eu/energy/nuclear/waste_management/waste_management_en.htm

      It also has nothing to do with the current eruption and the earthquakes in this area. It never has and never is going to.

      2. Do you read German language?

        This doesn’t seem to me so badly researched (I am German). They say that it was not the Spanish government’s, but OECD actions in the North Atlantic during the 70s and 80s, esp. near the Mid Atlantic Ridge, but also near El Hierro and the Azores Islands. There had been dumped (lightly to medium) radioactive material at about 20 km from El Hierro. To dump nuclear waste in the sea was not forbidden before 1993.

        The paper Kanarenexpress wrote to the Spanish nuclear administration which answered that they didn’t know anything about some radioactive material disposal in this region, but if there were any, it wouldn’t be relevant compared to the radioactivity set free by a volcanic eruption. (!!) The Government of the Canary Islands didn’t answer a request. The paper cites H. Fischer, press officer of OCED, who said they wouldn’t have any information about nuclear waste disposal near El Hierro.

        The paper talked also to Mr. Julian from the environmental organisation Ben Magec on Tenerife who confirmed that there had been such a disposal.

        So the paper is putting forward both positions (with names of persons they talked to) .

        This is not so bad journalism – except the title which I think is exaggerating. On the whole, it is not typical Yellow Press.

        I’d say, it is just an aspect to be considered and researched better, but it can not be denied before there is some more information about it.

    1. Can you please stop posting links with no comments. It is annoying and tells the people how might click on them nothing about them.

      So comments with the links is good. No comments with the link. Not so good.

      1. Jón, as far as I can understand she does not really understand english. The links she posts are though very up to date and good. Many of them are local links that we would otherwise not see.
        I actually like them, even without any comments, since they help me (us) hear what is happening quickly. Just a thought.

      2. A minor comment would be good. Even if it is just one line.

        But I am going to post this in Spanish, as you say she does not understand English.

      3. Her daughter has posted for her a couple of times, so I would assume that english is a bit of problem.

        Karmela:
        Si usted no desea escribir en Inglés, escribir los comentarios en español, muchos aquí se puede traducir y entender los comentarios en Inglés para usted.

    2. ¿Podría explicar un poco lo que los enlaces están a punto. Los comentarios con enlaces que ninguna explicación no es bueno, ya que no decirle a la gente lo que está en ellos. Gracias!

      (Google Translate)

      1. Please, excuse my mother. She doesn´t speak english. I´ve just enter your blog before take my first coffe and I have seen it. I will explain about that question. Sorry. And Thanks.

Comments are closed.