Indonesia's Mount Gamalama Erupts, Closing Airports

Another of Indonesia's volcanoes erupted today, causing airports to shut down near Halmahera. Mount Gamalama sent clouds of gray ash high into the air, while locals reported seeing lava descent from the summit down the volcano's flanks. The last major eruption of Gamalama was in 2003, and had similar affects on the local population.

From Smithsonian GVP:

Gamalama (Peak of Ternate) is a near-conical stratovolcano that comprises the entire island of Ternate off the western coast of Halmahera and is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes. The island of Ternate was a major regional center in the Portuguese and Dutch spice trade for several centuries, which contributed to the thorough documentation of Gamalama's historical activity. Three cones, progressively younger to the north, form the summit of Gamalama, which reaches 1715 m. Several maars and vents define a rift zone, parallel to the Halmahera island arc, that cuts the volcano. Eruptions, recorded frequently since the 16th century, typically originated from the summit craters, although flank eruptions have occurred in 1763, 1770, 1775, and 1962-63.

New Activity in Grímsvötn Volcano, Iceland

Several sources are reporting harmonic tremor at Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland. Grímsvötn volcano had its largest eruption in 140 years just months ago in May of 2011, which was approximately 10 times the size of the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. The eruption at Grímsvötn however fell upon favorable winds for Europe, and did not cause the same amount of airway chaos as the 2010 eruption.

Reports thus far are that the tremor in Grímsvötn is much higher and stronger than the tremor that led up to its last eruption. This however does not mean that an eruption is imminent, or going to occur for sure. Harmonic tremor does typically indicate magma movement, but it could also be hydrothermal. In any case, the tremor could merely mean that the magma chamber is beginning to inflate again, and this could stop at any time if the pressure is right.

Grímsvötn is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes, and also one of the largest. Its remote location in the middle of the Grimsfjall glacier, the largest in Iceland, makes it a relatively safe volcano, all things considered. It has however had massive eruptions that in the past have discharged incredible amounts of glacial melt water into the ocean. The last eruption, though powerful, did not last long enough to melt a significant portion of the glacier, though floods did occur.

More Quakes Added To Mono Lake Quake Swarm

At this time, the quakes in the initial Mono Lake swarm have reached over 15 shallow tremors East of the lake. No news from geologists as of yet on this, however the quakes do seem to be getting deeper, not shallower, which could be a good thing volcanically speaking... or not. There are a couple possibilities.

One possibility is that surface activity regarding the quakes is sending tectonic tension downward, eventually causing lower and lower depth quakes, with some upper region quakes accompanying that activity. The second possibility is that the surface tension has been broken, allowing for magma intrusion from a lower depth. As far as I know, that's the only reason for a shallow initial swarm, with lower depth tremors following. The only other explanation is that these quakes are possibly precursors to a larger one, or that these are simply tectonic in nature.

In any case, since nobody is really covering this yet, I'm keeping my eye on it. I highly doubt this has the possibility to lead to an eruption, but as the saying goes, speculation is useless. 

Growing Fears About Katla Eruption (And Why You Should Pay No Attention)

Previously I've written about Katla, Iceland's large volcano capped by a glacier, next door to the now infamous Eyjafjallajokull volcano. In that article I mentioned that Katla is a ticking time bomb, and an eruption from Katla would likely be devastating economically, and possibly physically, as molten lava crashes into glacial ice causing immense explosions. However I did state in that article that "attempting to predict when an eruption will happen is a waste of time, as is proven time and again."

The News Media in the UK does not seem to understand this. An article released by the BBC today has a lot of great facts about Katla, but injected a silly notion into the article that "An eruption is imminent" or "long overdue".... I'm sorry, I didn't know we were on the BBC's schedule when it came to volcanoes erupting... I was under the impression that volcanoes erupt when conditions are right, conditions that only the volcano knows.

So I want to be QUITE clear about this. Katla WILL LIKELY ERUPT in the future, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to say when. Like I said in a previous post, it could be a matter of hours, days, weeks, months, or even years, decades, or centuries. Heck, it might not even blow up at all, and simply seethe as other volcanoes of the world do. The point is, trying to play up the possibility of a massive eruption by calling it "Imminent" or "Overdue" is presumptuous and damaging to good science.

In any case, here is the real info on Katla. Yes, it may have had a minor eruption this year which caused a glacier outburst flood and damaged some roads and a bridge. Yes, Katla has indeed had over 500 earthquakes in the last month within the caldera. And yes, historically speaking, we should be aware of Katla after an eruption from Eyjafjoll... but these are all merely indicators that "the volcano is active, and not dead", and it does not mean that a volcano eruption is "Imminent" or "Overdue". The same thing could be said about Yellowstone Volcano, that it breathes in and out, has active geysers, and many many swarms of earthquakes... yet it has not erupted in our lifetime, or in historical time.

So before you go getting all panicky about an eruption from Katla, just remember who you're reading about the volcano from. The BBC, much like any news organization, is out to make money, not promote sound science. The more people they can get worrying about a supposed doomsday scenario, the more bad press they sell. Iceland is furious about the bad coverage about Katla, and is trying its best to get the truth out, so I will help them.

So to recap, yep, Katla isn't dead, it is an active volcano. That's the only fact you'll find that you can stake your reputation on. Other than that, yeah, its a dangerous volcano and probably will erupt. Saying when, again, is STUPID, unscientific, and foolish. Let's just say, I personally would not go hiking to the summit any time soon. Other than that, don't lose any sleep over Katla if you don't live in Iceland... and even if you do, you're probably fine.

Small Quake Swarm At Mono Lake Volcano (California)

Mono Craters, California
12/1/2011

A series of small quakes ranging from magnitude 1.9 to 2.5 occurred and is ongoing today just east of the shore of Mono Lake. The quakes were relatively shallow, from 5km underground to less than a quarter mile. The quakes were clustered in a somewhat linear direction, making it very possible this is just tectonic stress, but as is the case for most volcanoes, there is always the possibility for magma movement. The events have not undergone review as of yet by scientists, so speculation about the quakes is useless. A picture is posted below:

The Mono Lake, and surrounding Inyo Craters/Mammoth Mountain/Long Valley area are all volcanic areas and small quakes here are quite common. Every once in a while there is a scare in the area when it comes to the specter of an eruption. In the early 90's, tree kill occurred at Mammoth Mountain, and caused at least one fatality due to the inhalation of CO2 gases released from the ground. This was thought by scientists to be related to dike intrusion under Mammoth Mountain.

Mono Lake has had at lest one eruption in historical time, the last being somewhere between 100, and 250 years BP (Before Present). During this eruption, a rhyolitic cryptodome grew underneath the lake, resulting in the formation of spectacular "Tufa Towers" that stand around the rim of the lake like gigantic garden gnomes. The water in the lake is high in arsenic, and it was recently discovered that certain microbes in the water actually feed on and process arsenic, much to the amazement of biologists. This of course bolsters NASA's stance that where life can exist, it will.

At present nobody has raised the alert level at Mono Lake or sounded any alarms, so there is most likely no risk of any sort of eruption at this time. However the swarm just started today and it's probably worth keeping an eye on, as this area is home to some pretty large volcanoes. As of this morning, this concentrated area of earthquake activity has recorded about 8 tremors, which have all occurred within a few hours of themselves, with another one just having occurred as I am writing this.

From Smithsonian GVP:


"The Mono Lake volcanic field east of Yosemite National Park and north of the Mono Craters consists of vents within Mono Lake and on its north shore. The most topographically prominent feature, Black Point, is an initially sublacustral basaltic cone that rises above the NW shore and was formed about 13,300 years ago when Mono Lake was higher. Holocene rhyodacitic lava domes and flows form Negit and parts of Paoha islands off the northern shore and center of the lake, respectively. The most recent eruptive activity in the Long Valley to Mono Lake region took place 100-230 years ago, when lake-bottom sediments forming much of Paoha Island were uplifted by intrusion of a rhyolitic cryptodome (Stine, in Bailey et al. 1989). Spectacular tufa towers line the shores of Mono Lake."