Three Of The World's Strangest Volcanoes (Dallol, Ol Doinyo Lengai, Indonesia Mud Volcano)

Most of us think of volcanoes as these conical peaks that shoot fire from their tops, or gigantic cauldrons of molten lava, but there are some extreme oddball volcanoes out there that I thought would be fun to take a look at given that there is no really new news out of El Hierro (Canary Islands), and the only really new eruption this week (Tungurahua) has been well-covered on the Internet.

While most volcanoes are content to erupt basalt, rhyolite, or tephra ash, there are some volcanoes that are not at all what you think of when thinking of a volcano. Today I'll cover three of these oddball volcanoes, and provide some cool pictures. I picked these as the top three I find to be most intriguing and out of character, and we'll start from the "least weird", although they are all unique in their own way.

#3) Dallol - African Rift Valley, Northern Ethiopia

Dallol is one of the strangest sites to see in the world. Formed north of the famed Erta Ale during an eruption in 1926, it is part of the African Rift Valley and has produced one of the world's oddest volcanoes. After its phreatic eruption in 1926, its depth (45m below sea level) has created a landscape not completely unlike the geysers and geothermal activity at Yellowstone. However, the landscape is so alien compared to Yellowstone, being that the geysers, pools, and solfataras spread continuously throughout the volcanic maar.

Dallol is currently being studied by scientists who search for "extremeophiles", or organisms that exist in extreme environments like volcanic vents, acid pools, and extreme temperature. In fact, Dallol is being used by not only biologists, but NASA scientists to determine the scope of how life can exist on other worlds. Scientists now theorize that life on this planet likely sprung up from volcanoes (or similar chemical/heat processes) like Dallol, especially under the ocean at great depths. This is the lowest known land volcano in the African Rift Valley.

Below photo of some geysers at Dallol (Wikipedia).


#2) The Mud Volcano in Indonesia

On the Island of East Java in Indonesia, to the SSE of Ketegan, sits humanity's only known man-made volcano. Referred to as Sidoarjo mud flow or the Lapindo mud. It was born on May 2006, when a natural gas company experienced a blow out on a piece of equipment that resulted in the release of extreme amounts of underground pressure (The gas company has tried to repeatedly claim that this was actually caused by a distant earthquake, but most scientists consider the case closed as to what caused this). 

The erupting mud has buried a local down, polluted water, and gives of a sulfuric smell for miles. The mud has become a huge nuisance to the local population, who have cordoned off the mud and directed it towards the Kali Porong river just to the South. The river mouth (which exits to the ocean) is a few miles from the outlet, which quickly gets rid of the muddy sediment and deposits it to the ocean.

You can read more about the Indonesia Mudflow at Wikipedia here.

#1) Ol Doinyo Lengai - African Rift Vally

Perhaps the strangest volcano is Ol Doinyo Lengai in the African Rift Valley. It erupts the most unique and rarest type of lava, carbonatite, and its eruptions are a bit bizarre to behold. Erupting small seeps of lava from flat plateaus at the summit, and producing bizarre spires of spattered carbonatite, this volcano behaves literally like none other. It is a stratovolcano and does produce pyroclastic flows, but rarely does it erupt with violent force. In fact, scientists routinely head to the summit to observe this oddball volcano seep its bizarre lavas onto the crater floors, and observe the creation of its famed spatter monoliths.

A good example of what I'm talking about can be seen below:

Note the grayish color of the lavas, and the small spires that are created when this volcano 'erupts'. This truly is a strange landscape!

Hope you enjoyed hearing about these three oddballs. 

Tungurahua (Ecuador) Volcano Has Major Explosion

Ecuador
11/29/2011

Tungurahua volcano, one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes, had a major explosion which began suddenly without warning. The ash column reached some 3 kilometers in the sky, with reports of incandescent lava being spewed out up to 300 meters from the summit, and 500 meters down the slopes. Tungurahua has, since 1999, displayed frequent explosive eruptions generating pyroclastic flows, lava bombs, and tephra. It has been active throughout historical time.

Tungurahua viewed from Juive Grande, Ecuador (AFP, Pablo Cozzaglio)

(From the Smithsonian GVP:)
Tungurahua, a steep-sided andesitic-dacitic stratovolcano that towers more than 3 km above its northern base, is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Three major volcanic edifices have been sequentially constructed since the mid-Pleistocene over a basement of metamorphic rocks. Tungurahua II was built within the past 14,000 years following the collapse of the initial edifice. Tungurahua II itself collapsed about 3000 years ago and produced a large debris-avalanche deposit and a horseshoe-shaped caldera open to the west, inside which the modern glacier-capped stratovolcano (Tungurahua III) was constructed. Historical eruptions have all originated from the summit crater. They have been accompanied by strong explosions and sometimes by pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas at the volcano's base. Prior to a long-term eruption beginning in 1999 that caused the temporary evacuation of the city of Baños at the foot of the volcano, the last major eruption had occurred from 1916 to 1918, although minor activity continued until 1925.

El Hierro Erupts With New Vents

El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain
11/28/2011

El Hierro volcano put on a show this weekend as new submarine vents have opened erupting several "Jacuzzis" into view. Pieces of steaming lavas were seen on the surface of the water, and samples were collected by IGN (the Spanish Geological Authority). The samples revealed that several types of magmas are being mixed in this eruption, including low silica basanite, trachyte, and rhyolite. This conforms with the assertion that at least two separate magma columns are coalescing beneath the island to fuel the ongoing eruption.

An image of the multiple "jacuzzis" off the southern coast of La Restinga.


Early morning webcam views showed intermittent jacuzzis, with some floating pumice visible on the water surface, although the most vigorous activity seems to have occurred over the weekend.

There have been several short pauses in the eruption since it began more than two months ago, however seismicity remains constantly active. Tens of thousands of tremors have hit the island in the phase that led to the eruption, and they continue to be recorded at more than 500 events a day, although most cannot be felt by residents.

I will post more updates as they come available, but the reporting out of the island has been lacking to say the least. National Geographic is now on the scene, so at least we can expect a documentary similar to the one about the Iceland volcano that erupted last year to air on TV soon. For now, I am relying on reports from IGN, Wired News, and other sources to cobble together this report. Every article I read points out a different aspect of the eruption, but I'd like to put the whole picture together, hence this blog.

Columbia's Galeras Volcano Alert Level Raised to Orange

BOGOTA, Columbia
11/26/2011

INGEOMINAS, the Columbian volcano monitoring institute, has raised the alert level at Galeras volcano to Orange, after a spate of "tornillos", or rapidly increasing, slowly decreasing harmonic tremor was recorded over the past couple of weeks. These harmonic signals are characteristic of Galeras, which, in 1992 were detected by seismologists and identified as magma intrusion. Unfortunately for the seismologists who were curious about these tremors, they decided to hike to the summit, and were caught in an eruption.

The signals have been said to successfully predict eruptions within a few days at Galeras, and have been used as models for other active volcanoes. Harmonic tremor signals are generally thought to indicate magma intrusion for most volcano types, especially stratovolcanoes, and this research mostly comes from Galeras.

From Wikipedia:
"Galeras is considered the most active volcano in Colombia, followed by Nevado del Ruiz. Its earliest activity during the Holocene has been dated at 7050 BC ± 1000 years through radiocarbon dating. Other eruptions similar to this event include those in 3150 BC ± 200 years, 2580 BC ± 500 years, 1160 BC ± 300 years, 490 BC ± 100 years, and in 890 AD ± 200 years. Typically these eruptions consist of a central vent explosion, conducive to an explosive eruption causing pyroclastic flows and/or lahars. Eruptions in more recent times, which have been recorded consist of those in 1535, December 1580, July 1616, 1641, 1670, 1754, November 1796, June 1823, October 1828, 1834, October 1865, July 1889, 1891, December 1923, October 1924, October 1932, February 1936, July 1947, January 1950, 1974, February 1989, January 1990, January 1993, March 2000, June 2002, July 2004, November 2005, and October 2007. Reported incidents with no official proof occurred in 1836, 1930, 1933, and 1973."

Hawaii's Mauna Loa Making Some Noise

Hawaii (Big Island), USA 11/23/2011

Mauna Loa, Earth's largest active volcano, is showing signs of heightened seismicity in the last few weeks. A mag. 3.0 quake struck on 11/20 followed by a 3.9, at a depth of around 5km. Smaller quakes and aftershocks also occurred. Today, mag 1.9 and 1.7 tremblors struck under the summit and NW flank of the volcano at a depth of 20.80 km (12.92 mi). These could just be purely structural or tectonic, as no heightened gas emission of fumerole temperature changes have been noted aside from the usual night/day fluctuations.

This follows on the heels of the earthquake activity at it's slightly taller neighbor, Mauna Kea, which experienced a large earthquake swarm about a month ago, with small aftershocks continuing. HVO stated in regards to this event "On the afternoon of October 19, a magnitude-4.5 earthquake occurred beneath the northwest flank of Mauna Kea at the start of a swarm more than 50 smaller quakes over the next several hours. The earthquakes were the result of crustal adjustments beneath the volcano and not to volcanic activity. Other than the swarm, typical seismicity was recorded - 6 events shallower than 20 km deep and 5 events deeper than 20 km." Although Mauna Kea did not experience volcanic tremor, as the scientists state, the same cannot be assumed for Mauna Loa without further analysis, given that, like Kiluea, it is one of the worlds most active volcanoes.

HVO's description of Mauna Loa (below):

"Re-inflation of Mauna Loa's shallow magma storage reservoirs started immediately following the most recent eruption in 1984, then turned to deflation for almost a decade. In mid-2002, inflation started again, just after a brief swarm of deep long-period (LP) earthquakes. A more intense swarm of (more than? about?) 2,000 deep LP earthquakes occurred in late 2004, immediately preceding a dramatic increase in inflation rate. Inflation slowed again in 2006, ceased altogether in late 2009, and resumed slowly in late 2010.

Rising gradually to more than 4 km above sea level, Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on our planet. Its long submarine flanks descend to the sea floor an additional 5 km, and the sea floor in turn is depressed by Mauna Loa's great mass another 8 km. This makes the volcano's summit about 17 km (56,000 ft) above its base! The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of Hawai`i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.

Mauna Loa is among Earth's most active volcanoes, having erupted 33 times since its first well-documented historical eruption in 1843. Its most recent eruption was in 1984."

It's important to note that these earthquakes could easily be crustal adjustments, and not related to any magma intrusion. However given Mauna Loa's history of destructive eruptions, it absolutely pays to keep an eye peeled on this gigantic volcano, that has caused much destruction to the environment, and property on the Big Island. Unlike Kiluea, which is sort of 'aimed away' from most populated centers on the Big Island, Mauna Loa looms over much of the Island, coincidentally making property very cheap, and insurance very expensive. Ahh, the price of paradise.