4-20 Eruption Update:)

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Seems Kamchatka is rocking, Aleutians, too

But, wanna see eruptions, here's whacha do

Go to Guatemala & hire a guide

Tell 'em, not so close ya gotta hide

But, that Santa Maria & Fuego ya wanna see

W/ hourly eruptions, lava, ash & lahar debris

Actually, most anywhere around Fire Ring

Earth & subduction doing their stuff-it thing

In Peru, Ecuador & Colombia

Or Rincon de la Vieja in Costa Rica

Or visit Japan, volcanoes galore

But w/ 6, Indonesia..shut da door!!

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Today On Earth

We'll call it Volcano sky..

It's not..

 but still pretty

Ooopps

Picture swap

4-20...go figure

Central American Volcanoes

Puffy Planets: Editor- Chase Historian- Caroline Human Interest- Abrielle Reporter- Riley

Volcano of the Day

The Central American Volcanic Arc (often abbreviated to CAVA) is a chain of volcanoes which extends parallel to the Pacific coast line of the Central American Isthmus, from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and down to northern Panama.Several volcanoes in Central America are currently active, including Arenal, Turrialba, Irazú, Poás in Costa Rica; Cerro Negro, San Cristóbal, Concepción in Nicaragua; Chaparrastique or San Miguel, Ilamatepec or Santa Ana, Izalco in El Salvador; Santa María/Santiaguito, Pacaya, Fuego in Guatemala. The CAVA includes hundreds of volcanic formations, ranging from major stratovolcanoes, to lava domes, and cinder cones. These towering mountains rise as high as 14,000 feet. The highest mountain is Guatemala. On each side of these highlands exists on along Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Fuego- 3/16-3/21 Picture taken by Lee Siebert in 1988

Located at 14°N , 91°W in Guatemala, it’s type is Stratovolcano. Its summit is 3,763 meters and its elevation is 12,343 feet. Last week from the sixteenth to the twenty-first Fuego was reported to have spewed ash clouds that rose 950 meters above the crated mouth and the clouds drifted west, south-west, and south. There were reports of ashfall is several areas including Santa Sofía, twelve kilometers southwest of the volcano. Shock waves and rumblings were heard and felt. Incredibly hot material was ejected from the crater as high as 200 meters above the rim of the crater.

Guatemala is home to 18 volcanoes. 14 of which are dormant, 3 are currently active spewing lava and ash, and one is dormant. The volcano Cuilapa-Barberena is extinct resting ar 14.33°N 90.4°W. The last known eruption was a few thousand years ago based on scientific findings. Currently there are 3 active volcanoes, Fuego, Pacaya, and Santiaguito. Pacaya is close to Guatemala city and is one of the most active volcanoes with more than 86 eruptions in the last 17 years. In 2013, there was almost at least one eruption every month. Guatemala is a very lively island of spewing lava and ash.

Human Interest:

How Fuego in Guatemala affects the people around it:

Volcanoes sometimes do not have negative effects, but many times volcanoes do have bad effects. When they erupt everything nearby and around them can be completely covered in ash. The volcano can also destroy houses and towns.  Volcanoes can at times be an extreme devastation for the population surrounding it. Sometimes, volcanoes are just little, not always a huge deal. They will just erupt a little, causing no harm or damage. When they are destructive they are a big problem and can be so harmful that they can kill people or completely ruin their homes and towns. In conclusion, there is a variety of types of volcanoes, some destructive, some not.

This Week Around the Ring of Fire

This post brought to you by the Go-To: Shack,HB, Kami & Karli

While there are many dangerous volcanoes, there are also some very interesting ones that have been active within these few weeks as talked about below. Currently there are 14 volcanoes that have been erupting for a while and the data has been recorded. These volcanoes are situated in several different places around the world, including Papua New Guinea, USA, México, Indonesia, Russia, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, and Costa Rica.

Recently there has been five newly active volcanoes around the world.

They are:  Manam, Nevados de Chillan, Etna, Bezymianny, and Chirinkotan. Manam is located in Papua New Guinea and has recently erupted on March 21. This volcano

spewed ash. Nevados de Chillan erupted through the days of March 15-17. This volcano poured a gas and ash cloud into the air. On March 15 Mt. Etna poured lava onto the earth. On March 16 there was an explosion that lifted currents of lava flow onto snow on the ground. Several people were injured. The volcano Chirinkotan erupted on March 21 and constructed an ash plume. Finally the volcano Bezymianny erupted throuugh March 10 -17. Gas and steam flumes were shot out.

Mt. Etna, a natural volcano is active right now and is located in Italy, on the world map as 37.7510° N, 14.9934° E. On the early morning of March 15th lava had begun to flow down the South flank of Mt. Etna’s SEC (South East Crater), in the evening the eruptive activity and seismicity had diminished gradually calming down until around midnight of that same day a new flow of lava had started from a vent on the Southern flank of Mt. Etna’s cone. Next day, March 16th at 1243 a phreato-magmatic explosion had started at the front of a lava flow, later it had made contact with a small area of snow. The explosive activity has injured so far 11 people including an INGV-Osservatorio Etneo volcanologist. ( Information taken from Global Volcanism Program, 2017. Report on Etna (Italy). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 March-21 March 2017. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey. )

Bezymianny                                                    

                 

Chirinkotan

Etna

Manam

Nevados de Chillan

These photos were taken from: http://volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm#vn_290260

Popocatepetl

  

Popocatépetl (meaning “Smoking Mountain” in Aztec), is a volcano in Central Mexico that is roughly 730,000 years old. After about 50 years of dormancy, it started erupting once again in 1994 and has since been the most active volcano in Mexico. Standing at 17,880 feet, it is also the second highest peak there. Popocatépetl is a stratovolcano (or composite volcano), meaning it is made of alternating layers of lava and ash. Its last major eruption was on April 3rd, 2016, when the volcano shot out lava, rock, and an ash cloud that reached 1.2 miles in height. Local residents were instructed to evacuate.

Popocatepetl in Aztec means “Smoking Mountain”. The first Spanish ascent of the volcano was made by Diego de Ordaz in 1519 on an exploration. In the early 16th century there were monasteries built on the slopes of the mountain. They were built by the Augustinians, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans in order to evangelize the areas south and east of the volcano in central Mexico. Popocatepetl is the most active volcano in Mexico, it has had more than 15 eruptions since the arrival of the spanish. The volcano’s first major eruption was in 1947. On December 21, 1994 the volcano erupted and ash spread and carried 25 km away which prompted evacuation from nearby towns. Again in December of 2000 tens of thousands of people were evacuated by the government while Popocatepetl made its largest display in 1,200 years.

Popocatepetl is a dangerous volcano with dangerous effects. Popocatepetl is centered between two major cities, with approximately 25 million people living within a 62 mile radius. It’s 43 miles from Mexico City and at least 30 miles from Puebla, Mexico. The surrounding environment is being destroyed due to the violent eruptions. Its largest eruption was on April 16th, 2012. Parts of Mexico surrounding the volcano received up to 7cm of ash fall. However, that was not the only major effect. Other effects included the prompt delays of the city’s major airport. Mexico officials even asked the public to wear face masks in an attempt to prevent grit inhalation. The airborne volcanic residue could have also affected car and plane engines. The eruption resulted in the throwing of volcanic matter that reached as far as one mile away from the site of the volcano, and ashes rose over a mile above the crater.

The Planet is Fired Up

This week's list is down 5 from the huge number of fire breathing mountains last week but there are still two dozen on the list: the whole Ring of Fire is on fire! Only Hawaii and Reunion Island are on the list and off the Ring. Indonesia has action from end to end, Japan, Kamchatka, Alaska, Central and South America, you don't have to travel far to see the action and while I plan on traveling quite aways over the next few weeks unless something very unusual happens I will not be visiting any personally. But, it's Earth and four years ago who would have thought a large earthquake would have rocked central Virginia.
I'll be in places that volcanoes have erupted in the not too distant past but are currently showing no signs of acting up, but one never knows, be wary, Today On Earth!

Active Planet Belches On!

The weather has sure changed since last I commented on the volcanoes of Earth. August last was cool for Virginia standards but today's blog comes on a February day exploding low temperature records across this volcanically quiet chunk of Earth.  Cold the air may be on Earth's surface but the planet inside still seethes and has found at least 22 spots to set some of that heat free. Six of those spots are on or near the Kamchatka Peninsula, the island arc wannabe still attached to Siberia. My long term guess (and I'm just playing armchair geologist) would be today's activity on the Kurils will continue extending the peninsula, connecting with Japan before being slammed into the Asia massive all the while folding up a new gianormous mountain range. But, worry not, that's 300 million years from now. Today's action gives us a look at that future as the activity rings the ever shrinking Pacific.
Our Ring O Fire tour begins in Chile with Villarrica still on the list but South America is quiet other wise. The lower peninsula of North America (now technically an isthmus) is where the action is on the east side of the Pacific. Pacaya and Fuego fire on in Guatemala and Colima joins Popo back on the Mexican action list. Shishaldin in Alaska's Aleutians joins Kilauea on the US list, far from the mind's of the average American. Japanese citizens are few likely aware of the the outer island activity erupting on 4 isolated islands far south (3) and north of the heart of the archipelago. Indonesians have been mindful of the 3 fire oozing mountains slowly building their archipelago for several years now: Soputan, Sinabung, and Dukono are more likely on the active list than off.
Off the Ring, an occasional visitor to the list, Piton de Fournaise above a hot spot on the Indian Ocean's Reunion island is fired up and reminding locals who's in charge and Iceland's BARDARBUNGA still spews lava on that mid-ocean ridge/hot spot island. The "Bard" has slowed from earlier eruption rates but is likely far from done with this cycle.
Arm chair vulcanology from the deep cold in central Virginia; stay warm out there, just not volcano warm, today on Earth.

An Active Week on the Tectonic Planet

After an unstaffed week off, the USGS volcano list is back with 26 volcanoes shaking and belching and oozing. Indonesia tops the list with 5 eruptions but there are also 5 spewing mountains in South America and Central America (little Guatemala has 3 itself, but I don't think that's the reason for the influx of young Guatemalans spewing across the US border - trace that to the Bush lead congress of '06 and a thoughtful but bad law - of course, our current president is still blamed - and the fact that Guatemala is a corrupt, dysfunctional, dangerous place).
Two Italian islands make the list, hosting Stromboli and Etna that are both quite active these days, the Kamchatka peninsula, as usual, has 4 exploding mountains but only one on the nearby Aleutians of Alaska, Shishaldin, and Kilauea on Hawaii's big island is, as always, piling up more fresh basalt.
Japan, always on the list but with only 2 this week and Bulusan on the Philippines main island round out the large list.  If you want to see volcanoes, you don't have to go far around the Ring O Fire to see some active Earth action up close (although, I would guess most of these mountains have warning areas around them to keep the curious or death seekers out).  I'll continue to check the list and visit vicariously through the power of the wild, and wooly web.
Lots of heat is still trying to get out from deep inside this four and a half billion year old planet and these 26 volcanoes are a direct result.  There is likely lots more action along the 45 thousand miles of mid-ocean ridges circling the earth but at the bottom of the sea floor they go mostly unnoticed, quietly driving the plate activity that has lead to the 26 volcanoes on this weeks list.  Subduction gets the headlines but the sea-floor spreading is the cause, today (and everyday) on Earth.