The Enigma of the 79 AD Eruption of Vesuvius

The August 24th eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD is the most famous and well-known volcanic eruption of all time. By now, volcanologists have pieced together the sequence of events to form a coherent and comprehensive picture and the only official dilemma is the actual date with meteorological evidence arguing a date towards the middle…

Trembles at Tjörnes

Although the 2,265 volcano-tectonic earthquakes at Planchon-Peteroa as reported yesterday by Georges Vitton (Le Chaudron de Vulcain) is perhaps the more interesting news, our readers are probably more interested in the large earthquake swarms in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. What is happening? Is it an eruption, is an eruption imminent or can an eruption be expected…

Hekla Ready to Erupt?

According to an article published today by journalist Kristján Kristjánsson on the Icelandic Internet news outlet Pressan, “Hekla is ready to erupt” and “tension is very high in the mountain”. The article, which is in Icelandic, goes on to quote (Professor) Páll Einarsson, the man who rightly won international acclaim in 2000 when he read…

An Overview of Eruption Types

From time to time when we discuss our beloved volcanoes, we get a mild-mannered enquiry – ”Excuse me, but what’s effusive? And that cryptodome you are all speaking of, what is that?” I thought I’d take the time to jot down a few notes trying to explain what is meant by the various types and…

Mars 2067, the Olympus Mons Expedition (Part II)

This far, the expedition had been a highly successful failure. Five weeks into the exploration with three weeks of intense survey had brought a wealth of data, but not what they had come for. Olympus Mons or Nix Olympica, the Olympic Snows as it was formerly known, had stubbornly refused to accede to human wishes.…

Mars 2067, the Olympus Mons Expedition (Part I)

In spite of its incredible height, Olympus Mons was well below the horizon as seen from ‘Olympia’, just like that Earthly committee as shorn of imagination as it was endowed with political acumen which had originally named the colony Mars Base Alpha. The residents had immediately renamed it in honour of the largest volcano in…

Gems!

Like all other original branches of science, geology has split and evolved into a multitude of sub-species such as geophysics, petrology, mineralogy, volcanology and seismology. The science that deals with natural and artificial gemstones, gemology, is considered to be part of the geosciences and specifically a branch of mineralogy. If we disregard artificially generated radioisotopes,…

Does It Have to Be Big?

As we move inexorably towards the end of yet another year, it is inevitable that we think back on what the old year has brought. One of my favourite memories of 2015 is the visit we; Carl, Shérine and myself, paid to a couple of volcanic monuments in southern Sweden; Rallate and Jällabjär, at the…

Super-eruptions and Hyper-eruptions

Living on a constantly changing and evolving planet, unravelling the past is not an easy task as resurfacing, erosion and continental drift continuously eradicates what has gone before. Even after the last remaining “White Areas” on our maps of the Earth’s land masses had been filled in about a century ago, great discoveries that would…