The Ljósufjöll earthquake swarm

Iceland can do surprises. Its main activity is in a limited number of volcanoes which can erupt anytime, with frequencies ranging between once per century to twice per decade. These are the usual suspects, including Grimsvotn, Bardarbunga, Askja, Katla, Hekla, Krafla. (Grimsvotn is the only one not ending in ‘a’.) The beasts can go small…

The VC volcano advent calendar

Which inner child doesn’t like advent calendars! Every day a small window opens to reveal a chocolate, a small surprise, or (less exciting) parts of the nativity story. Luxury ones can be obtained, if needed, but our inner children don’t mind: chocolate tends to be quite good enough. The tradition started in Germany but like…

Flat Earth and The Rise of Anti-Intellectualism

This may come off as a surprise but the Earth isn’t a sphere, this is a lie forged by the elites to keep us from our true selves, the reality is that our world takes the shape of great rhombicosidodecahedron! Our pathetic brains are incapable of understanding the ∞/0+-5i dimensions in our universe and as…

The 1607 Bristol tsunami

Some events can cast long shadows. The UK is still talking about the storm of 1987 (‘the worst night since the Blitz’), the winter of 1963, the storm floods of 1953, the London smog of 1952, the Great Storm of 26 November 1703. Other countries have their own stories. But one event in particular still…

The Pahala swarm

Hawai’i is a marvellous place for a seismograph. There is something to see every day. HVO has been at the forefront of this, and had as many as 7 seismometers already in the 1940’s.Their network has been expanding ever since. The instruments are located mostly in the main areas of activity (i.e. Kilauea and its…

Flores and the Lewotobi eruption

Update 8 Nov 2024 As commented below, NASA has produced a new image and image slider showing the ash cloud from the eruption: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153549/mount-lewotobi-laki-laki-spews-ash The lava flow running east is the one produced in January-March. The blacker ash covers around 20km>sup>2 in this image. That suggests a volume of 0.01 to 0.001 km3: no more…

Barren Island, India

A trivia question: can you name the largest country without an active volcano? Here ‘active’ includes ‘dormant’: it is about volcanoes that have access to live magma and could in principle erupt, even if at the moment it decides not to. Monogenetic volcanic fields, if active, also count. Answers through the comment box – there…

Santorini: Beauty – and the Beast

1 million people visit Vesuvius each year. It is a big number which involves a lot of people struggling up the steep and dusty path to the rim. Rather more people visit the more accessible archaeological monument to Vesuvius that is Pompeii: counting those as well brings the total to 2.5 million. It makes it…

In Defense of Grimsvotn

  Grimsvotn is not just another volcano; It’s a special beast that captivates both Mafic Maniacs and Caldera Crazies. This volcano plays many characters, producing everything from expansive lava flows to basaltic Plinian eruptions but mostly mundane lava flows or irrelevant explosions  For me, Grimsvotn holds a special place among other volcanoes, ranking among my…