The signs were unequivocal. It started with earthquake swarms. A phreatic eruption followed, and than the ground began to swell. Magma was approaching the surface. An eruption was on the cards and evacuation plans were put in place. An exclusion zone kept people safe but not their possessions – and as always some people could…
Léon Prunelle / Originally published September 30, 2014 This is a re-post of an article by Henrik, written during the Bardarbunga eruption when the caldera had started its collapse. It does not take long for a newcomer to volcano-watching, if we are to call our hobby that, to come across the term “caldera”, cauldron. The term is…
Imagine an Atlantic island affected by a deep and complex rift, with half the country pulled east, towards Europe, and half pulled west, leaning towards America, but the northern part actually feeling closer to Scandinavia whilst the southern half doesn’t know where it is going. The rifting causes frequent eruptions with significant financial consequences. Its…
Where the blood flows calm like a purling river Late March, a few minor earthquakes happened in the sleeping heart of Iceland. They were hardly worth noting, at M1, and 4-5 km deep. The centre of Iceland is far from anywhere. It is calm and is hard to reach, thus receives little attention and fewer…
This April-1 post is correct only in describing what the USGS and VDAP do – apart from that, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is fundamentally lacking in this spoof. There is also no Mount Rainier crisis, nor has Microsoft captured the CVO outreach! (But regrettably, the proposed 15% budget cut…
This cbus05 classic was published in 2014, during the height of Holuhraun. It is well worth re-reading, and so we are very happy to give it a rerun. And we are equally happy to commend his Big-Volcanic.com blog to you! In light of the extremely unique and interesting events going on at Vatnajökull, it’s interesting…
The space race had seemed a bit pointless. The first orbiting satellites were mainly there to demonstrate the capability of the carrying rockets – whose real task was to deliver missiles to whoever was deemed to be the enemy. Jodrell Bank became famous not by detecting the first Sputnik – anyone with a radio could…
The Mississippi valley had once been densely inhabited, but it was so no longer. The Indian cultures had been decimated by disease; their lands were emptied and their villages deserted. The area had just become US property, and American settlers were moving in but it was still early days, here on the western frontier, in…
A repost from 2013, written by Henrik Located some 60 km NNW of Naples in the Campanian province of Caserta lies the medieval town of Roccamonfina, cradling the slopes of an old stratovolcano, considered extinct since its last eruption was at least 50,000 years ago. Roccamonfina is famous for its cuisine based on chestnuts and…
When the ground starts to rise beneath your feet, it is time to sit up. Fishermen would be the first to notice, being unable to leave their harbours due to lack of sea. Governments would discuss the risk of reduction in tax income from fishing, and would commission research. The scientists report evidence of widespread…