Kilauea’s triple SWRZ

2023 has been a lively year for Kilauea volcano. While the arguably most active volcano in the world is always doing something, this year has been particularly dynamic. So far it has produced 3 brief but spectacular eruptions at the summit crater: the January 5, June 7, and September 11 outbreaks. Apart from the eruptions,…

Gran Canaria

The Canary Islands are 7 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa. They are but the peaks of several massive shield volcanoes that have grown from the bottom of the ocean over the past 30 million years. The islands are older in the east, and younger in the west. Six out of seven are still…

A small update on Reykjanes and Hawaii

Today I’ve noticed that a swarm is taking place near the Grindavik in the Reykjanes Peninsula, this swarm is small but is probably related to the ongoing Reykjanes Fires. I will also use this chance to talk about the recently ended Kilauea eruption, its build-up, and what the future might hold for Kilauea. Earthquakes north…

Tambo Quemado. The eruption of 1808?

We, humans, are ingenious at finding smart ways to do the impossible. Regarding volcanic eruptions scientists have found a way of figuring out when large volcanic eruptions occurred with incredible precision, large explosive eruptions from anywhere in the world, by looking at ice none less, who would have guessed that? Combined with high-precision geochemical studies…

Eruption at Kilauea

Update: An eruption has started already. Visible in the webcams. The initial outbreak is beautiful and is a must watch: There is a very odd magma intrusion happening at Kilauea right now. How do we know it’s an intrusion? There is very rapid deformation in the tiltmeter at the summit of Kilauea, far beyond what…

Puelche and Calabozos. Calderas of the Maule

Last article we saw a newborn felsic system, Laguna del Maule, whose so far brief history has begun rather impressively, with possibly two VEI-6 eruptions, a number of smaller plinian eruptions, and some sizable lava flows. In the article before that one, we saw Domuyo, a monster volcanic system that is very lazy. It could…

Laguna del Maule. An explosive rhyolite ring volcano.

In the previous article I was talking about the volcanoes in Argentina, in the Andes, near the latitude of Buenos Aires, only a little more to the south: Payún Matrú, Tromen, and Domuyo. Now we cross the border into Chile, into the Maule Province of Chile. Here, almost exactly along the topographical divide between the…

The Argentina volcanoes: Payún Matrú, Tromen, and Domuyo

There is a group of volcanoes that I’ve always wanted to talk about. It is a surprisingly little known, little studied location. However, about a decade ago, thanks to advances in technology, one of the volcanoes jumped from being practically uncharted to becoming moderately famous, when using satellites scientists were able to detect inflation around…

Aniakchak Caldera

The Aleutian volcanic awakening

Recently, Mjf and Tallis Rockwell commented in the café that several volcanoes in the Aleutians were undergoing unrest. After some thought, I realized that the Aleutians are within the United States territory, in Alaska, and that means they are very well monitored, and that this data is accessible. So I decided to dive into it.…