Guest post by Tallis My father and I disagree on a lot of things from religion, politics, career, and more; One of the things we disagree on is the title of worst geological disaster. I believe that title goes to volcanoes while my father believes it goes to earthquakes. This is actually a fun point…
It was the largest volcanic eruption since the start of the world-wide web. The invention of telegraphy in the 1850’s had made long distance connections instantaneous. It changed the world. Newspapers were the most obvious beneficiaries, being able to bring gossip news from far away places. And in this landscape, Krakatau exploded. 36,000 people died…
A recurrent theme throughout this series has been the unknown and understudied which with our current understanding of geology and volcanology could pose a danger to millions of people. From the water-enriched and thus highly explosive magmas of Kelut to Aso, the problems of a giant edifice such as Mayon, the understudied Taal and Bali…
It has taken a long time, far longer than originally intended, to bring the New Decade Volcano Program to a successful conclusion. Indeed, there was a point during the summer at which it seemed that it would be left unfinished as after writing two of the first four articles Carl found himself in a position…
It is interesting to note that not long after we had revealed Aso as #4 in our NDVP series, activity seemed to intensify and cause expectations of a large eruption, possibly even the “Big One”, within the near future. Such excitement is only natural but is Aso really on the verge of a major…
Few cities around the world can claim a more beautiful setting than Managua (pop 2.223 million, 2012), Nicaragua, on the shores of tranquil Lago Xolotlán, Lake Managua. When the Conquistadores arrived, Masaya volcano 20 km from today’s Managua was in eruption and provided Europeans with their fist view of a lava lake. In a letter…
I suppose not many will be surprised by this choice as “googling” Campi Flegrei immediately yields results such as “Campi Flegrei: The Massive Italian Volcano that Will Kill Us All (Or Not)” (Time, Aug 08, 2012) or “Italian Supervolcano Could End Eurozone Crisis the Easy Way” (Smithsonian, Aug 06, 2012). Indeed, both Carl and myself…
Japan is a major economic power in the modern world. Currently, its economy is the third largest in the entire world and exceeded only by those of the USA and The Peoples Republic of China. But as well as being one of the most economically and technologically advanced countries, Japan is also among the most…
The latest article really did invite a sequel as the short time at my disposal and the dearth of publicly available material led to it not being on as solid scientific foundation as we like them to be. This will be set right now. Early this week there was a letter in my mail, physical…
It is inevitable that the higher we get in this series, the more speculative our choices may seem. If everything was known about every volcano, identifying and motivating the choice of the ten most dangerous ones would be a relatively simple matter. As it is, our selections have to be based on what meagre…