Latest Volcano Stories
CRATER LAKE, Ore., Aug. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Haul today announced the release of 1,800 new moving vans showcasing majestic Crater Lake, Nuytco's Deep Rover submersible and the discoveries being made beyond the blue, in the dark depths of the lake. Unlike anywhere else on Earth, with its deep, pure-blue water, serene surrounding cliffs and violent volcanic past, Crater Lake has inspired visitors and scientists alike for more than 100 years. This newest SuperGraphic, honoring the state...
The 2010 ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano that disrupted air travel in the UK and cost European businesses more than $2.6 billion was likely a once in a lifetime event, according to scientists, who have analyzed a record of past similar events stretching back into prehistory across northern Europe. Their analysis showed that past ash clouds like the one seen in 2010 occurred on an average of once every 56 years. A report of the findings has been published in the journal...
Sunken oceanic crust resurfaces from Earth's mantle after only 500 million yearsThe recycling of the Earth's crust in volcanoes happens much faster than scientists have previously assumed. Rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, reemerges through volcanic eruptions after around 500 million years. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz obtained this result using volcanic rock samples. Previously, geologists...
US scientists from Oregon and New York, who have been monitoring the Axial Seamount, an undersea volcano located 250 miles off the Oregon coast, said on Tuesday that they have successfully predicted an eruption for the first time. The team of scientists forecast the eruption beginning about five years ago, predicting the volcano, which last erupted in 1998, would erupt again sometime before 2014. This marks the first successful prediction of eruption of an undersea volcano. During an...
On the remote, uninhabited Chuginadak Island in Alaska, a volcano has begun erupting, but poses little danger to people or aircraft, officials said Tuesday. The Cleveland volcano is erupting with a slow effusion of magma, forming a lava dome. It is not an explosive eruption that generates large ash plumes, explains John Power, the scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. "So far, it's just lava as far as we can tell from our satellite imagery and the people who have managed to...
Primary succession on the slopesUniversity of Guam ecologist Thomas Marler recently mobilized efforts to characterize the vegetation that has recovered following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines. "My interest was sparked by the paradox that this volcano's cataclysmic 1991 eruption was so powerful it changed global climate, yet after a full 15 years the biology of the recovering ecosystem had not been studied," said Marler.The void of research motivated the Guam ecologist...
Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.comFrom just the first chapter, the genius of Clive Oppenheimer in the world of volcanology shines in his book "Eruptions That Shook The World."Â This book is not for the faint at heart when it comes to literature, but obviously a book for one who is ambitious about learning. "In a way, what I wanted to do with the book was to imagine what the world would be like today if all the volcanoes had been switched off a few million years ago - how different...
Alaska officials have raised the alert level of a volcano after a growing lava dome appeared in its summit crater. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said the observation increases the possibility but does not guarantee an eruption at Cleveland Volcano. The officials said the dome has grown from about 131 feet to 164 feet in diameter since Friday. Officials said that if the dome continues to grow, lava may flow onto the volcano's flanks. They said this would not be hazardous to airplanes, but...
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ: VOLC), a leading developer and manufacturer of precision intravascular diagnosis and therapy guidance tools designed to enhance the treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular disease, said today that it will be participating in the 2011 Canaccord Genuity Growth Conference on Tuesday, August 9. The presentation by Scott Huennekens, president and chief executive officer, will begin at 11 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time (8...
Mount Etna volcano on the island of Sicily erupted during the weekend, shooting flames 820-feet in the air and spewing lava down its slopes. Some are concerned about the effects the eruption will have on air travel, but the winds were blowing the ash away from the airport and no flights had been cancelled. According to the Italian Institute of Volcanology, the volcanic activity started on Saturday morning and continued through the day and overnight into Sunday. This is the fourth and the...
Latest Volcano Reference Libraries
Scoria is a term used by geologists to describe an igneous rock containing many gas bubbles, or vesicules. Scoria forms when magma rich in dissolved gases is vented. As the magma encounters lower pressures, the gasses are able to escape and form bubbles. These bubbles are trapped when the magma cools and solidifies. Volcanic cones of scoria can be left behind after eruptions, usually forming mountains with a crater at the summit. An example is Mount Wellington, Auckland in New Zealand....
Volcanic ash is the term for very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. Ash is created when solid rock shatters and magma separates into minute particles during explosive volcanic activity. The usually violent nature of an eruption involving steam (phreatic eruption) results in the magma and perhaps solid rock surrounding the vent, being torn into particles of silt to sand size. The plume that is often seen above an erupting volcano...
Olympus Mons -- Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in the solar system, at 25 km. Located on Mars, and officially called by its Latin name Olympus Mons. It is named for the mountain on Earth. Olympus Mons is an apparently extinct shield volcano, the result of highly fluid magma flowing out of volcanic vents over a long period of time, and is much wider than it is tall; the average slope of Olympus Mons' flanks is very gradual. The Hawaiian islands are an example of similar shield...
Jupiter's Moon Europa -- Europa is a puzzle. The sixth largest moon in our Solar System, Europa confounds and intrigues scientists. Few bodies in the Solar System have attracted as much scientific attention as this moon of Jupiter because of its possible subsurface ocean of water. The more we learn about this icy moon, the more questions we have. Because the nature of science is to ask questions, we cannot resist the mystery of Europa and its potential for possessing an ocean. Early...
