Latest Volcano Stories
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online How often have you wished you could safely see a lava flow, like the one that destroyed Pompeii? Did you ever wish you could see it in Syracuse, New York? Professors, students, visiting volcanologists and passing spectators are now seeing lava flows in a campus parking lot at Syracuse University and have been since January 2010. The Syracuse University Lava Project has created a unique blending of science, art, and education to...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Sailors aboard the New Zealand Royal Navy vessel HMNZS Canterbury spotted something odd floating in the ocean a few days ago - a bounty of beauty supplies bobbing in the South Pacific. Pumice is typically used in salons to exfoliate dead skin and the lightweight volcanic rock can often be seen floating in the ocean in large groupings. However, it is rarely seen covering a swath of ocean roughly the size of New Hampshire, a sight one...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A long-dormant New Zealand volcano erupted on Monday, spewing an ash cloud that disrupted flights and closed highways. The Mount Tongariro volcano located in the middle of the North Island erupted for the first time after lying dormant for more than a century. The last activity the volcano had shown at the site was in 1897, officials said. Witnesses in the area reported seeing "flame-like explosions and a cloud of ash coming from a...
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ: VOLC), a leading developer and manufacturer of precision guided therapy tools designed to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular disease, said today that it will be participating in the Canaccord Genuity 32(nd) Annual Growth Conference on Tuesday, August 14. The presentation by Scott Huennekens, president and chief executive officer, will begin at 10:30 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In addition to being fairly unpredictable, volcanoes can eject a wide range of material, from mile-high plums of black ash to a deadly hail of fist-sized pumice. These ejections travel extremely fast and can reach internal temperatures between 750 to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The prevailing theory has been that the difference in particle size determined when bubbling magma deep below the volcano converts into a rising stream of gas and...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Although volcanic scientists are able to approximate the age of lava flows, determining the exact timing of each of a volcano’s eruptions has proved difficult in the past. A joint research team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Girona, the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and other organizations has looked to establish a chronology of eruptions in the volcanic region of La...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Most volcanoes are situated where continental plates shift against each other. This is where the continental crust is weakened, allowing magma to break through to the surface. The Pacific "Ring of Fire" exhibits this kind of plate movement, resulting in powerful earthquakes and multiple active volcanoes. Volcanic hotspots, however, are of a completely different nature because most of them are far away from plate boundaries. The...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international team of researchers have found that even small volcanic eruptions can lead to a cooler climate if they coincide with weather systems such as monsoons, which boost aerosols produced by eruptions high into the atmosphere affecting global temperatures. The research, led by scientists from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, suggests that the previously held belief that only massively energetic eruptions could...
A University of Saskatchewan-led international research team has discovered that aerosols from relatively small volcanic eruptions can be boosted into the high atmosphere by weather systems such as monsoons, where they can affect global temperatures. The research appears in the July 6 issue of the journal Science. Adam Bourassa, from the U of S Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies, led the research. He explains that until now it was thought that a massively energetic eruption was...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com If the Cleveland Volcano had any neighbors, then it decided to wake them up on Tuesday when the volcano shot off a thin cloud of ash several miles into the sky. The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported that the 5,676-foot volcano on the uninhabited island had an explosive eruption at about 2:05 p.m. on Tuesday. A pilot flying in the area estimated the ash cloud rose to 35,000 feet above sea level, according to the observatory. However, Stephanie...
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...
