Volcano Update 2 - Additional vents opening -Volcano on La Palma island in the Canary Islands has erupted

mudlogger

Veteran Member
[link to elpais.com (secure)]

Automatic translation:

Nieves Sánchez, geologist: "La Palma volcano may be reactivating".

The scientist who advises politicians on the eruption estimates that there are three large magma deposits under the volcano. Recent earthquakes may be a sign that they are recharging.

Nieves Sanchez has seen the terrible destruction a volcano is capable of. In 2018 this researcher at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC) traveled to the area ravaged by the Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala, one of the deadliest eruptions in recent years. His account makes one's hair stand on end. "The volcano hit a very poor area," he recalls. "There was a pyroclastic flow, a cloud of gas and rock at very high temperature that moved at very high speed. The local people thought it was a lava eruption and came out of their houses to see it coming. The cloud carried them away. It is not known how many people died, there are only approximate calculations based on the number of electricity meters, but many people there live without electricity".

Sanchez arrived long after all that happened. His goal was to monitor and perfect a rudimentary early warning network to prevent further tragedies. It is simply a radio system so that watchmen in the highlands can alert those living in the valley that a new flood or eruption is coming. Earlier this year, Sanchez traveled on an EU-UN mission to the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, where the La Soufrière volcano covered everything under tons of ash. There was so much that the authorities did not know what to do with it.

For the past few weeks, Sanchez has been on La Palma closely monitoring the eruption of Cabeza de Vaca. The 52-year-old geophysicist from Madrid has been studying volcanism in the Canary Islands for 13 years at the IGME center in Gran Canaria, where she lives. Now she works at the improvised advanced command post at the visitor center of the Caldera de Taburiente National Park in La Palma. Where there used to be tourists there are now civil guards, military and scientists working side by side.

Sánchez represents the IGME on the scientific committee of the Pevolca (Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan). After the first analyses of lava, ash and gases, his diagnosis is categorical: "The volcano has no signs of ending tomorrow or the day after, or even in a week".

In the last hours, the lava flows have become more fluid. IGME geologists have detected "erratic blocks" the size of three-story houses that are flowing down. "Beneath the top of the crater an increasingly large lava lake is forming and occasionally overflowing. This lava lake is breaking up the upper rims of the crater and we think those blocks are evidence of that. As long as the lava keeps them afloat, they will continue to move down the slope," says Sánchez.

Question: Why are you attracted to volcanoes?

Answer. A volcano is the greatest visual stimulus I know. It makes you suddenly understand that the Earth is alive. It is a real manifestation that something is moving inside. It is something great and impossible to control. You can't turn it off or plug it up. The only thing you can do is stand back. It's something that doesn't happen often, like floods, fires and even earthquakes, which we're more used to. As quiet as it is, a volcano is shocking.

Q. What did you feel the first time you saw Cabeza de Vaca erupting?

R. It was at night. I was breathless. The next thing I thought was: where the lava is coming down, there are people, houses. And you get to work. In our case, that means giving the best possible advice to the authorities who have to manage the emergency.

Q. Do politicians ask you a lot of questions that are impossible to answer?

R. Yes. The usual questions are when the lava will stop flowing and when people will be able to resume their normal lives. It is logical. The problem is that volcanology is not an exact science. There are many variables that we do not control and others that we do not even know. We know more and more and we have better instruments, but even so it is often impossible to know the result. We do emergency geology.

Q. What is the IGME's sketch of this volcano?

R. In spite of the enormous damage it has done, this is a very normal eruption. It fits with all the previous ones that have occurred in La Palma. It is a Strombolian eruption with more or less violent explosive pulses, with lava emission. Everything is very similar to what we know from the chronicles written since the 15th century. The big difference is that now we have a much more populated island. The vulnerability is much greater because of this.

In the Canary Islands, most people are not aware that they live on active volcanic islands.

Q. Do you think people are aware of this?

R. In the Canary Islands, the feeling is that people have very little historical memory of what an eruption is. The vast majority are not aware that they are active volcanic islands. When I arrived in Gran Canaria they told me that there were no volcanoes, that where were they. But the whole island is volcanic. All the islands. That surprised me. The last terrestrial eruption was in La Palma in 1971 and in this island you find people who say that there are no eruptions here since recently. Only those who suffered them directly mention them. Sometimes these things have to happen for people to remember where they live. You have to be aware of the risk you take living here.

P. In the last few days there have been strong earthquakes, how do you interpret them?

R. The volcano has no signs of ending tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or in a week. The activity changes a lot from day to day, the cone is built first and then destroyed. In the last few days we are seeing deeper seismicity again. This could mean a new magma input into the system. It could be reactivating, although we have to wait to confirm this with outside observation. My opinion is that it will continue to erupt for some time, we do not know how long, nor can we say until the earthquake and ground deformation patterns change. In some GPS we have observed a stabilization of the deformation, but not a clear decrease. We depend on whether this new magma inflow continues or stops.

We believe that the volcano has three magma reservoirs.
Q. Where does the magma that the volcano spits out come from?

R. From the data we have, it appears that there are three reservoirs. The deepest would be about 30 kilometers underground. This is where material may be melting and it is the main reservoir. There is another intermediate one at about 10 kilometers and the shallowest one would be at about four kilometers. The magma can pass from one to the other or come directly from the deepest one to the surface. This is what we think based on the thousands of earthquakes recorded at different depths from 2017 to now and the type of lava that is coming out.

Q. Until the reservoirs are emptied, won't the eruption end?

R. It's not a question of them emptying, it's a question of the magma having enough strength to keep coming out. This depends on the gases. The magma has minerals, rocks and gases. The gas is dissolved in the magma. As it rises, it separates. It is like a Coke bottle. If it's closed, it's just a liquid. But if you shake it and open it, it becomes an explosion, because the gas bubble has separated from the liquid. If they have a lot of gas, the bubble makes the lava more explosive. When the magma can no longer rise, it will stay there.

P. One of the most surprising things about the volcano is its roar. Why does this happen?

R. It is as if the volcano were choking. The gas comes out of the main cone conduit at the top. The lava comes out through lower vents, very fluid. The sound we hear is the degassing of the magma. Every time this happens, pyroclasts come out very violently. Some fall one or two kilometers from the crater, but others fall back into the crater and obstruct it. Each time that gas comes out again, it must push the plug and when it does, the tremendous explosions and the rain of pyroclasts are produced. When the volcano sounds like a bellows, it is due to degassing.

Q. What would happen to us if we were on the edge of the volcano's crater?

R. You would volatilize. It's like a car bomb. Would the explosion, the shrapnel, the shock kill you? It is impossible to know. It's the same here with the poisonous gases, the very high temperatures and the constant bombardment of pyroclasts. If you're there, it's over.

P. Volcanoes can generate tremendous destruction, but they are also engines of life.

R. A volcano is a catastrophe, but also an opportunity. It can produce a lot of loss of human and material life, but over the years it becomes an opportunity because the ash from volcanoes makes the fields very fertile. In fact, they are used as agricultural fertilizer. It is also a first-rate tourist resource, although it is still a long time away. Volcanic soils are like that: catastrophic in the short term, and after a while, promising.

Q. How long will it take to be able to go up to the crater when the eruption ends?

R. It could be years. If you go down to the Teneguía crater and put your hand on the ground, it is still hot, and 50 years have passed. The priority now is not to go up the volcano, but to recover what has been destroyed and the people who have lost their homes.

We have to analyze in which areas we should not build based on past eruptions and avoid them.

Q. How long will it take to remove the washes?

R. It depends on the material that comes out, how many casts are accumulated and their thickness. The inside of the lava flows keep a lot of heat, especially in the area close to the crater. It also depends on the volcanic tubes that form inside it. It will be necessary to analyze it and decide which areas are accessible and which are not. Which roads are recoverable and which have to be rebuilt. The interior of the lava flow keeps a lot of heat, especially in the area near the crater.

Q. Is it a mistake to build as it has been built in La Palma?

R. It is easy to talk in the past. What we should do is to take into account the volcanic processes in territorial planning. Now it is done, but 50 years ago, no. Neither here nor anywhere else. Because, where should we have forbidden to build, in all the southern part of the island, which is the active zone? It is very complicated. We should not think so much about whether it was a mistake. Probably there was no other option. The important thing is what to do from now on. Analyze in which areas should not be built based on past eruptions and avoid those areas. We have to start again and assume the risk of living on a volcanic island. This is not like a river that has a flood zone. We don't know where the next volcano will come out.

Q. Will anything positive come out of this eruption?

R. It is very difficult to see it now. The people affected just want to go home. A landslide happens and you can go back to your house, clean it, recover it. But when a landslide passes over you, you have no land, no house, no place to go back to. You can't tell people who have lost everything that anything good will come out of this. What good is a farm covered in lava? The houses have volatilized. They burn and disappear. The only good thing that can happen now is that the eruption ends. The only important thing is that they do not forget the risk of living on a volcanic island. May we all learn to live with volcanoes. We cannot do without them, nor can we leave. We have to assume the risk. And with time, good things will come out of all this.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Hmm. USGS isn't showing anything, but CSEM-EMSC shows:

Mag 4.5
10.13.21 (14.33.48 UTC)
28.55N
17.82W
49km deep

Plus several lesser quakes in the 4.4-3.X range.


Bushcraft Bear talked about the quakes in his video earlier today. Seems USGS isn't reporting on the quakes at the volcanic site at all.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
When he talks pyroclastic flows he's talking high-speed death in the air.
This is working on becoming or being a DISASTER whether or NOT the side of the island falls off.

It's already a disaster for the 1800 plus people who have been evacuated, some of which have lost their homes to lava.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Honestly, pyroclastic flows are what scare the pants off me.
You can see lava/magma flowing at you, and boulders and ash.
Pyroclastic flows are FAST Moving clouds of super-heated gasses and some lava, and you can't outrun them.

We're not there yet, give it a bit more time. Someone I know said that if this thing keeps going as is in about 18 months time the mountain will have grown significantly and we can then expect a Tambora style eruption. Said individual is a geologist.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Think about the movie Deep Impact...they knew there was an ELE, but they chose to keep silent til the last minute, because there was nothing that anyone could do. How do you evac 100 million people in 7 hours?

You don't! And if you move everyone inland a hundred miles and nothing happens then there's hell to pay because the gov't lied about the so called impending event.
 

Lilbitsnana

On TB every waking moment
A new vent just opened up, below the main one.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLeYZY6VVAw

No, still the three vents. The middle one had a small upper portion or the rim give way that allowed the overflow lava to rush in to the lower one and allowed larger, faster flow for a bit.

ETA: and some thought the two lower vents had merged but was just the way the angles of the cameras make things look different than they actually are. The three vents are still there.
 

Marie

Veteran Member
Either way you look at it this Is not good my main worry is these souls on the island. Evacuations need you have already been started
 

jed turtle

a brother in the Lord
Thanks. But it's the 3000 ft wave that is silly. The ground rise and the increase magnitude of EQs are really troubling. 3 billion dead is fear porn. I can't read the ground surge. Does that say about 240cm????? That would be a real issue.
29% of the US pop. Lives on the East Coast.
and of course many other nations have coasts also.
all would be affected at least indirectly.
NYC is critical to the nation and the world and The largest city most directly impacted.

rev:8:8, the Second Trumpet. That signals a destruction of a third of all the ships and the creatures in the sea, quite the start of the End of the Age.
 
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