General / Off-Topic In other news, the Stromboli just erupted!

askavir

askavir
AkenBosch said:
Indeed, neapolitans are in for a bad day whenever one of those decides it's time to wake up for good.
Something additional that is usually overlooked is also the existence of the Marsili volcano nearby. It's actually the largest volcano in the European area, it just doesn't get the spotlight because it sits at the bottom of the Tirrenian Sea, rising for around 3 km height but still half a km below sea level. If its caldera collapses, we might say farewell to most of South-Western Italian coastal line.

Just a footnote, the Stromboli is actually monitored 24/7, as any other volcanic area in Italy, it's just that sudden outburst as the recent one are still mostly beyond our capability to predict them. It's not exactly a free roaming area, those two poor people, one of which died, were very unlucky to be in a bad place at a very bad time.
Click to expand...

Been in Napels to visit the volcanoes a few years ago, bur didn't know of Marsili, I knew there were other submarine volcanos around the Eolian islands and that half the Phlegrean Fields supervolcano caldera is underwater, but didn't knew anything about that one. I guess a caldera collapse would trigger devastating tsunamis... It's actually a "common" thing (in geological timescales), volcanos grow to a point they collapse under their own weight (especially stratovolcanos which tend to be more unstable), there are landslide scars around many of the bigger volcanos in the world, including several in europe like Etna in italy (the valle de bove valley) or the many collapse signs in Tenerife and La Palma in Spain (canary islands). There is also a huge collapse scar in Fogo island in Cape Verde.

I was always fascinated by volcanos, I find them to be nature's most beautiful creations, forces of both destruction and creation, that sculpt absolutely fantastic landscapes and breathe new life into the surrounding areas (that's why active volcanic areas are usually lush paradises with out-of-this -world scenery), most of my vacation trips are to volcanic areas, especially Italy, Canary Islands and the Azores islands which are closest to home. My dream vacations would be Reunion Island, Indonesia, the Vanuatu archipelago and of course Big Island in Hawaii, but those would be very long (and expensive) trips, so I'll have to pick one.

As for Stromboli, I also didnt knew it had 24/7 monitoring, if seemed odd that such a huge blast could come out of the blue without any kind of warning, especially in a volcano with daily tours to the crater. If the blast had been a couple hours later, there would be 100 or more dead instead of one. I did knew that it is forbidden to trek above 400 meters without an authirized guide.

Stromboli and it's neighbour Vulcano are actually 2 of the few european volcanos I haven't yet gone to, I was planning a trip to the Eolian Islands in the next years, but I guess I'll be having second thoughts now... :) I always knew active volcanos, even highly monitored ones, were not exactly the safest of places to be, but seeing a considered very "tame" volcano like Stromboli have such an huge blast just out of the blue without any warning signs does puts things in perspective. I guess is the price to pay for being able to peek into the heart of the planet.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
The thing I find most scary about that one and that other video from a webcam, is the ominous dark red colour of the ejection. You can see it glowing under the light of a sunny mediterranean day, just imagine what it would have been like at night.

@askavir , now that you mention it, I remember your love for volcanoes from a previous thread on Etna ;)

On the same news outlet from where I linked that video there's a short (and of course rather simplified) article from a prominent Italian geologist and science communicator about the general history of the Stromboli and the risks associated with its very superficial magma chamber, TL;DR: "it's generally a very tame volcano, except when it isn't. Not much you can do about it, handle with caution and hope for the best, statistics are on your side anyway.".
(I'd link it but I'm not sure of how much Italian is known around here, plenty of infos and researches that can be found on the net anyway)
 

askavir

askavir
AkenBosch said:
The thing I find most scary about that one and that other video from a webcam, is the ominous dark red colour of the ejection. You can see it glowing under the light of a sunny mediterranean day, just imagine what it would have been like at night.
Click to expand...

From what I understood, that's because the blast was, for the most part, a huge blob of lava, like if it was "stuck" under high pressure and suddenly released. Usually the initial blast in an eruption is mostly gases, ash/cinders and rock, with lava following (or not) later. A sudden lava "blob" blast quite unusual as far as I know.

Indeed at night it would look spectacular (in a hellish way) from a distance, it would reinforce Stromboli's nickname "the lighthouse of the mediterranean".

Speaking of ominous glows, you may enjoy this picture of which is, in my opinion, the most spectacular (and the most scary) volcano in the world, Mount Nyiragongo in the DR of Congo, taken from the nearby city of Goma (not my picture). The glow is not an eruption, is the volcanic gases and steam reflecting the huge lava lake (the world's largest) in it's interior.

nyiragongo-1.jpg
 

Remus

Remus
I love the picture!

But I object on the dangerousness of the volcano.

It might be a dangerous one, but nothing close to Anak Krakatoa.

Sitting in the very middle of the ring of fire, everybody knows the story of its father Krakatoa, the island had completely vanished when it erupted, or should I say "exploded".

It left nothing but a big hole on its place.

But the volcano remains active to this day, and look how big it has become!


As of today, Anak erupts daily around once every hour. That is good, its means it cannot save pressure from underground, and while spectacular, they can be predicted and handled accordingly.

The day it stops erupting is the day we can start worrying, since it will mean that Anak, like its father before him, has become a ticking bomb.

And lets not forget this big boy that one of our beloved mods visited recently probably ignoring he was standing in one of the most dangerous volcanoes of the world!

8uiXMdB.jpg


20170708_NatGeo.jpg


The day that big boy wakes up, you can kiss goodbye to the western coast of the USA.
 

askavir

askavir
Remus said:
It might be a dangerous one, but nothing close to Anak Krakatoa.

Sitting in the very middle of the ring of fire, everybody knows the story of its father Krakatoa, the island had completely vanished when it erupted, or should I say "exploded".

It left nothing but a big hole on its place.

But the volcano remains active to this day, and look how big it has become!


As of today, Anak erupts daily around once every hour. That is good, its means it cannot save pressure from underground, and while spectacular, they can be predicted and handled accordingly.

The day it stops erupting is the day we can start worrying, since it will mean that Anak, like its father before him, has become a ticking bomb.
Click to expand...

Actually, that has already happened in the end of last year. Krakatau collapsed after a long period of explosive activity (again), and now it's main vent is actually underwater (see video below). It also caused a tsunami that hit shore and killed some people (although nothing compared with the 1893 eruption).

 

Remus

Remus
askavir said:
Actually, that has already happened in the end of last year. Krakatau collapsed after a long period of explosive activity (again), and now it's main vent is actually underwater (see video below). It also caused a tsunami that hit shore and killed some people (although nothing compared with the 1893 eruption).

Click to expand...

Oh?

I wasn't aware of that! Thx for the info. :)

But it seems that Anak will rise again! X)
 

Remus

Remus
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom