EGU Blogs

Geology Photo of the Week #48

This edition of the photo of the approximate week (plus or minus 1 – sorry for my tardiness) is very cool in that it shows when earth processes that are invisible suddenly become very visible. In this case the submarine volcano, El Hierro, is erupting and instead of the usual bursting lava and fireworks display the only evidence of the turmoil going on is this discolouration at the ocean’s surface caused by volcanic ash particles and gases. Despite the submarine location of the volcano it’s activity was by no means hidden as numerous earthquakes indicated that an eruption was imminent.

Suspended volcanic material and gasses caused differents colors in the sea water during the 2011-2012 submarine eruption in El Hierro (Canary Island, Spain)

Suspended volcanic material and gasses caused differents colors in the sea water during the 2011-2012 submarine eruption in El Hierro (Canary Island, Spain) by Laura García-Cañada. (Source)

Matt Herod is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on the geochemistry of iodine and the radioactive isotope iodine-129. His work involves characterizing the cycle and sources of 129I in the Canadian Arctic and applying this to long term radioactive waste disposal and the effect of Fukushima fallout. His project includes field work and lab work at the André E. Lalonde 3MV AMS Laboratory. Matt blogs about any topic in geology that interests him, and attempts to make these topics understandable to everyone. Tweets as @GeoHerod.