GMPV
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Volcanic unrest

La Soufrière de Guadeloupe: Past Eruptions and Ongoing Activity

September 13, 2024
La Soufrière de Guadeloupe: Past Eruptions and Ongoing Activity
La Soufrière on a clear day. The fumes coming out of the volcano are from Cratère Sud Centrale (the focus of the most degassing on the volcanic dome). We can also see numerous scars decorating its flanks (source: the website Parc national de Guadeloupe).

La Soufrière de Guadeloupe is an andesitic stratovolcano located in the southern part of Basse-Terre, within the Guadeloupe archipelago (Eastern Caribbean). It towers over the towns of Sainte-Claude and Basse-Terre. Nearly 50 years ago, this region faced severe consequences from a phreatomagmatic eruption, forcing the evacuation of 80,000 people. Since then, the volcano has been regularly monitore ...[Read More]

I asked ChatGPT to write a blog about lava lakes: here’s what happened

March 8, 2023
The lava lake of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea, Hawaii
The lava lake of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea, Hawaiʻi (by Ivan Petrovich Vtorov - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

If you’ve not been living under a rock you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT, the AI text generator wowing the internet and striking fear into the heart of exam co-ordinators worldwide. I’ve been meaning to write a blog about lava lakes for a while now, ever since rewatching Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s excellent documentary Into the Inferno. But with deadlines looming and lab work and admin c ...[Read More]

Fagradalsfjall 2021 versus 2022: similarity and differences

October 19, 2022
Fagradalsfjall 2021 versus 2022: similarity and differences
Fagradalsfjall 2022. Photo by Emanuele Caruso

The Icelandic eruptions of 2021 and 2022 originated in the Reykjanes peninsula, characterized by the Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja system, one of the five volcanic systems present along the peninsula. This peninsula is a leaky transform fault, characterized by episodic rifts and associated volcanism. The last two years have brought about some of the most momentous volcanic eruptions in recent history. The ...[Read More]

An Overview on the 15 Jan 2022 Hunga Tonga-Huna Ha’apai Eruption

February 9, 2022
front_picture_Hunga
Picture taken on 5th June 2017 by Damien Grouille together with Cécile Sabau, during an geological and photographic expedition carried out for the NASA. The shot is done from the summit of Hunga Tonga -Hunga Ha'apai island (HTHH), giving a view to the East and the island of Hunga Tonga. Photo credit: Damien Grouille, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Since 15 January 2022, the islands of the Tonga archipelago and surrounding territories have been suffering the effects of what has turned out to be one of the biggest eruptions of this century. The eruption occurred on Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, an island created by the emergence of a large submarine volcano. HTHH is located among the ~170 islands of the Kingdom of Tonga and about 65 km nor ...[Read More]