VolcanicDegassing

VolcanicDegassing

Why does it always rain (ash) on me?

May 2, 2018
Why does it always rain (ash) on me?
Volcanic ash samples collected on Barbados, deposited after eruptions of St Vincent in 1812 (small vial) and 1902. British Geological Survey Archives.

On May 1st, 1812, a remarkable weather system reached Barbados. ‘At half-past twelve AM a heavy dark cloud obscured the heavens completely. [..]  at half past one a sandy grit began to fall in small quantities‘. Through the night there was the sound of explosions and thunder, and by late afternoon, Barbados had been blanketed in several centimetres depth of ash. The origin of the ̵ ...[Read More]

Lahar: Lost in translation?

December 14, 2017
Lahar: Lost in translation?
Guntur volcano, Java. Original lithograph by Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn, and published in Johannes Muller's Beschreibung der Insel Java (1860). Oxford, Bodleian Library (OC) 246 h.70 opp. p. 109. Guntur volcano - meaning 'thunder' in Javanese; 'torrent or flood' in Sundanese - was one of the most active volcanoes in Java in the early 19th century. During the eruption of October 1800, lahars inundated several villages near Guntur.

Since late September, the eyes of the volcano world have turned to Gunung Agung. This prominent volcano in Bali last erupted in 1963, when it released enough sulphur dioxide to form a global stratospheric sulphate aerosol layer that led to vivid sunsets, and short-term global cooling. The 1963 eruption was one of the largest and deadliest in Indonesia in the 20th century; and many of the casualtie ...[Read More]

Flooding the Santorini Caldera

November 8, 2016
Flooding the Santorini Caldera
View across the northern part of Santorini's flooded caldera

The flooded caldera of Santorini volcano holds many secrets, buried beneath the ash and pumice of its last great eruption. In the Late Bronze Age, about 3600 years ago, an explosive eruption several times larger that of Krakatoa, 1883, wreaked devastation across this thriving island. A great trading port, Akrotiri, was buried under metres of pumice; preserving for future generations a snapshot of ...[Read More]

Into the Inferno: an anth(rop)ology of volcanoes

November 5, 2016
Into the Inferno: an anth(rop)ology of volcanoes
Strombolian explosion at Yasur volcano, Tanna island, Vanuatu. Credit: Derya Gürer (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

What do volcanoes mean to you? This is perhaps not a question to ask a volcanologist (cue: a paean to their current flame); but what do they mean to the publics? Fire and brimstone? Death and destruction? Of humans pitted against mountains? Or is it something else? Perhaps the answer is obvious, but it is certainly something we need to think about when preparing for an audience: what will they exp ...[Read More]

The smallest volcanic island in the world?

July 22, 2016
The smallest volcanic island in the world?
Oshima Ko Jima on May 4, 1805

One of the delights of talking to children of primary school age is their disarming ability to ask really simple questions that demand straightforward answers, but leave you struggling to throw your academic caution to the wind. Even with the questions of the biggest, the smallest, the oldest and the youngest there are still different ways of (over)interpreting the question, that can leave you flo ...[Read More]

Living with volcanoes, and learning from the past.

March 24, 2016
Living with volcanoes, and learning from the past.
Nevado del Ruiz. Colombia. Photo by Anna Hicks, from the Volcanoes Top Trumps website.

November 13th, 1985, is a date that is still etched in my memory. This was the day that the Colombian town of Armero was submerged beneath a catastrophic flood of volcanic rocks, mud and water; a lahar that had swept down from the summit of the volcano Nevado del Ruiz, erupting about 40 kilometres away. For days, terrible scenes of anguish and despair filled our television screens, as rescuers str ...[Read More]

The first volcanic eruption to be photographed?

December 15, 2015
The first volcanic eruption to be photographed?
Vesuvius in eruption, April 26, 1872.

In the digital era of instant communication, breaking news of volcanic eruptions usually arrive image-first. This year, spectacular eruptions of Calbuco (Chile), Fuego (Guatemala) and Etna (Italy) have all made it into the end-of-year ‘top tens‘, in glorious multicolour detail. But when was the first photograph taken that captured one instant during a volcanic eruption? And which was t ...[Read More]

Volcanoes of the Ethiopian Rift Valley

November 17, 2015

The great Rift Valley of Ethiopia is not only the cradle of humankind, but also the place on Earth where humans have lived with volcanoes, and exploited their resources, for the longest period of time. Perhaps as long ago as 3 Million years, early hominids began to fashion tools from the volcanic rocks from which the Rift Valley was floored, including basalt and obsidian. The Ethiopian Rift Valley ...[Read More]

The Mexico City earthquake, 19 September 1985

September 18, 2015

As a volcanologist based in the UK, I am in the privileged position of rarely being affected by the natural events that I study. And, although I have worked for extended periods of time in earthquake-prone regions, I have never experienced anything more than the gentle nudge of a small tremor. Thirty years ago, shortly after 7 am local time on 19 September 1985, Mexico City was struck by a large e ...[Read More]