Sudden Volcanic Eruption Leaves Dozens Stranded In Japan

[Darlene]

We may not be able to predict when earthquakes will happen, but many times there are signals before the earthquake hits.
Cracking the Code of Pre-Earthquake Signals

 

[Darlene]

http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Paper/5133140.aspx

 

[Old Rocks]

We may not be able to predict when earthquakes will happen, but many times there are signals before the earthquake hits.
Cracking the Code of Pre-Earthquake Signals

Thank you! Very interesting article. I will read this in the morning. Discovering a way to predict, within a reasonable time period, an earthquake is one of the Holy Grails of geology. As I have seen, within my lifetime, the discovery of another of the Holy Grails of geology, the cause of oregenies, I would hope to see the ability to predict earthquakes, especially subduction quakes.

 

[Old Rocks]

Pre-earthquake signals 8211 Part I Deviatoric stresses turn rocks into a source of electric currents

Dang! Are you trying to abscond with all my extra reading time? As a student of geology, both of these articles are of major interest to me. Especially living right on top of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

 

[Darlene]

Also, do you think the USGS is hiding information regarding Yellowstone? Is there a gag order in place to prevent mass panic across the globe?

 

[Old Rocks]

No, I don't. We are not seeing the harmonic tremors that normally precede an eruption. That is not to say that it could not happen in a manner that would surprise us. Problem is, we have never in historical times observed a caldera type eruption.

 

[Old Rocks]

And most of what we learned concerning the type of seismic activity that precedes an eruption has been since the 1980 eruption of St. Helens in Washington state. Not only that, the volcanos that have been observed since have either been stratovolcanos or shield volcanos. Don't know how relevant what we see there is to a caldera type volcano.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Yes. A periodicity. Which sometimes skips for a whole period. Not exactly the kind of thing that is yet predictable. Unfortunetly.

The problem is the longer the span between the periods of activity the more violent the activity. Generally speaking.

 

[Darlene]

I found this article, but I don't know how accurate it is. Warning signs that Yellowstone may Erupt

 

[Billy_Bob]

And most of what we learned concerning the type of seismic activity that precedes an eruption has been since the 1980 eruption of St. Helens in Washington state. Not only that, the volcanos that have been observed since have either been stratovolcanos or shield volcanos. Don't know how relevant what we see there is to a caldera type volcano.

Which is why Yellowstone and other flat center plate volcanoes using that criteria for early warning is troublesome for me.

 

[Darlene]

This is cool. Intellicast - Weather Active Map

 

[Darlene]

Live Earthquake Mashup

 

[Billy_Bob]

I found this article, but I don't know how accurate it is. Warning signs that Yellowstone may Erupt

When you consider that over the last three years there have been over 100 water monitoring wells drilled. They have done seismic study's in dead of winter using explosive charges (exposing the magma chamber to be three times bigger than they thought and almost full of magma). There are areas of ground in and around the geysers which fall through to scalding water. Some of those water wells in Norris basin emit steam under pressure due to ground temps exceeding 130 degrees F at just 16" in depth.

Helium 4 has significantly increased in the basins water.

Today’s report shows by combining gas emission rates with chemistry and isotopic analyses, that crustal helium-4 emission rates from Yellowstone exceed (by orders of magnitude) any conceivable rate of generation within the crust.” This means the Helium -4 is coming from very far beneath the ground, a clear signal that something big is happening that hasn’t happened in Yellowstone in our lifetime.

From what I can see the article is pretty much spot on. But there is much more going on in the area. The article only touches the surface of what is really going on up here. The question is, is this a build up to a geothermal explosion or is it far worse? Truthfully, we really dont know.

 

[Billy_Bob]

The fact no warning signs were observed is confirmed in the story below. 30 confirmed dead and 32 more still missing....Food for thought living near volcano's.

Volcanic eruptions without warning are rare in Japan, which monitors seismic activity closely. Typically, any volcanic mountains that show signs of activity are closed to hikers, but that did not appear to have happened this time.

Source

 

[Old Rocks]

Pre-earthquake signals 8211 Part I Deviatoric stresses turn rocks into a source of electric currents

Finished the articles. Thank you very much. That is the reason I hang around these boards. Every now and then someone posts things that are very interesting to read. Especially appreciate the peer reviewed article. Fitted hand in glove with the article you posted prior to that.

 

[Darlene]

Pre-earthquake signals 8211 Part I Deviatoric stresses turn rocks into a source of electric currents

Finished the articles. Thank you very much. That is the reason I hang around these boards. Every now and then someone posts things that are very interesting to read. Especially appreciate the peer reviewed article. Fitted hand in glove with the article you posted prior to that.

I'm glad you enjoyed the articles. I did as well.

 

[Old Rocks]

Yes, the Yellowstone Caldera is worrisome. For sure it will erupt within the next 50,000 years. And that is about as far as most geologists will go in predicting it's next eruption.

Now in Oregon, we have two cities with live volcanos within their city limits. Portland, Oregon, Mt. Tabor, and many cinder cones less than a million years old. And Bend, Oregon, with flows younger than that. So, the universities in Oregon are very much in the forefront of research into precursors for volcanos.

 

[Darlene]

Yes, the Yellowstone Caldera is worrisome. For sure it will erupt within the next 50,000 years. And that is about as far as most geologists will go in predicting it's next eruption.

Now in Oregon, we have two cities with live volcanos within their city limits. Portland, Oregon, Mt. Tabor, and many cinder cones less than a million years old. And Bend, Oregon, with flows younger than that. So, the universities in Oregon are very much in the forefront of research into precursors for volcanos.

Are these volcanoes connected to Yellowstone, either by magma chambers or fault lines?

 

[Old Rocks]

No. However, there are many live volcanoes in Oregon that have an indirect connection to the Yellowstone Caldera. And one very large calder, the McDermit Caldera, that is dead, that has great value in minerals that was a precursor to the Yellowstone Caldera.

http://www.oregongeology.org/pubs/OG/OGv59n01.pdf

Scroll down for the article on the Oregon-Idaho Graben.

http://www.usu.edu/geo/shervais/Shervais - My Articles/Shervais_WSRP_2002.pdf

Radiating Volcanic Migrations

Well, I was looking for an article that I read recently concerning the Yellowstone Plume that had some really nice drawing of how the edge of the continental craton decapitated that plume, and kept that part of it under Oregon and Washington. That is why the ages of the volcanism in Oregon is older at the Oregon-Idaho border, and gets younger going west. The last article has a more detailed picture of that. But I did not find the article that had the drawings of the plume underneath the area.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Yes, the Yellowstone Caldera is worrisome. For sure it will erupt within the next 50,000 years. And that is about as far as most geologists will go in predicting it's next eruption.

Now in Oregon, we have two cities with live volcanos within their city limits. Portland, Oregon, Mt. Tabor, and many cinder cones less than a million years old. And Bend, Oregon, with flows younger than that. So, the universities in Oregon are very much in the forefront of research into precursors for volcanos.

Are these volcanoes connected to Yellowstone, either by magma chambers or fault lines?

Alcogons (essentially fault lines that magma can and does follow.) Most volcano's have three of which two are complete. Yellowstone has an alcogon to Long Valley following the rocky mountains and one to the Mt St Helen area also following the Mountainous spur and uplift. If you look at the quake patterns you can see them plainly. The third incomplete alcogon radiates towards Iceland up through the great lakes.

These crustal fractures are showing massive stress over the last 10 years.

You will note the parabolic shape of the fractures to the west because the plate is being pushed to the east by earths rotation. The subduction zone in Oregon and the slip strike movement of the plates in California indicate the rotation of the plate.

Devils tower in Wyoming and other volcanic sites show the alcogon heading east.

SO far this year we have had 12 earth quake swarms, 2 of them significant.