Geology Picture of the Week, 09/30 - 10/6, 2007: When a Meteor Hits Mud (plus great volcano video!

New Scientist ^ | September 28, 2007 | Jeff Hecht/Canadian Navy

[cogitator]

A two-topic post. First, you may have heard "Andromeda Strain" type reports of a meteor impact in Peru that reportedly caused illness in 300 people or so. The reports were unclear; some doubted there even was a meteor at all.

Well, there was. The linked article in the header is about it; apparently the meteor (meteorite when it hit, of course) hit where the water table was shallow, causing some steaming. Analysis has confirmed the extraterrestrial origin, and maybe about 30 people were bothered by it. This is a summary of the article; read the whole thing for the more complete story.

Here's a picture of the splat:

Things like this happen on Mars too:

Second, if you haven't heard (there were some FR posts about it), a small volcanic island in the middle of the Red Sea off Yemen went off spectacularly, endangering the few people that were inhabiting it -- apparently a military outpost or something. Given the size of the island and the eruption, it appears there was no place to run and no place to hide except into the sea. The video at the site below is just amazing.

volcano eruption on the island of Jazirt Atta-Ir in the Red Sea 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen.

[cogitator]

Though there haven't been any Pinatubo-class or bigger eruptions since Pinatubo (which is basically not a problem), there have been some pretty spectacular basaltic (lava flow) eruptions recently. Piton de la Fournaise had a huge eruption earlier this year; Kilauea had an active lava lake in the Pu'u O'o crater before the new fissure eruption; Manda Hararo split open in Ethiopia; Stromboli had some flows go to the sea; and now this one. These are usually the "nice" eruptions that are rarely the cause of major disaster/loss of life, but I'm sure the people on that little Red Sea island didn't think it was so nice.

[cogitator]

** ping **

[SunkenCiv]

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[geezerwheezer]

Truly amazing photos. Thanks!

[Robert A Cook PE]

It seems so obvious, so clear now, but when he first proposed that the moon craters were impact (not volcanic) Gene S. was discounted and ridiculed by the consensus of opinion....

But we’ve got earth-born and Jupiter borne “craters” in our lifetimes...

6900 years ago off Madagascar (theorized), 12,900 YO over Canada that killed the Mammoths, saber-tooths, and Clovis people ... Hmmmn. Seems to be a trend here.

Ooops. 8<)

[gleeaikin]

Interesting factoid. The last eruption of the Red Sea volcano was in 1883. This was the same year as the great Krakatau eruption. I am going to see if I can find out which one came first. Actually a volcano in Lake Nicaragua also erupted in 1883. I wonder if we will get another BIG one in Indonesia this year? Of course, we have already had the great earthquake/tsunami, so perhaps that part of the world is done for a while.

[cogitator]

The last eruption of the Red Sea volcano was in 1883.

It's hard to tell if there is any connection. However, earthquakes show that plate tectonics moves in fits and starts and is not smooth and slow and easy -- and the volcanism related to plate tectonics is probably episodic too. It seems (appearances can be deceiving) that there has been a recent slight increase in activity in the Rift Valley - Red Sea zone: Ol Doinyo Lengai had a recent explosive eruption (unusual for it) on September 4, there was a fissure eruption at Manda Hararo on August 13, and now this one. But it could all just be the normal variable manner of things, too.