Ecuador Volcano Shows Signs of Activity

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060513/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/ecuador_volcano_1;_ylt=AtLgNMuIvRDb4cSIU8JujxblWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA-- ^ | 5/13/06

[NormsRevenge]

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano is emitting its loudest and most frequent explosions since it rumbled back to life nearly seven years ago after eight decades of inactivity, scientists said.

The volcano registered 133 explosions of vapor and gas between Wednesday and Friday, Ecuador's Geophysics Institute reported.

But the increased activity was not necessarily a sign of an imminent eruption, said Hugo Yepes, the institute's director.

"It has been rumbling constantly in the last six years, always registering explosions, emitting ash," he told The Associated Press.

"What's happening now is that since May 10, we have had times in which there are 10 explosions per hour, booms so powerful that they broke some windows in sectors like Cusua," a village on the western slopes of the volcano, Yepes added.

Residents say the thunderous explosions have not been so loud since 1999, Yepes said.

In October of that year, the volcano spewed huge columns of ash into the air, forcing the evacuation of 17,000 residents of Banos, a tourist town about 4 miles northeast of the crater. The 16,550-foot volcano is about 80 miles south of Ecuador's capital, Quito.

[NormsRevenge]

The 16,553-foot-high Tungurahua volcano spews ashes during an eruption as it is surrounded by clouds near Pelileo, 84 miles south of the capital, Quito, Ecuador, Sunday April 7, 2002. The volcano is emitting its loudest and most frequent explosions since it rumbled back to life nearly seven years ago following eight decades of inactivity, scientists said. The volcano registered 133 explosions of vapor and gas between Wednesday and Friday, Ecuador's Geophysics Institute reported. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

[RightWhale]

Pay no attention to the phase of the moon, it is statistically insignificant.

[Paladin2]

Bush's fault; children, women, transgendered, 'Rats, and "journalists" affected most.

[randog]

Has Ecuador bought "carbon credits" to counter all the CO2 they're spewing into the air?

[NormsRevenge]

Tungurahua, Ecuador
Location: 1.467 S, 78.44 W
Elevation: 16,475 ft. (5023 m)

Tungurahua is an active stratovolcano also known as the "The Black Giant." It has a 600 ft. (183 m) wide crater. Most of the volcano is covered by snow. Its causes many tremors in the nearby city of Banos. Tungurahua's lava is mostly composed of basalts. Tungurahua has had at least seventeen eruptions in historical times, its most recent occurring in 1944 when it erupted explosively from its central crater. Located about 25 miles (~40 km) west of Tungurahua is the largest volcano in Equador, Chimborazo and to the north about 50 miles(~80 km ) is Cotopaxi volcano.

[csvset]

16,000 FT ! That's a big 'un.

[Atlantic Bridge]

The most dangerous volcano in Ecuador remains the symmetrical, glacier-clad Cotopaxi stratovolcano. Its most violent historical eruptions took place in 1744, 1768, and 1877. Pyroclastic flows descended all sides of the volcano in 1877, and lahars traveled more than 100 km into the Pacific Ocean and western Amazon basin. The valleys were the lahars went through are all densely populated in the meantime. Cotopaxi showed signs of new activity in 2002-2004.

[NormsRevenge]

Those are some pretty good sized lahars.. wow.

Thanks.

[Former Fetus]

Mount Merapi in Indonesia has also become active, as reported HERE. What is going on?

[blam]

"What is going on? "

Do I sense an undercurrent of people 'sitting on the edge of their seats' waiting for 'something' to happen? (And, I don't mean you specifically you, Festus)

It seems that way around here sometimes. (I feel it too)

I wonder why?

[aimhigh]

What is going on?

Perhaps global warming - from the inside out.