A graphic of the earthquake swarm that has struck the island of El Hierro.
Posted on 09/29/2011 1:25:47 PM PDT by Red Badger
Residents of El Hierro have been put on standby for mandatory evacuation.
The Canary Islands are on watch for what scientists believe is a pending volcanic eruption.
MADRID, SPAIN - The 108 square mile island of El Hierro is home to about 10,000 people. And the population is on standby orders for emergency evacuation. The island has seen thousands of small earthquakes in what seismologists refer to as an, "earthquake swarm." They believe the earthquake swarm is a sign that an eruption is imminent. Nearly 9,000 tremors have been detected in the last two months.
On Monday a 3.8 quake was felt across the whole island.
Volcanologists cannot be certain that the volcano will erupt, but they believe it is likely. Of greatest concern are landslides that are being triggered by the near-constant earthquakes. At least 50 people have already been evacuated because of landslide risk.
Schools on the island have been closed as well as a tunnel which links the two small towns on the island.
Scientists are saying that a ball of magma is rising to the surface and causing the seismic activity that has so many worried. Volcanologist Juan Carlos Carrecedo said, "We don't know if that ball of magma will break through the crust and cause an eruption." However, he warned that an eruption could certainly occur within days to months.
The last eruption in the Canary islands occurred in 1971 on the island of La Palma. The last eruption on El Hierro took place in 1793 and lasted for a month.
At this time, the Spanish government has sent rescue personnel to be ready to assist in evacuations, if needed. And volcanologists raised the alert level to "yellow" on Sunday, which is the highest alert status the island has seen in a very long time.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
A graphic of the earthquake swarm that has struck the island of El Hierro.
I beat you :)
Here’s a continuously updated earthquake list, they are getting bigger but not shallower:
http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/sismoListadoTerremotos.do?zona=1&cantidad_dias=10
Here’s the original thread from two days ago with some great links from Blam and others
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2784674/posts
(Sorry about the PM, pushed wrong button)
La Palma is currently the most volcanically active island in the Canary Islands Archipelago. It is likely that several eruptions would be required before failure would occur on Cumbre Vieja. However, the western half of the volcano has an approximate volume of 500 km3 (5 x 1011 m3) and an estimated mass of 1.5 x 1015 kg. If it were to catastrophically slide into the ocean, it could generate a wave with an initial height of about 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) at the island, and a likely height of around 50 metres (164 ft) at the Caribbean and the Eastern North American seaboard when it runs ashore eight or more hours later.
“Scientists are saying that a ball of magma is rising to the surface”
“Hey, Jimmy - know where we put that bigass bottle of Prilosec? No reason....”
Colonel, USAFR
LOL. Mama Nature’s got GERD...
You’re calling on CARTER for help. The Canary Islands are doomed! LOL.
I’ve heard that a massive Canary Island quake will send a Tsunami to the US East Coast.
Good song.
I would leave.......
There is, I believe a fissure (crack) that is on the western side of the volcano that could lead to that catastrophic slide.
Most know of the San Andreas Fault in CA—but few could even find the Canary Islands (off the coast of NW Africa). This has been a real possibility for decades.
I have always wondered if someone like A-Jad would send a submarine to this island once he gets a nuclear device. I sure hope we have some naval assets stationed there on a permanent basis.
“But a’ where I go I hope there’s rum.”
Seems plumes might head south, get caught up in the equatorial ICTZ and cool down the tropics?
I was thinking about the tsunami threat as well. Seems that volcanic islands produce BIG landslides. The Hawiian islands are surrounded with huge chunks of submerged slides as well.
Yep, the east coast would be gone about 60 miles west of the coastline. This will help Governor Perdue get the elections cancelled in her part of the country.
Lateral collapse events at stratovolcanoes, similar to the current threat posed by the western flank of Cumbre Vieja, could increase due to the physical effects of global warming on the Earth from increases in deviatoric stress from post-glacial rebound while the size and frequency of eruptions are also likely to increase.
My comment -- what the heck does global warming have to do with post-glacial rebound?? Scientific globbly gook.
This is the island in question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Hierro
Scroll down and read the Energy section.
Maybe this is the jobs plan Obama keeps promising.
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