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Not hard to figure out the inspiration for this one; frequently active and usually dangerous Mayon is set for another throat-clearing. Mayon erupting: Click for full-size: Mayon not erupting: Context image: Nice panorama (click for full-size):

A vast pool of molten rock in the continental crust that underlies southwestern Washington state could supply magma to three active volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains -- Mount St. Helens , Mount Rainier and Mount Adams... Other scientists dismiss the existence... Rather than magma heated to 1,300 to 1,400 degrees, some think it could be water... Seth Moran , a volcano seismologist with the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash... said the most telling evidence that the theory was wrong was the lack of any surface evidence, such as geothermal vents or hot springs, among the mountains that would...

The site was found by accident when the Suez Canal was being constructed in 1860. Workers quarrying Santorini's volcanic ash discovered the ruins, but serious excavations at the site didn't begin until 1967. An unfortunate collapse of the roof in 2005, which killed a British tourist, caused the site to be closed. It's scheduled to be reopened sometime after 2010. Greek bureaucracy has brought the repairs of the building to a halt, which has caused Santorini's tourist trade to suffer. Akrotiri is referred to by some as the "Minoan Pompeii" because of the similarities of the destruction by volcano and...

NASA's Earth Observatory inspires a couple of different views this week. First of all, there's this: Fogo, Cape Verde Islandswhich in part notes that there are villages inside the caldera which holds the volcanic peak of Fogo (actually Pico do Fogo, if you're wondering why it's labeled Pico in the picture). I wouldn't think that's exactly prime real estate! In the picture below you can see the villages as small white dots, and the road to them through the caldera. The other images are a few I found that the two villages from various perspectives. View from the 1995 eruption...

Today's subject was inspired by Gunung Karangetang, one of the numerous Indonesian volcanoes that just happens to be percolating a bit right now. In the course of discovering a photostream on Flickr that has a lot of volcano pictures, I also discovered a volcano I never heard of (Mbwelesu on Vanuatu) which has (or had) an active lava lake. Because lava lakes are so rare, and because it's something that I tend to remember, I'm a little peevishly surprised that this one got by me until today. Mr. hshdude doesn't tell us much about himself, so thanks for the pics,...

The reason that these colorful shrimp are important: is because they are living next to this: NW-Rota in Eruption Video (suggest turning down computer sound/speakers, volume level is set on high for this video) More info: Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Expedition to NW Rota 2009

OK, most of us have heard that Alaska's Redoubt volcano has been erupting. The redoubtable crew behind Stromboli On-line, who have an enviable travel budget, took some remarkable pictures of some phases of the eruption. Two examples are below; try the link underneath the picture for more. Lahar on the Drift River Alaska (in case you can't figure it out, click the image links dated either "4 April 2009" or "4-7 April 2009". Next............................ La Cumbre volcano, which is basically the entire island of Fernandina in the Galapagos, had a class "curtain of fire" fissure eruption over the past few...

Redoubt Volcano has been erupting all day. I am in south Anchorage where ash is falling. 1/8th inch in the last 20 minutes. visibility less than 500 feet. Heavy smell of sulfur in the air. Hunkering down!

The Pacific nation of Tonga is waiting to see if it has a new island, after an underwater volcanic eruption forced a column of smoke and ash into the skies near the country's capital, Nuku'alofa. The eruption began on Monday after an earth tremor and is still sending clouds of smoke, steam and ash up to 100 metres into the air. Seismologists say the tremor was between the low-lying twin volcanic islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, an area where around 36 undersea volcanoes are situated. Kelepi Mafi from Tonga's Ministry of Lands says a marine survey will begin...

A volcano near Tokyo erupted early Monday, with white smoke billowing and ash falling on the capital, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage following the minor eruption of the 2,568-metre (8,425 feet) Mount Asama, 150 kilometres (95 miles) northwest of Tokyo. The volcano last erupted in August last year. Live television footage showed smoke coming from the snow-covered mountain seven hours after the eruption, shortly before 2:00 am (1700 GMT Sunday).

In case you haven't heard, Mt. Redoubt in Alaska is in a state of imminent eruption (which means it could happen tomorrow or two months from now, or it might not erupt at all. Odds are it will, though.) So I thought I'd put up a picture from the last eruption, which produced some of the most impressive eruption cloud pictures I've ever seen. The linked page has some Quicktime videos of other eruptions; some of the pyroclastic flow videos are from Unzen and Montserrat.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Mount Redoubt continues to rumble and simmer, prompting geologists to say this Alaska volcano could erupt "within days." Scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory have been monitoring activity round-the-clock since the weekend. If Mount Redoubt does erupt, it would be the first time this occurred in nearly 20 years. And if won't likely be pretty. History shows that volcanoes in Alaska, including Redoubt, typically erupt explosively, shooting ash almost eight miles high.

NEW YORK (CBS) ― [Click to zoom.] Click to enlarge Yellowstone remains very geologically active — and its famous geysers and hot springs are a reminder that a pool of magma still exists five to 10 miles underground. (File) CBS 1 of 1 Close numSlides of totalImages Related Stories * Yellowstone Earthquakes May Be 'Precursory' Events (12/30/2008) * Author: Yellowstone Park A Ticking Bomb (7/28/2008) * Wolves Of Yellowstone Spur Love And Hate (7/18/2007) * Yellowstone Bulge May Cause Thermal Unrest (3/2/2006) Related Links * Lowenstern Interview With Blogger * Yellowstone Earthquake Map The recent "swarm" of small earthquake tremors...

Piton de la Fournaise, the Indian Ocean analog to Kilauea on the French island analog to Hawaii, started erupting on September 21. It's a cute little eruption (unlike the last one, one of Fournaise's largest), with lava fountains on the side of the crater pouring down the slope to form a pond. Picture below; the linked Web site above has to very nice videos. Turn down the volume of the top one, though.

Alaska's Okmok volcano started erupting on July 12 and is still going. The most recent update from yesterday indicated an ash plume could be at 35,000 feet. This has a definite current events aspect because a lot of planes flying to China (Olympics) will fly near this event. Aircraft jet engines do not do well on an ash-rich diet. Okmok has always been one of my favorite Aleutian volcanoes because it has an incredible 10-km wide circular caldera, almost like a "Lost World" setting. So after my two-week hiatus, I'll provide a picture of the current eruption, and a couple...

Quarter-size; click for full size.

An "unknown" (meaning it hasn't erupted historically) Chilean volcano erupted starting on Friday. The ash clouds are some of the most impressive I've seen since Pinatubo, and have caused the usual problems in nearby areas. Below is a selection. (Because I'm borrowing mainly from news sources, some of these may not work or may cease working in the near future.)

First of all, before I get to the picture, you may have heard that Halemaumau (the crater within the Kilauea caldera that in the 19th century hosted an active lava lake, which has occasionally reappeared since) had a fairly abrupt change. This change is now a steam-and-ash plume which (as I write this) is still going. Below is the quick-as-an-Easter-bunny new Webcam view of the plume (click to go there). Halemaumau Webcam It was this little event that made me think of showing a big ash (hmm...) event, the Katmai eruption of 1912. The image is from a very nice...

Wow.

Mexican volcano Popocatepetl spews giant smoke cloud Mexico City - Mexican volcano Popocatepetl on Saturday threw a large cloud of gas and ash into the air about 80 kilometres east of the capital, Mexico City. The cloud reached a height of up to two kilometres over the 5,400- metre mountain, the national disaster protection centre said Saturday. Ash rained down on some areas near the volcano and an area of 12 kilometres around the mountain was blocked off. The volcano has been active for some time, and steam cloud has become an ongoing sight over its peak.

How a Volcano Eruption Wiped Away Summer by Michael Sullivan Jessica Goldstein, NPRFor more than two decades, volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson has been researching the volcanic eruption of Tambora. By studying layers of soil, he can decipher the history of the explosion. The biggest volcanic eruption ever recorded in human history took place nearly 200 years ago on Sumbawa, an island in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago. The volcano is called Tambora, and according to University of Rhode Island volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson, the eruption is one of the most overlooked in recorded history. Tambora's explosion was 10 times bigger than...

Indonesia on top alert for volcanic eruption Thursday, October 18, 2007 By Heri Retnowati, Reuters KEDIRI, Indonesia -- Fears of an imminent eruption prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents near Indonesia's Mount Kelud on Wednesday, but many flouted the order and stayed at their homes around the rumbling Javanese volcano. The alert on the volcano, one of Indonesia's deadliest and located 90 km (55 miles) southwest of its second-largest city, Surabaya, was raised to maximum late on Tuesday, meaning it could erupt within 24 hours. Authorities had ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from a 10-km (6-mile)...

TORONTO: A volcano has erupted on a tiny island off the coast of Yemen, spewing lava and ash hundreds of feet into the air, a Canadian naval vessel near the island in the Red Sea reported. The Yemeni government asked NATO to assist in searching for survivors. Ken Allan, a Navy Public Affairs with the Canadian Armed Forces, said a NATO fleet just outside the territorial waters of the island Jazirt Atta-Ir reported seeing a "catastrophic volcanic eruption" at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) Sunday. The 2-mile-long (3-kilometer-long) island is about 70 miles (115 kilometers) off the coast of...

Two things: one, in August a fissure eruption took place in the highly active African Rift Valley in Ethiopia. It was initially detected as a cloud of sulfur dioxide gas. Not a whole lot of pictures of this place; it's described as an "uplifted segment of a mid-ocean ridge spreading center". So an eruption here is like seeing what happens normally deep in the ocean. Here's the view from space. and two, I discovered this very cool time-lapse movie of the recent short-lived lava lake in the Pu'u O'o crater of Kilauea. Very fun to watch. Episode 57 West Vent...

One of Alaska's most active volcanoes could be working toward a massive eruption that could affect air travel but was not expected to threaten any of the towns in the area, scientists said Thursday. Satellite images of Pavlof Volcano taken Thursday showed strong thermal readings, consistent with what the Alaska Volcano Observatory is calling a "vigorous eruption of lava" at the volcano about 590 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula. The volcano is below the path of hundreds of daily international flight paths, and an explosive eruption could interrupt those operations, said Steve McNutt, a volcano seismologist with...

Alaska Volcano Observatory reports that Pavlof is erupting. Pavlof Activity "AVO posted an Information Release at 9:30AM today [August 15] raising the Aviation Color Code to ORANGE and another Information release at 12:20PM AKDT today reporting that Pavlof Volcano is in eruption at this time. Eyewitnesses aboard several ships report incandescent blocks down the east-southeast flank of the volcano beginning at midnight last night. Satellite data confirm the presence of lava. Pilot reports indicate that a weak ash plume is extending 5 miles southwest of the summit at an elevation of roughly 8400 ft. Seismic activity continues at a high...

Like rising bubbles in champagne, gases from Earth's interior can ascend to the surface and cause magma to explode in dangerous splatters. A new study, detailed in the July 13 issue of the journal Science, shows that these volcanic "gas slugs" originate from deeper inside the planet than previously thought. The work, by Mike Burton and colleagues at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy, could help scientists understand why some volcanoes erupt more violently than others... Called "Strombolian" activity -- after the Stromboli volcano in Italy where it has been best studied -- these small volcanic blasts...

La Reunion's famous Piton de la Fournaise volcano had a big eruption last week -- a much higher lava volume than is characteristic of this volcano. This led to the quick prediction of a summit crater collapse (i.e., an expansion of the summit caldera) which in fact happened April 7. First reports are in that the crater looks apocalyptic. There are also reports that there were 200-meter-plus lava fountains, VERY unusual for Piton. There have been some health problems, evacuations, road cuts, and fish kills, but no deaths, as far as I know. Some of the news links may be...

Photo in the News: Volcano Eruption in Caribbean Is "Warning" January 9, 2007—Smoke signals don't get much more ominous. A volcano on the island of Montserrat discharged a five-mile-high (eight-kilometer-high) cloud of superheated ash and gas yesterday—possibly portending another, disastrous eruption. "I think it was a warning call … of what it can do," Vicky Hards, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, told the Associated Press. Residents have good reason to fear the Soufriere Hills volcano, given that in 1997 it wiped out the tiny Caribbean island's evacuated capital, Plymouth, killing 19 people and prompting an exodus of about half...

New Hawaii Volcano Observatory Web page for the Kilauea eruption has time-lapse movies of gas pistoning, lava breakouts, coastal gas bubbles, and a slow bench collapse. The slow bench collapse shows why it's not smart to go beyond the safety lines; because sometimes benches collapse much faster than that. Kilauea Volcano: Time-Lapse Movies

Eruption May Have Been Bigger Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News Dec. 21, 2006 — One of the largest volcanic eruptions on record just got bigger. The Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand appears to have had twin eruptions only 20 miles apart within days of each other a quarter-million years ago. Each eruption belched out more than 25 cubic miles (100 cubic kilometers) of rock and volcanic ash. This is the first evidence of twin supervolcanic eruptions. "It's possible one of these triggered the other," said geologist Darren Gravley of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. But exactly how the...

NEW YORK — Mt. St. Helens awoke Tuesday afternoon with a mild eruption, spewing a plume of steam and ash into the Washington State sky. The event was most probably was caused by growth of the new lava dome inside the crater, experts said. During such eruptions, changes in the level of activity can occur over days to months. The eruption could intensify suddenly or with little warning and produce explosions that cause hazardous conditions within several miles of the crater and farther downwind. Small lahars — a debris flow — could suddenly descend the Toutle River if triggered by...

Chile's Lascar Volcano is one of the highest altitude active volcanoes in the world, and might actually be the champion. Here's what it looked like in April 1993 from space (look for the ash cloud): That ash cloud is the remnant activity from a previous explosion that was fairly impressive from the ground a few kilometers away.

Mount Etna volcano is cooking tonite:       Live web cam.   here is the link for other web cam views: http://nicola.mediaonline.it/webcam/etna2.jpg    

A couple of weeks ago I posted some Merapi eruption photos (actually, it think it was Mayon; I did find some earlier pictures of pyroclastic flows on Merapi). I noted how difficult it was to find good pictures of the recent activity (still true; most of the photos weren't that great). Well... I found some good great ones. A couple are below; go to the link for the full set.

Santorini eruption much larger than originally believed Media Contact: Todd McLeish, 401-874-7892 Santorini eruption much larger than originally believed; likely had significant impact on civilization KINGSTON, R.I. – August 23, 2006 – An international team of scientists has found that the second largest volcanic eruption in human history, the massive Bronze Age eruption of Thera in Greece, was much larger and more widespread than previously believed. During research expeditions in April and June, the scientists from the University of Rhode Island and the Hellenic Center for Marine Research found deposits of volcanic pumice and ash 10 to 80 meters thick...

Finding recent pictures of Mayon's current eruption isn't easy. Here are two: This picture of lava on the mountain was taken July 31. This picture of a pyroclastic flow on Mayon's slopes was taken August 12. Mayon is a beautiful mountain when it isn't being nasty, and it's amazingly symmetrical. Two views:

The pattern of dispersal of biologically and behaviorally modern human populations from their African origins to the rest of the occupied world between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago is at present a topic of lively debate, centering principally on the issue of single versus multiple dispersals. Here I argue that the archaeological and genetic evidence points to a single successful dispersal event, which took genetically and culturally modern populations fairly rapidly across southern and southeastern Asia into Australasia, and with only a secondary and later dispersal into Europe. Research over the past 20 years has provided an increasingly clear picture...

Much as I might like to do something OTHER than volcanoes eventually, they keep doing interesting things! Two pictures from this site: New eruption on Aoba volcano, Vanuatu In November 2005, a mild eruption built a cinder cone lake in Lake Voui, a lake inside crater of Ambae volcano on Vanuatu. Below is what it looked like on January 9. The picture below was taken on May 28. I say there's some interestin' chemistry going on in that thar lake.

Since Merapi is in the news, here's a few more pictures. The Washington Post had an amazing shot of the pyroclastic flows that came down the mountain yesterday, but I can't link to it. If you want to see it, go to the Washington Post home page, search on "Merapi", and look for the photo entitled "Mount Merapi Erupts with Clouds of Gas : May 15: Smoke billows from Mount Merapi volcano in Central Java, Indonesia". The photo below (which is from Shanghai Daily, so I'm not sure if it will always show up) is similar: The image below is...

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia - Mount Merapi erupted violently Monday, sending searing gas clouds and burning rocks down its scorched flanks and threatening villagers who refused to leave because of ancient mystical beliefs. The activity triggered renewed panic and fresh evacuations of some closest to the crater, but others ignored urgent warnings to leave. The volcano in the heart of densely populated Java Island had been rumbling for weeks, spewing ash high into the air and pushing lava to the surface, where it has formed a large unstable dome. On Saturday, authorities declared the highest danger alert, triggering mandatory evacuations for...

SINGAPORE: Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano has erupted, according to Antara news agency. The volcano, active since last April, erupted at 0540 am local time (2240 GMT Sunday), the Indonesian national news agency said. Other details weren't immediately available. Weeks before the eruption, there had been intense activity at the 2,914-metre (9,560-foot) peak in the densely-populated Central Java province. Blazing lava had been oozing down the slopes of Merapi and on Saturday, vulcanologists raised Merapi's alert status, triggering the evacuation of thousands of people from its fertile slopes. But many others had been defying orders for a mandatory evacuation and...

Because Mount Merapi in Indonesia is threatening to blow, and because "nuee ardentes" or pyroclastic flows are the major concern, I thought a few pictures of hot flaming clouds of gas would be appropriate. The first is from a previous eruption of Merapi: Source page: http://www.univ-orleans.fr/sciences/GEOLOGIE/res_ped/volcano/pelee2002/french/1902_nuees2/soufriere.htm The next is one coming down the side of Mount St. Helens in August 1980, three months after the big blast in May. Page source: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Images/pyroclastic_flows.html And third, a nice shot of a flow and incandescent rockfall on Montserrat from Stromboli On-Line: Page source: http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/montserrat/flows-en.html

Two pictures of Poas. Basically, though Poas hasn't (to my knowledge) erupted magmatically, it has a crater lake that comes and goes depending on the level of hydrothermal activity and the season (i.e., rainy season or dry season). A "phreatic" eruption is a gas/steam eruption, and Poas has them quite a bit. Apparently it had settled down for awhile, and now it's gearing up again. When it's dry and active, the lake turns into a big fumarole: When it's less active and there's more rain, it's quite pretty: Go here for actual pictures of the most recent activity: Fotografías del...

BILLINGS, Mont. - A newly discovered surface bulge in Yellowstone National Park may be responsible for some unexpected geothermal activity in recent years, according to a study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists. The bulge, about 25 miles across, rose 5 inches from 1997 to 2003 and may have triggered some thermal unrest at Norris Geyser Basin, including a sudden rise in temperatures, new steam vents and the awakening of Steamboat geyser.The findings are part of a paper set to be published Thursday in the journal Nature.Charles Wicks, one of the USGS scientists who worked on the study, said much of...

Much of Yellowstone National Park is a giant collapsed volcano, or caldera. In an enormous eruption roughly 640,000 years ago, this volcano spit out around 240 cubic miles of rock, dirt, magma and other material. Around 70,000 years ago, its last eruption filled in that gaping hole with flows of lava. Since then the area has enjoyed an uneasy peace, the land alternately rising and falling with the passing decades. New satellite data indicate that this uplift and subsidence is caused by the movement of magma beneath the surface and may explain why the northern edge of the park continues...

Govt set to approve Mt. Fuji eruption disaster plan The Yomiuri Shimbun The government has drafted a set of disaster-prevention measures to be implemented if Mt. Fuji erupts, which provide detailed evacuation instructions and call for the creation of task forces to be set up by local governments to enable better coordination of efforts to prevent death and injury, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The draft is set to be approved at a meeting of the Central Disaster Prevention Council, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, by the middle of this month, after which regional governments will be notified. According...

Link above or this shows pictures from the ongoing activity of Augustine, which was a bit more vociferous this past weekend and yesterday. Augustine Images -- 2006 Related thread: Geology Pictures of the Week, Jan 29-Feb 4, 2006: Augustine (AK) Eruption and Kootenai Falls, MT

A two-fer this week; first, a picture of the strong Augustine eruption that happened Sunday. The linked page goes to the page with numerous IMPRESSIVE pictures of this year's activity. Part 2: "The River Wild" was on TV this weekend. I searched and found that the two rivers it was filmed on were in Montana. One of the rivers is the Kootenai River, featuring Kootenai Falls. According to the caption for this picture, Kootenai Falls at this stage is "runnable".

While sometimes I feature the work of professional photographers, I found these three at the linked site. Interested readers are invited to search and post their own favorites of these features, if so inclined. Lassen Peak Bumpass Hell Burney Falls -- a beautiful and unique waterfall I'd never heard of before