So my last two blogs have been a bit technical, but perhaps some of you have learnt something from outside your normal areas of interest. So I thought for a little break, and to let your brains recover we could have a beauty contest. My collegues have referred to this as gratuitous volcano-porn, but what the hell its friday afternoon! So which of these four beauties gets your vote as the most beautiful volcano?
First up: Mount Fuji, Japan. One of the most famous volcanoes in the world, and looking at this picture it's clear to see why.
Secondly: Mount Stromboli, Italy. Stromboli is famous for its "fire-fountains" and shown in tihs picture is a perfect example.
Thirdly: Kilauea, Hawaii. This low viscosity basaltic magma pouring from the volcano produces these spectacular lava flows...
...and last but not least: Parinacota, Chile. Its difficult to pick the "most beautiful" volcano from the Andes as there are so many equally fine candidates. However, for me Parinacota has just a little something extra.
So, the contestants are lined up and waiting for you to decide which of them is most worthy of the title "most beautiful volcano". Cast your votes!
So there's been quite a lot of volcanic activity in New Zealand in the past few weeks...
Firstly there was a small eruption on White Island, a volcano in the Bay of Plenty off the coast of New Zealand's North Island. White Island is one of New Zealands tourist hotspots (literally), with multiple boat trips there every day for entrepid explorers to see bubbling acid lakes and mud pools whilst they wander around inside the crater. Not for the faint hearted. The photo of me to the right is from when I visited White Island in 2005. Its true what they say, sulphur hydroxide smells BAD. The recent eruption here was only small, with mild associated seismic activity but I wonder whether this day trips will continue nonetheless? Hmmm... I dont think I'd be happy walking around in a VERY recently active volcano. Would you?
Secondly, when the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu was breached last week a moderate sized lahar was formed. Luckily the emergency response worked "like clockwork" and no one was harmed. For those of you who are unfamiliar with lahars, these are cold volcanic mudflows usually triggered by a sudden release of water mixing with volcanic material causing a flow. Lahars are a comparatively unknown volcanic hazard, but they are one of the deadliest. When Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia, erupted in 1985 pumice and other rock debris combined with melted snow and ice to produce lahars which combined to form a 50 m thick flow travelling at over 60 km/hr. More than 23,000 people died, testament to the highly destructive and hazardous nature of lahars.
Hello! So this is Janine taking over Sarda's blog for a few days. Things may prove to be a little different to what you're used to... But to ease you in I thought we could play a game... You're all experienced I know with Sarda's "mystery fossil" feature, but see how you do with guessing which volcano this is:
Given Sarda's usual blog themes I can imagine a lot of you are either palaeontologists or biologists, and consequently may be unfamiliar with looking at volcanoes. So here is a hint: this is the second tallest active volcano in the world (bit controversial, some would say it is the tallest), and it's my favourite by the way...
As I mentioned last week, I will be travelling to India for two weeks, during which time my colleague, Janine Kavanagh, has graciously agreed to fill-in. Janine is a PhD student at the University of Bristol working in the field of volcanology. Her interests include studying the dynamics of kimberlite eruptions, these are ancient volcanoes that can erupt diamonds. Unfortunately there have been no kimberlite eruptions in recorded history, which makes this magma relatively rare, but economically important, a bit tricky to understand.
Some things she will be blogging on include recent volcanic activity in New Zealand, some bizarre festivals that you might like to attend this year, an "ode to purple", and there will even be a "mystery volcano" of which you can try and guess the name and location. Who could resist?
