As of June 18th, 2023, there are currently 45 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is the Mayon volcano in the Philippines, which is continuing
an eruption that is now in its 12th day, sending tumbling lava avalanches down its steep slopes
which are visible from a fairly large distance.
However, this eruption which has kept the volcano at alert level 3 has so far also generated
42 pyroclastic flows, hence the 6 kilometer exclusion around its summit in all directions.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
On the volcanic island of Iwo Jima, a submarine vent just to the south of the island began
emitting gasses once again, discoloring the water a light blue color above it.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the Lokon volcano erupted for the first time since 2015, sending
a column of ash to a height of 550 meters or 1,804 feet above the crater floor of its
most active crater.
And, in what is this week's top story, the Piton de la Fournaise volcano is once again
showing signs of unrest, meaning it could erupt once again at some point in the next
3 weeks.
For context, the Piton de la Fournaise volcano is located on the eastern section of the island
of Reunion, which is part of France east of Madagascar.
Piton de la Fournaise is one of the planet's most active volcanoes, with this fact being
owed to an underlying mantle hotspot which supplies molten rock to the volcano, resulting
in more than 40 distinct eruptions in the last 50 years.
This volcano has a fairly shallow magma chamber which is located at a depth of 1500 to 2000
meters, with eruptions generally occurring after an influx of magma into its magma chamber
occurs.
This causes the body of magma to become more and more highly pressurized.
Eventually the pressure becomes too great due to the amount of material in a small space,
causing a fracture to form or for the magma conduit at the top of the magma chamber to
rupture.
This then allows magma to travel up via a path of least resistance, and potentially
erupt onto the surface.
Taking this into account, increased seismicity can indicate not only the movement of magma
but the fact that rock is beginning to crack and that an intrusion might soon occur.
This is exactly what happened beginning in March of 2023, eventually resulting in an
intrusion which did not reach the surface on April 21st.
Increased seismic activity has once again occurred, as although only 8 volcano tectonic
earthquakes occurred on June 11th, on June 12th this number increased to 40.
As of June 17th, this number has remained high, with 42 quakes occurring on June 16th.
Because of this, a magmatic intrusion may soon occur or it might not, which if it were
to occur and generate an eruption would most likely begin in the summit crater of Piton
de la Fournaise or perhaps a flank vent within 2.5 kilometers of its summit.
Meanwhile, on the unusually shaped island of Sulawesi, a new volcanic eruption of the
Lokon volcanic complex caused the number of erupting volcanoes within Indonesia to jump
from 7 to 8.
Lokon is one of the most active volcanoes on Sulawesi, although it had not erupted in
8 years.
With the exception of two eruptions that occurred from the neighboring Mount Empung peak in
the 18th century, all of its historical eruptions have occurred from a wide crater between the
two peaks known as Tompaluan Crater.
The new eruption which began on June 13th also occurred in this crater, and was phreatic
in nature, as no lava was ejected over the course of several explosions that occurred
which produced small plumes of fine ash.
Although it appears to have ceased erupting on June 17th, this might merely be a short
term pause in eruptive activity which could once again resume, so the 1500 meter exclusion
zone around Tompaluan Crater remains for the time being.
In Japan, the island of Iwo Jima is continuing to experience a rapid ground uplift due to
its expanding magma chamber, which has pushed the island upwards by a rate of 1 meter or
3.3 feet a year.
Because of this the beaches which U.S. troops landed on in world war 2 are now 62 feet above
sea level.
The presence of this magma chamber has heated the island's groundwater, generating occasional
phreatic eruptions which often form craters.
Although a new eruption has not occurred to the best of my knowledge since 2022, a submarine
vent off the island's southern coastline produced an abundance of volcanic gasses, discoloring
overlying water a light blue color.
This vent also created discolored water in 1982 and 2022, and both times this occurred
within a few months of an eruption somewhere on the island.
Here is a list of all of the world's volcanoes which are currently erupting.
Additionally, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which are not erupting as
of the recording of this video on June 17th of 2023.
Thanks for watching!
If you would like to request a specific topic, please leave a comment below.
Additionally, I would like to thank this channel's patrons on Patreon and channel members on
YouTube!