As of February 12th of 2023, there are currently 49 volcanoes which are currently erupting.
One of these erupting systems is the infamous Krakatau volcano in Indonesia, often primarily
erupting in a vulcanian or strombolian manner in what could be considered moderately sized
eruptions, which over time is expanding its volcanic cone.
Krakatau has produced two major caldera forming eruptions in the last 2,000 years, one of
which occurred around 540 that produced three surrounding islands within a 10 kilometer
radius of Krakatau's modern cone and another smaller caldera forming eruption in 1883.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Alaska, one of the state's largest calderas, Aniakchak, was the site of a minor earthquake
swarm which was likely volcanic in origin.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the alert level of the Karangetang volcano was raised from yellow
to orange as a new eruption sent lava avalanches rolling down its steep slopes.
And, in the Canary Islands, a swarm of earthquakes is occurring between the volcanic islands
of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
This earthquake swarm has been ongoing since at least January 27th of 2023, and as of the
writing of this video has involved a total of at least 50 quakes which were all no larger
than magnitude 3.0.
While the islands which the quakes were clustered between have both produced volcanic eruptions
during the Holocene epoch, these volcanoes were both not the cause for these earthquakes.
As, many of these quakes instead originated in close proximity to a little known submarine
volcano known as Enmedio.
Yet, the Enmedio volcano was also not the cause of these earthquakes.
Instead, the 38 quakes which occurred in rapid succession between 12:33 pm and 4:04 pm local
time on January 27th which were mostly in the magnitude 2 range were tectonic in origin.
You see, like many mantle hotspot caused volcanic island chains, there is a progression of younger
to older islands.
Due to erosion and the lack of or low volume of recent eruptive activity on several of
the older islands, the crust which is figuratively floating in the mantle became less thick.
This caused the crust to be slightly uplifted on several of the older islands including
Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Yet, for some reason the area between these two islands appears to undergo a higher rate
of uplift, which causes uneven strain that generated the ongoing earthquake swarm.
No volcanic eruptions are currently expected to occur due to these quakes on the two neighboring
islands or the Enmedio volcano.
In Indonesia, the erupting Karangetang volcano is located on the northern section of the
island of Siau.
While it had been continuously erupting in some form for more than a year via lava dome
growth at both of its central peaks, something changed on December 7th of 2022.
On that day, a new faster growing lava dome emerged in the southern peak, which over the
next 2 months grew until it reached the top of the peak.
It then in the last week overflowed the crater rim, where fragments of hot lava fragmented
into smaller pieces which tumbled down slope in a series of lava avalanches.
These lava avalanches traveled up to 1800 meters or 5905 feet from the southern peak,
primarily occurring in sections of a 135 degree arc from west to southeast, which triggered
evacuations of a small number of people who lived on a specific section of Karangetang's
slopes.
As a result, Karangetang's alert level was raised from 2 to 3 on February 8th of 2023,
and a 2.5 kilometer exclusion zone expanding to 3.5 kilometers in the south to southeast
sectors was implemented.
More lava avalanches are likely to occur in the upcoming days as the lava dome continues
to expand, and these could effect areas beyond the mandatory exclusion zone.
In Alaska, while two volcanoes are erupting and a third is not erupting but at an alert
level of yellow, a fourth volcano at an alert level of green produced a minor swarm of earthquakes.
What I am referring to is the highly scenic Aniakchak volcano which contains a 10 kilometer
wide caldera that formed approximately 3500 years ago in a massive volcanic eruption.
Post caldera eruptions have produced scattered vents in the caldera, but one has not occurred
since 1931.
The earthquake swarm in question was quite minor but occurred in two separate locations.
The quakes were somewhat shallow, but in my opinion were probably related to the volcano's
hydrothermal system and are not indicative of an eruption occurring anytime soon.
Here is a quick 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 February 11th of 2023.
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