As of August 7th, 2022, there are 50 volcanoes actively erupting on the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania which produces the world's
most unique variety of lava.
Instead of producing orange to red silica rich lavas, this volcano produces carbon rich
natrocarbonatite lavas which initially erupt as a black color before cooling off as a white
layer of material.
Ol Doinyo Lengai has been erupting continuously since April 9th of 2017, producing a range
of purely effusive to vulcanian explosive eruptions.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Japan, a new volcanic eruption occurred on the famous island of Iwo Jima, ejecting
a plume of gasses to a height of 1,300 meters above sea level.
Meanwhile, also in Japan, the alert level was raised at the Kuchinoerabujima volcano
in response to a series of shallow earthquakes.
And, in Iceland, the Krysuvik volcanic system produced a new effusive eruption, sending
chunks of molten rock more than 100 meters into the air and attracting tens of thousands
of tourists.
For context, the Reykjanes peninsula of Iceland consists of 4 major volcanic complexes which
each have erupted multiple times in the last 10,000 years.
While some eruptions have occurred as isolated events, these volcanoes tend to produce greaty
increased numbers of eruptions over short time periods in a sort of a prolonged eruptive
episode.
The last such episode occurred in 1300, and since 2020 the entire peninsula appears to
bee in a new eruptive period.
Since then, 7 magmatic intrusions have occurred which ended up causing two eruptions; both
within the Krysuvik complex.
After an intense seismic swarm began on July 30th, ground uplift was soon detected.
As magma intruded shallower into crust, it caused patches of steam to burst out of the
ground due to the molten rock's interaction with groundwater.
Then, on August 3rd, a new volcanic eruption began at a fissure 1500 meters northwest of
where Geldingadalir erupted in 2021.
This new eruption had a surprisingly high rate of lava effusion, emitting an average
of 32 cubic meters of lava each second.
For comparison, this is slightly more than 3 times the average rate Geldingadalir erupted,
which averaged 9.3 cubic meters per second.
This has lead to the rapid growth of a tall spatter cone and the creation of a decently
sized river of molten rock with cascades of lava.
It is quite likely that what is now termed the Meradalir volcano will continue erupting
for several more weeks to months at a minimum.
Within Japan, the island of Iwo Jima produced a new volcanic eruption, ejecting superheated
ash and pyroclastic material along two spots on the north and south sections of the island.
While an explosion was witnessed on August 1st, this volcano was likely been producing
an eruption for at least 2 weeks beforehand.
On July 15th, a darkened patch of water was observed off the island's southern coast,
likely translating to a submarine eruption.
Similar signals were then again seen on the 25th and 30th to 31st.
Around that time, satellites also detected thermal heat signatures at the relevant eruption
sites.
This latest series of phreatic explosions is not all that surprising as the entire island
is essentially a massive resurgent dome located within a caldera.
Since 1945 the entire island has been uplifted by a minimum of 10 meters or 33 feet.
To the northwest, the stratovolcano known as Kuchinoerabujima is also producing signs
of unrest.
Beginning on July 30th, an earthquake swam occurred underneath this volcano's 3 craters,
and continued for several days.
As a result, its alert level was raised from 1 to 2, representing a color code change from
green to yellow.
By August 1st, a total of 40 volcanic earthquakes had occurred.
Although sulfur dioxide gas measurements remained low, there is still a chance that this volcano
which has erupted 16 times in the last century could erupt again.
Here is a quick list of every volcano which is currently erupting.
Also, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which are not erupting but could
erupt in the near future.
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