Volcanic activity world-wide 19-21 October 2012

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Source: Volcano Discovery, by T - 10/21/12

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The swarm in Kverkfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


A strong seismic swarm is in progress at the Tjörnes Fracture Zone just north off Iceland. The largest event was a felt magnitude 5.2 quake at about 10 km depth.

A small earthquake swarm occurred on Saturday at Kverkfjoell volcano in eastern Iceland with about 20 quakes. The largest was a magnitude 2.6 event at 1.1 km depth.
This swarm is similar to several ones in the past years and could indicate a small magma intrusion under the volcano.

Weak strombolian activity from Etna volcano's Bocca Nuova has been observed again last night.

Activity continues to increase at Popocatépetl volcano in Mexico. The number of explosions has increased a lot in frequency: 127 occurred in 24 hours alone between 19-20 Oct and some ejected incandescent material up to 1 km distance, showering the upper part of the cone. Ash plumes rose to about 1 km during several events.

Fuego volcano's lava flow towards the Ash Canyon extends to 1,000 meters length and incandescent blocks roll from its flank to the edge of vegetation. Weak explosions produced small gray ash plumes rising 600 m.

A small ash explosion occurred at Santiaguito earlier today.

In Colombia, Nevado del Ruiz volcano continues to produce a significant steam plume and elevated SO2 quantities. Seismic activity remains low but above background.

Elevated seismic activity continues at Cerro Machin volcano in Colombia as well.

The lava dome of Reventador volcano in Ecuador is growing in the summit crater and the volcano produces a significant steam plume and occasional explosions, although these are not often seen as the volcano is usually in clouds.
IG has recently repaired the seismic station and records more than 100 signals, mostly long-periods on a daily basis.

Alaid volcano in the Northern Kuriles continues to show a thermal hot spot.

Raung volcano in East Java (not to be confused with Ruang volcano in the Sangihe islands) began to show increased seismicity since the 17 September. Small white plumes were seen rising to heights between 50-75 M above the crater.

The lava dome of Merapi volcano in Central Java, Indonesia, who occupied the summit crater partially collapsed at an unknown date but very recently (probably in October because it was still seen in Sep).

A strong SO2 plume is visible from Nyiragongo and/or neighboring Nymuragira volcano in the DR Congo.

A strong SO2 plume can also be seen from Ambrym volcano on Vanuatu today. Several small lava lakes remain active there.

Sakurajima volcano has had "normal" levels of activity with 1-2 moderate explosions (ash plumes to 7-8,000 ft /2-2.4 km altitude) over the past days.

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