Splitting North America – The Walker Lane – Part 2 – The Volcanic Fields

 

Schematic of Long Valley Caldera and surrounding volcanic structures. Relative locations of all three California calderas along the Walker Lane are depicted in previous images. Image courtesy Indiana.edu. http://www.indiana.edu/~sierra/papers/2010/jarosinski.html

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WHODUNNIT – if not BABUYAN CLARO? (🇵🇭)

Smith volcano, Babuyan Claro Island (© Garrison et al., 2018)

“The 1831 eruption of Babuyan Claro in the Philippines is regarded as one of the most significant volcanic climate forcing events of the nineteenth century, particularly so when treated as a double eruption with the 1835 (VEI 5) eruption of Cosegüina, producing ‘enhanced’ forcing effects over a decadal time frame.”
Follows the course of much detective work and its conclusion:
“We therefore suggest that the 1831 eruption of Babuyan Claro is a false event and that one or more alternative eruptions will have to be identified as the source of the 1831 stratospheric sulphate aerosol.”

Splitting North America – The Walker Lane – Part 1 – The Tectonics

Location of Walker Lane. San Andreas Fault System is depicted in red running from the lower right to the upper left of the image. Image courtesy Carlson et all. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article/9/6/1530/132671/kinematics-of-the-west-central-walker-lane

Between a Volcano and a Hard Place – MANAM (🇵🇬 P.N.G.)

Lava flow from near the top of Manam volcano. 09/2012 (© I. Itikarai, via mapio.net)

Ima Itikarai, RVO, on 29 January 2005:
“… it has been a very eventful week … Tavurvur resumed eruption on Monday evening and Manam produced another paroxysmal eruption on Thursday night … . Our observation post at Warisi village was wiped out completely by what is described as pyroclastic flow … . All our equipment was destroyed by the event. There were about 14 people at Warisi at the time of the eruption and all got injured while trying to escape …” (From “Fire Mountains of the Island”)

Popocatepetl – Mexico City’s Active Volcano

Popocatepetl in eruption, July 2013. Photo courtesy Science Times. http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5617/20130712/popocatepetl-volcano-erupts-mexico-city-ash.htm

LONQUIMAY (🇨🇱) and its Christmas Crater

Lonquimay volcano behind the Christmas crater, or Cráter Navidad. Photo taken towards the SW. (© Andeshandbook, Alvaro Vivanco)

Although not for the faint-hearted and wobbly legged, Lonquimay’s summit is a favorite destination with climbers. The reward for their pains is a stunning view all around: In clear weather, up to 14 volcanoes can be seen within a radius of 250 km:

The Ugashik – Peulik Volcanic Center, Alaska

Mount Peulik with the Ukinrek Maars in the foreground. Phot courtesy Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_mountain_Peulik_ukinrek_maars.jpg

Real Risk or Fearmongering? PALINURO & MARSILI SEAMOUNTS (🇮🇹)

Bathymetry of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The inset shows a schematic representation of the tectonics affecting southern Italy. (from: M. Ligi et al., 2014)

On and off during recent years I caught some headlines about submarine volcanoes in Italy but never got round to read those studies. Since I came across some really Doom-&-Gloom-The-End-Is-Nigh videos I decided to have a closer look at these. And I’ll give the answer beforehand: Yes there is a real risk. And, yes, there is an awful amount of fearmongering.

Antarctica 5 – Volcanoes of the Antarctic Peninsula

Feature map of Antarctic Peninsula. Image courtesy AntarcticGlaciers.org. http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geology/ice-stream-initiation-northern-antarctic-peninsula/

Just when I think I will be finished with Antarctic volcanoes for a while, along comes a publication that posits one to several mantle plumes stretching from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea.  As such, it is probably time to discuss volcanoes in the Antarctic Peninsula.

VOLCÁN de SANTA ANA – 🇸🇻 – or LAMATEPEC (not: Ilamatepec)

From front: Santa Ana volcano, Cerro Verde, Izalco in the Santa Ana volcanic complex. (© salvadoreantours.com)

Looking for the right volcano name to use in my post I found only great confusion, even in official sources. Volcán de Santa Ana is the official name given in Spanish, there’s no doubt. However, in articles across the web you can also find it variously called Ilamatepec, Llamatepec or Lamatepec. Faggioli (2013) notes that all those have no base in the native Náhuat language. The initial “I” in Ilametepec is someone’s invention and plain wrong. It has been called Lamatepec in the work of a 19th century researcher, and this name has since become habitually in use locally.