'Sprat Issue 4 - Volcanic Activity
By James Donahue
On his fourth list of concerns, the person identifying himself as Jack Sprat included increased volcanic activity. While we have been made aware of more volcanic eruptions in recent years, especially along the "Ring of Fire" surrounding the Pacific Ocean, there has been a difference of opinion among scientists as to whether the world is experiencing more eruptions now than in the past.
Some are saying we are simply more aware of the volcanic activity because of the Internet and the fact that all world volcanoes are plotted and recorded daily. Also true is that because of an increase in the world population, more people are today living under the shadow of volcanoes that have remained dormant for hundreds of years. But statistics show that volcanic eruptions appear to indeed be on the increase and in some cases, are more destructive than ever before in history. A report in the National Museum of Natural History notes that as of March 2022, 48 volcanoes were in continuing eruption status. About 20 of them are actively erupting each day.
A chart by Simkin and Siebert, taken from the Smithsonian Institute Catalog of world volcanoes that suggests there has been a significant increase in volcanic activity from 1875 to 1990. Interesting enough, the spike in volcanism began in about 1960. While there have been more volcanic eruptions since about World War II, the number of major eruptions has remained somewhat constant.
But we have had some doozies.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, the largest spewing of ash and volcanic gasses known to have occurred in over 1,300 years, was blamed for a global temperature drop that caused 1816 to be remembered as the "Year Without a Summer." Seasonal frosts across the Northern Hemisphere caused a major food shortage and thousands died from the cold and starvation.
The January 15 eruption this year of Hunga Tonga, an underwater volcano in the southwest Pacific set even more records. The volcano spewed ash 36 miles into the atmosphere, setting a world record and spewing ash into the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere, the mesosphere. Many volcanologists thought this was not physically feasible. The eruption caused a tsunami that reached the North American coast.
There exist numerous major volcanoes on the planet that have been known for causing excessive havoc. We all remember the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens that spewed ash across much of North America, but that was relatively small in comparison to some of the other big explosions that have occurred within recorded human history.
There was the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD that buried the entire city of Pompeii. Then there was the eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesia in 1883 that blew the entire mountain away and sent a super shock wave and tsunami that left an estimated 32,000 people dead on the surrounding islands.
Mt. Pelee, Martinique exploded in 1902 killing 29,000 people, and Colombia’s Nevada del Ruiz erupted in 1985 killing another 23,000 people.
Also rumbling and believed to have the capacity to do as much damage are Mt. Rainier near Seattle, Washington, Mt. Fuji near Tokyo, and Mt. Popocatepetl that looms over Mexico City.
Then there are the six known world "super volcanoes" that are so mammoth in size, and their vaults of steam and lava reaching so deep in the earth that if any of them ever erupt they may have the capability of destroying all life on the planet.
Each of these monsters are located in places where hot steam vents and bubbling mud pits signal lots of energy escaping from under them. The areas are referred to as calderas. They are located at Yellowstone National Park in North America; Long Valley, a 200-square-mile caldera in East-Central California, Valles in Northern New Mexico; the 1,080-square-mile Toba caldera in North Sumatra, Indonesia; the Taupo caldera in New Zealand and the Aira caldron in Southern Japan.
That three of these monster volcanoes lie in the United States is fearsome enough. It is said that the Yellowstone caldera sits on a subterranean chamber of molten rock and gasses so vast that it is believed to be one of the largest active volcanoes in the world.
Yes Mr. Sprat, there appears to have been an increase in world volcanic activity since about 1950, but most of them were small and they did not threaten the world. The big ones are rumbling once in a while and smoldering just enough to let us know they are still active. The Mother Earth could awaken them at any time.
By James Donahue
On his fourth list of concerns, the person identifying himself as Jack Sprat included increased volcanic activity. While we have been made aware of more volcanic eruptions in recent years, especially along the "Ring of Fire" surrounding the Pacific Ocean, there has been a difference of opinion among scientists as to whether the world is experiencing more eruptions now than in the past.
Some are saying we are simply more aware of the volcanic activity because of the Internet and the fact that all world volcanoes are plotted and recorded daily. Also true is that because of an increase in the world population, more people are today living under the shadow of volcanoes that have remained dormant for hundreds of years. But statistics show that volcanic eruptions appear to indeed be on the increase and in some cases, are more destructive than ever before in history. A report in the National Museum of Natural History notes that as of March 2022, 48 volcanoes were in continuing eruption status. About 20 of them are actively erupting each day.
A chart by Simkin and Siebert, taken from the Smithsonian Institute Catalog of world volcanoes that suggests there has been a significant increase in volcanic activity from 1875 to 1990. Interesting enough, the spike in volcanism began in about 1960. While there have been more volcanic eruptions since about World War II, the number of major eruptions has remained somewhat constant.
But we have had some doozies.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, the largest spewing of ash and volcanic gasses known to have occurred in over 1,300 years, was blamed for a global temperature drop that caused 1816 to be remembered as the "Year Without a Summer." Seasonal frosts across the Northern Hemisphere caused a major food shortage and thousands died from the cold and starvation.
The January 15 eruption this year of Hunga Tonga, an underwater volcano in the southwest Pacific set even more records. The volcano spewed ash 36 miles into the atmosphere, setting a world record and spewing ash into the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere, the mesosphere. Many volcanologists thought this was not physically feasible. The eruption caused a tsunami that reached the North American coast.
There exist numerous major volcanoes on the planet that have been known for causing excessive havoc. We all remember the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens that spewed ash across much of North America, but that was relatively small in comparison to some of the other big explosions that have occurred within recorded human history.
There was the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD that buried the entire city of Pompeii. Then there was the eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesia in 1883 that blew the entire mountain away and sent a super shock wave and tsunami that left an estimated 32,000 people dead on the surrounding islands.
Mt. Pelee, Martinique exploded in 1902 killing 29,000 people, and Colombia’s Nevada del Ruiz erupted in 1985 killing another 23,000 people.
Also rumbling and believed to have the capacity to do as much damage are Mt. Rainier near Seattle, Washington, Mt. Fuji near Tokyo, and Mt. Popocatepetl that looms over Mexico City.
Then there are the six known world "super volcanoes" that are so mammoth in size, and their vaults of steam and lava reaching so deep in the earth that if any of them ever erupt they may have the capability of destroying all life on the planet.
Each of these monsters are located in places where hot steam vents and bubbling mud pits signal lots of energy escaping from under them. The areas are referred to as calderas. They are located at Yellowstone National Park in North America; Long Valley, a 200-square-mile caldera in East-Central California, Valles in Northern New Mexico; the 1,080-square-mile Toba caldera in North Sumatra, Indonesia; the Taupo caldera in New Zealand and the Aira caldron in Southern Japan.
That three of these monster volcanoes lie in the United States is fearsome enough. It is said that the Yellowstone caldera sits on a subterranean chamber of molten rock and gasses so vast that it is believed to be one of the largest active volcanoes in the world.
Yes Mr. Sprat, there appears to have been an increase in world volcanic activity since about 1950, but most of them were small and they did not threaten the world. The big ones are rumbling once in a while and smoldering just enough to let us know they are still active. The Mother Earth could awaken them at any time.