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Plants predict where rumbling volcanoes will blow 09 June 2006 NewScientist.com news service WANT to know where a rumbling volcano is likely to split at the seams? Look for the tallest and greenest plants. Vigorous plant growth on the flanks of a volcano like that at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, can indicate where magma is most likely to spurt out. Satellite images reveal that shrubs and trees grow taller and greener along stripes where the volcano eventually ruptures. Nicolas Houlié from the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues studied satellite images of Mount Etna in Sicily and Mount Nyiragongo...

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia - Scientists warned Tuesday that erupting Mount Merapi still posed a deadly threat to villagers living on its lava-scarred slopes, even as volcanic activity eased. Clouds of searing hot gases and debris continued to stream down the mountain, but not as far or as often as they did Monday, which saw the most violent activity in several weeks. "That is Merapi," said Ratdomopurbo, the region's chief vulcanologist, who uses a single name. "She is always fluctuating." A large, unstable lava dome perched on the crater formed by magma from within the volcano remained in place and could...

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Mount St. Helens has been rumbling with a series of small earthquakes. The University of Washington seismographs show there was a 3.0 magnitude quake at 9:41 Sunday night, a 3.4 at 10:43 and a 3.2 Monday morning at 3:56. In the past, such quakes have indicated a steam burst or minor ash plume. A spokesman for the University of Washington seismology lab, Bill Steele, said the quakes "do seem to be getting a little bit larger and that's of interest, but what it all means we don't know." Scientists lost most of their instruments in a minor...