Posted on 06/20/2014 10:11:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, has rumbled back to life in Hawaii over the past 13 months with more seismic activity than at any time since its last eruption, scientists say, while calling it too soon to predict another blast.
The volcano, which last erupted in 1975 and 1984, has been rattled since March 2013 by earthquakes of the same type and in the same location as the temblors that preceded those explosions, said Wes Thelen, a seismologist for the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
"The earthquakes we are seeing at Mauna Loa lead us to believe that some of the same things that happened before the 1975 and 1984 eruptions are happening right now," Thelen told Reuters. "We don't see this kind of activity outside of pre-eruptive earthquake sequences," he said.
The USGS posted a photo of Mauna Loa on Instagram on Wednesday with the caption: "After a 30-year repose, this sleeping giant may be stirring slowly to life."
Thelen said the earthquakes so far had not been regular or sustained enough to lead the observatory to forecast an eruption or raise the color-coded volcano warning system. But seismologists were keeping a close eye on the volcano.
Mauna Loa, which covers half of the island of Hawaii, is a popular destination for hikers despite being one of Earth's most active volcanoes. "We're not closing down the summit or doing anything drastic," he said. "This is of interest because it may be the very first sign that something's up deep underneath the volcano, but we'll wait until either the earthquakes get larger or we see more inflation in the volcano to raise the color code."
Mauna Loa's last eruption in 1984 sent hot magma flowing toward several populated areas, close enough to the city of Hilo that residents could see it glowing on hillsides.
Thelen said Mauna Loa, which has erupted 33 times since 1843, had been unusually quiet since 1984, although it inflated between 2002 and 2005, which seismologists interpreted as magma filling the magma chamber.
"Volcanos are very irregular beasts but certainly the historical eruptive history at Mauna Loa is much more active than what we've seen in the last 30 years," he said. "There aren't a lot of cases in the historical record where we've seen Mauna Loa have such a long gap between eruptions."
Global warming’s fault!
I don’t know where I’m a gonna go when da Volcano blows...
Fixed
good song....
Looking at the track of the hot spot and sea mounts across the Pacific is fascinating. One of my bucket list items is a pure tourist thing where they take people to the top of Maui's Haleakala and you do a 23 mile downhill from 10k feet!
Do you think if we stuff Al Gore down this volcano he can plug it up and stop it’s global warming?
But it will be "proof" of global warming. Just you wait.
Mauna Loa is my backyard. It’s eerie that 2 nights ago I had a dream that I was driving my family along the highway, when all of the cars started to slow down and stop, and I saw the entire peak of Mauna Loa covered in streams of lava. And I hadn’t known the info in this report.
Dreams have a way of warning you of impending destruction..............
See Genesis:
http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=dream
Several folks who got off the bus began coughing pretty violently and just as they were walking back to the bus, a park employee wearing a gas mask came out and yelled for us to evacuate the area.
It’s worth a try. I say we throw him in the volcano and call it a sacrifice to Gaia.
Not allowed from the top by tour groups anymore. Now if you pedal up from the bottom then ride down your good to go!
Farking idiots do not have the slightest bit of knowledge of volcanoes. Shield volcanoes do not explosively erupt.
Note: this topic was posted 6/20/2014. Thanks Red Badger.
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