Earthquake Activity Intensifies On El Hierro (Canary Islands)

Irish Weather Online ^ | 10/08/11 | Mark Dunphy

[winoneforthegipper]

The Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) has reported an increase in the intensity of earthquakes recorded on El Hierro, the smallest of The Canary Islands, during the last 24 to 36 hours. The number of earthquakes recorded since July 17 , 2011 on El Hierros has now reached 10,000, figures from the IGN confirm.

The IGN also confirmed surface deformations exceeding 35mm on the 280-sqkm island, where residents have been put on alert for a possible volcanic eruption. However, seismologists have moved to reassure the local population that a volcanic eruption is not imminent.

The agency confirmed on Friday that 890 earthquakes, most of them located in the sea to the SW of the island, have been recorded in the 7 days since 01 October, 2011. During this period, 76 earthquakes were felt by the island’s estimated 10,000 residents.

Since Friday morning, there have been 14 earthquakes exceeding 3.0 on the Richter Scale with epicentres both North and South of the NW Ridge and depths between 10 and 15 km have been recorded. The strongest of the tremors measured 3.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale. A total of 17 earthquakes were felt by the local population.

[Taylor42]

Any thoughts on why so many volcanoes are rumbling around the world?

[winoneforthegipper]

You are welcome.

[Carl LaFong]

I just got a Tweet from a canary verifying this.

[unkus]

Thanks, SF_Redux.

[winoneforthegipper]

No not really, certainly if one is into volcanics as a pure hobby it’s a party out there, however I will defer to experts on it’s meaning.

However, it’s certainly odd in the shear numbers for as long as I have been interested.

[ealgeone]

I work in the insurance industry and tsunamis are not covered. They are considered floods. No different than a tidal surge from a hurricane or a river flooding.

You have to buy a seperate flood policy to cover those type of events.

I hold the CPCU designation if you question my credentials.

[winoneforthegipper]

Ahh Please share?

[45semi]

Based on a program I saw on the Discovery channel, roughly half of the islands land mass could slide into the sea. The resultant tsunami would come to the U.S. east coast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami#Canary_Islands

[winoneforthegipper]

Nah I had no clue....thanks for that....!

Does anyone offer a seperate rider or policy to cover just tsunami damage?

[45semi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jlaiJRwU6Q

[TWhiteBear]

Thanks for the info.
FWIW, some of the information is with the European style,
ddmmyyyy, and shows a heck of a spike in the last day.
The deformation of ground level seems to have stayed at 35mm.
Due to bitter experience from St. Helens, I pay a lot of attention to deformation. When the deformation(uplift) is multiplied by the volume of earth and you calculate the amount of energy to accomplish this size lift, the numbers are very impressive, and the potential result on the ground is unpredictable as hell.
TWB

[Cheburashka]

Based on a program I saw on the Discovery channel, roughly half of the islands land mass could slide into the sea. The resultant tsunami would come to the U.S. east coast.

---

Different island, different volcano. Plus the tidal wave theory isn't very likely.

[winoneforthegipper]

Great Points....yeah the swelling is being muted by the movement.

The swarm is making a circular path around and about. It made some inroads to the surface but stopped a few days ago.

Just amazing to watch it’s progression!

[winoneforthegipper]

I agree the odd’s of an impacting USA tsunami are remote however there's enough evidence via observation to say the chances are increasing substantially.

[Marak]

Thanks for the link. Awesome video. I have read about that threat before, but my interest in this post is more localized. I plan to be in the Canary Islands in a couple of weeks and was wondering what might be in store for me.

[Technocrat]

Accumulated energy is going vertical, depth is getting gradually shallower:

[Hiddigeigei]

Abstract. Geological evidence suggests that during a future eruption, Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the Island of La Palma may experience a catastrophic failure of its west flank, dropping 150 to 500 km3 of rock into the sea. Using a geologically reasonable estimate of landslide motion, we model tsunami waves produced by such a collapse. Waves generated by the run-out of a 500 km3 (150 km3) slide block at 100 m/s could transit the entire Atlantic Basin and arrive on the coasts of the Americas with 10-25 m (3-8 m) height.

Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre, Department of Geological Sciences, University College, London, UK
http://wet.kuleuven.be/wetenschapinbreedbeeld/lesmateriaal_geologie/wardday-lapalmatsunami.pdf

[RayChuang88]

Scientists have pretty much agreed that the entire northern coast of the island of Crete was wiped out by a major tsunami circa 1500 BC. The source? The major eruption of the Thera volcano on Santorini, which collapsed a huge portion of the island into the Aegean Sea and triggered of a huge tsunami that not only wiped out northern Crete, but possibly much the coastlines along the eastern Mediterranean.

The major fear is that if this volcano erupts in a big way and a much of the mountain slides into the sea, we could be seeing waves over 200 feet high along the African continent shore closest to the Canary Islands, the city of Lisbon would be threatened with waves over 100 feet high, and the entire US East Coast could face a tsunami about 25-28 feet high, threatening millions of lives and potentially costing over US$10 TRILLION in damages.

[winoneforthegipper]

Interesting info I did not know...

Largest quake yet about an hour ago...and at 10km

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=238439

[Beowulf9]

Bears watching, for sure.