Posted on 10/10/2002 7:02:20 AM PDT by Lokibob
Earthquake Bulletin |
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The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred about 180 miles (285 km) south of Manokwari or 770 miles (1245 km) north-northeast of Darwin, Australia at 4:50 AM MDT today, Oct 10, 2002 (7:50 PM local time in Indonesia). A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 7.1 WAS COMPUTED FOR THIS EARTHQUAKE. The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time; however, this earthquake may have caused substantial damage and casualties due to its location and size. For additional information, see the USGS NEIC web page http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/ |
(Leave The Left Behind) |
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Hi Nicholas,
Krakatau erupted in 1883, in one of the largest eruptions in recent time. Krakatau is an island volcano along the Indonesian arc, between the much larger islands of Sumatra and Java (each of which has many volcanoes also along the arc). There is a very fine book about the Krakatau eruption by Tom Simkin and Richard Fiske, so if you really want to know about the eruption you should go to the nearest bookstore or library to find that.
Here are some highlights from their summary of effects:
1. The explosions were heard on Rodriguez Island, 4653 km distant across the Indian Ocean, and over 1/13th of the earth's surface.
2. Ash fell on Singapore 840 km to the N, Cocos (Keeling) Island 1155 km to the SW, and ships as far as 6076 km WNW. Darkness covered the Sunda Straits from 11 a.m. onthe 27th until dawn the next day.
3. Giant waves reached heights of 40 m above sea level, devastating everything in their path and hurling ashore coral blocks weighing as much as 600 tons.
4. At least 36,417 people were killed, most by the giant sea waves, and 165 coastal villages were destroyed.
5. When the eruption ended only 1/3 of Krakatau, formerly 5x9 km, remained above sea level, and new islands of steaming pumice and ash lay to the north where the sea had been 36 m deep.
6. Every recording barograph in the world ducumented the passage of the airwave, some as many as 7 times as the wave bounced back and forth between the eruption site and its antipodes for 5 days after the explosion.
7. Tide gauges also recorded the sea wave's passage far from Krakatau. The wave "reached Aden in 12 hours, a distance of 3800 nautical miles, usually traversed by a good steamer in 12 days".
8. Blue and green suns were observed as fine ash and aerosol, erupted perhaps 50 km into the stratosphere, circled the equator in 13 days.
9. Theree months after the eruption these products had spread to higher latitudes causing such vivid red sunset afterglows that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration. Unusual sunsets continued for 3 years.
10. Rafts of floating pumice-locally thick enouth to support men, trees, and no doubt other biological passengers-crossed the indian Ocean in 10 months. Others reached Melanesia, and were still afloat two years after the eruption.
11. The volcanic dust veil that created such spectacular atmospheric effects also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 1.2 degree C in the year after the eruption. Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.
The book is full of many more amazing bits of information. Hopefully these small excerpts will be useful to you.
Sincerely,
Scott Rowland
I believe it was one (maybe two) volcanos that did in the Romans also. There is a reason why all those barbarians came streaming south, it was cold as hell up north.
1.71S 134.16E quake. From the USGS - Indonesia Volcanoes. Compare and locate on the Volcano map (65 of which have have erupted since 1900). It is on an island on the east side of this map..."New Guinea"...west side...the island is shaped like a dinosaur in profile looking left...the quake seems centered at the back of the brain...[Come to think of it...New Guinea combined with Papua New Guinea is shaped like a beast from the sea...but I digress]...a red arrow points up from Bandi Api...it is NNE from that. There are no volcanoes shown there........yet.
Note to Quix: Tim Snodgrass will get a bang out of this. ....Oh, I see he just did. There has been a 5.1 at MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES today since this Indonesian swarm.
October 10 2002
A volcano in Papua New Guinea is showing signs of a catastrophic eruption that could threaten tens of thousands of lives and temporarily affect the Earth's climate with its dust plume, New Scientist says.
Part of the volcano's system has been pumping out lava and disgorging rocks and ash for more than two months, and 15,000 people have been evacuated, the British science weekly says.
But experts are worried that these rumblings are merely signs of much worse to come, it says.
Pago, the volcano that has been making the noises, has erupted at least eight times in the past 500 years, most recently in 1933, which forced many people from their homes and sparked a famine.
What makes Pago special is that it is the active vent, or safety valve, for a caldera, one of the most dangerous types of volcano.
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"Witori's last big show was just under 500 years ago, and scientists are worried that the caldera could be due for another big event," the report, carried in next Saturday's issue of New Scientist, says.
"A large explosion could send flows of hot ash and debris up to 30 miles away, endangering up to 30,000 people and would temporarily change the Earth's climate."
The US Geological Survey's Disaster Assistance Program flew a three-member emergency team to the area last month at the request of the Papuan government.
The experts are setting up a network of seismic and global positioning system (GPS) sensors to monitor ground movement at Pago.
Caldera volcanoes are types of volcano which have a large crater that sits on the magma chamber below, like a sealed lid on a kettle.
When pressure builds up beyond a certain point, they can erupt with an earth-shaking power equal to many nuclear bombs.
One such volcano was Krakatoa. When it erupted in 1883, it unleashed a tidal wave that reached as far as Aden in the Middle East. Its airborne dust caused spectacular sunsets as far away as New York and lowered the global atmospheric temperature by as much as 1.2 degrees celsius over the following five years.
If it blows like Toba did 75,000 years ago, it's lights out!. It's estimated that only 5,000 humans worldwide survived.
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