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Martin Köhler, a PhD candidate with the University of Queensland's School of the Environment, said the odd discovery was made while he and other researchers were exploring the southern side of the island of Tongatapu."It was late in the day, and we were talking to some farmers when they directed us to this boulder," ...Köhler says that the massive boulder's location much further inland beyond the team's field work area means that it must have been transported there by some tremendous force...When the first erratics were identified in the 18th century, they were initially considered a major paradox. However, it...

SICILY, Italy – Italy’s Mount Etna volcano violently erupted on Monday, sending plumes of toxic ash and smoke billowing into the sky as people on the mountain ran for safety to escape the danger. According to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), activity at Mount Etna on Sicily began during the pre-dawn hours on Monday and culminated with "intense and almost continuous" strombolian explosions hours later. The INGV said that strombolian activity is a relatively low-level volcanic eruption, during which a modest amount of energy is released. Dramatic photos and video showed dangerous pyroclastic flows racing down the...

Is it going to blow — or blow over? Seismic activity levels on Alaska’s Mount Spurr soared to March levels earlier this week, sparking fear that an eruption could be on the horizon. “Earthquake activity beneath Mount Spurr remains elevated,” the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) warned in a May 28 report. “Following a steady decline from late March through April, shallow earthquake activity has increased in the past two weeks to March levels of about 100 events per week.” And while the advisory assured that the “likelihood of an eruption continues to gradually decline,” the 11,000-foot volcano remains at an...

On March 28th, 2025, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Myanmar, causing a rupture in about 460 kilometers (290 miles) of the Sagaing fault line that runs through most of the country, causing shaking of at least intensity X on the Modified Mercalli scale. As heavy shaking was felt throughout much of Myanmar as well as other neighboring countries, the fault line moved side-to-side by as much 6 meters (20 feet) in some places, a movement which was captured by the camera in this video. This is the first (and currently only) known instance of a fault line motion being captured...

While predicting the exact timing is tricky, scientists say said an eruption could occur later this year or even tomorrow. Deep below the Pacific, a restless seafloor volcano off Oregon is showing signs it may soon stir again. Axial Seamount, a submarine volcano located nearly a mile beneath the ocean surface, is flexing its geologic muscles. Perched on a hot spot along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, where the Pacific and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart, the volcano is steadily inflating with magma, increasing the frequency of small earthquakes. Researchers with the National Science Foundation’s Ocean...

An undersea volcano is likely to erupt sometime in 2025 off the coast of Oregon. Such a volcanic eruption could trigger the Cascadia Subduction Mega Fault and produce a mega-thrust earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0. This much advance notice is a big deal, because forecasting eruptions more than hours ahead is “pretty unique,” says geophysicist William Chadwick. But 470 kilometers off the Oregon coast and over a kilometer beneath the waves, a volcano known as Axial Seamount ticks all the boxes that hint at imminent activity, Chadwick and his colleagues reported December 10 at a meeting of the American...

"No tsunami danger presently exists for this area," the National Tsunami Warning Center said Thursday.

A larger Mag 6.4 earthquake tripped offshore of Seattle WA last night. It is the latest in a small swarm of Mag 4, Mag 5, and now Mag 6 earthquakes that began two days in the Cascadia Fault Zone that runs from British Columbia south to Northern California. The Cascadia Fault is regularly hit with Mag 8 (average interval 350 years) and occainsional Mag 9 (interval about 580 years) earthquakes. The last very large killed thousands of native Indians up and down the Washington and Oregon coastline in January 1700, and hundreds more in Japan from its tsunami waves.

Ancient rhinos in Nebraska lived in large local herds and died slowly from volcanic ashfall, not sudden disaster. Credit: John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum ************************************************************************* Volcanic eruption from 12 million years ago preserves a snapshot of extinct animal life. Rhinos that once roamed much of North America 12 million years ago likely lived in large herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers examined isotopes in the teeth of rhinos found in what is now northeast Nebraska. At this site, more than 100 rhinos died at a single water hole and were buried in...

* Yellowstone’s upper magma chamber is just 2.3 miles deep, closer than previously thought, raising new questions about eruption risks. * Scientists used advanced seismic imaging to map the magma system, revealing a silica-rich upper chamber and a larger basalt reservoir below. * Volatile gases venting naturally reduce pressure but don’t eliminate the long-term threat of a catastrophic eruption. * Past supereruptions reshaped landscapes and altered global climates — the last one was 640,000 years ago. * NASA’s controversial plan to cool the magma via drilling carries risks and would take millennia to show effects. ********************************************************************** Yellowstone National Park, home...

This week, an unusually strong earthquake swarm occurred at an Azores volcano which last erupted a little over 300 years ago. Meanwhile, in Japan, the alert level was raised at the Kirishima volcano, suggesting an increased risk that it may soon erupt. And, in Indonesia, it appears that a new batch of magma has intruded underneath the highly potentially dangerous Mount Awu volcano. This video will discuss these stories and list the 47 actively erupting volcanoes around the planet via the analysis of a geologist. This video's thumbnail image displays the erupting Santiaguito lava dome (Santa Maria volcano) in Guatemala....

Are two of the most dangerous volcanoes in the entire world starting to wake up? We live at a time when seismic activity is on the rise all over the planet. More than three dozen volcanoes have recently erupted, and there have been more than 850 earthquakes in California and Nevada within the past seven days. Unfortunately, most people are not taking the threat that we are facing seriously. (snip) Thankfully, seismologists do not expect Yellowstone to erupt right now. (snip) In the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, a much larger and potentially catastrophic threat looms beneath the ground—Campi Flegrei, the...

Explanation: Can a lava flow extend into the sky? No, but light from the lava flow can. One effect is something quite unusual -- a volcanic light pillar. More typically, light pillars are caused by sunlight and so appear as a bright column that extends upward above a rising or setting Sun. Alternatively, other light pillars -- some quite colorful -- have been recorded above street and house lights. This light pillar, though, was illuminated by the red light emitted by the glowing magma of an erupting volcano. The volcano is Italy's Mount Etna, and the featured image was captured...

Explanation: Rima Hyginus is a spectacular fissure, some 220 kilometers long, found near the center of the lunar near side. Easy to spot in telescopic views of the Moon, it stretches top left to bottom right across this lunar closeup. The image was made with exaggerated colors that reflect the mineral composition of the lunar soil. Hyginus crater lies near the center of the narrow lunar surface groove. About 10 kilometers in diameter, the low-walled crater is a volcanic caldera, one of the larger non-impact craters on the lunar surface. Dotted with small pits formed by surface collapse, Hyginus rima...

Slumbering five miles beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is a timebomb more than 640,000 years in the making. The Yellowstone supervolcano is a vast reservoir of magma with the potential to unleash a category eight eruption over 100 times more powerful than Krakatoa. Thankfully, Yellowstone or any supervolcano of its size has never erupted within recorded human history. But now, artificial intelligence (AI) reveals exactly what that would look like.

DENVER (KDVR) — On Tuesday, visitors at Yellowstone National Park fled when a hydrothermal explosion occurred a few miles north of the famous Old Faithful geyser. No one was injured, but the event destroyed a nearby boardwalk and prompted officials to close the Biscuit Basin area of the park for the rest of the year. As alarming as the video and subsequent damage seemed, the phenomenon is a normal, common occurrence at Yellowstone, happening at least once each year. Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey told Nexstar hydrothermal explosions like the one that occurred this week are “not a sign...

Mount Ontake in Japan rises 3,067 meters above sea level — a windswept giant standing head and shoulders above densely forested hills. This ancient volcano is a popular trekking site. A trail traverses its ash- and boulder-strewn ridges. There are several huts and a shrine. On September 27, 2014, hikers took advantage of a blue sky and gentle wind. At 11:52 a.m., over a hundred of them stood on the summit, eating snacks and taking photos. Disaster struck with little warning. The windows and doors of a nearby hut rattled, vibrated by a low-frequency shock wave inaudible to humans. People...

Have you noticed that there has been a very alarming rise in volcanic activity in recent months? According to Volcano Discovery, 38 volcanoes around the globe have recently erupted, and dozens more are showing signs of either unrest or minor activity. In all my years, I have never seen anything quite like this, and I am entirely convinced that seismic activity will only increase during the months ahead. Here in the United States, I am watching Mt. Rainier very closely, and Yellowstone is a threat that is constantly hanging over our heads. But scientists are warning that Mount Spurr could...

A leading Greek seismologist warned that the volcano in Nea Kameni islet in the Aegean Sea has been activated since late January.Speaking to the In.gr news outlet, Panagiotis Papadimitriou, an emeritus professor of seismology at the University of Athens, said the activation so far hasn't led to seismic activity, but the scientists remain on yellow alert.According to him, the seismic activity in the area of Santorini will either weaken or lead to an earthquake of 6 to 6.3 magnitude on the Richter scale, which is not forecasted to cause a serious impact on the surrounding islands as the distance from...

The display of seismic activity has drawn numerous visitors, including Marco Bassot, a snowboarder. Several days ago, Bassot began sharing footage of climbing and riding the erupting volcano. The snowboarder in the videos cruised down patches of snow while, in the background, a river of lava bubbled. "This fracture started some days ago and created a huge, intense and impressive lava flow for more than 1.000 m, you can really feel the heat," Bassot wrote in a social media post. "I've seen many things in my 40 years of life but riding side by side of a flowing river of...