The question we are unable to answer is why
now? The surge in activity appears to be
a general energy release that is affecting the whole ring and by natural
extension we are also speeding up some of the volcanoes. Thus we can expect a lot of shake rattle and
roll which may well be already over with affected volcanoes coming on line
slowly thereafter.
I would treat it as a low level seismic event that
will now leave us alone for a long time.
The problem with that is that our understanding of geological history is
far too narrow to say that with the slightest confidence at all. Big events stand out, but are usually
unlinked to a general phenomenon while smaller events go completely unnoticed.
What is true is that a major event in Yellowstone
and by that I mean something throwing a few cubic miles of ash into the
atmosphere would be devastating. The same
holds true for all our strata volcanoes in the Northwest. After Mt St. Helens, we have no illusions
left there. Thus Mt Baker and Rainier
stand out as having the potential to seriously ruin everyone’s day.
Neither are showing any life though.
Volcanoes All Over The Ring Of Fire Are
Erupting Right Now – Is The U.S. Next?
By Michael Snyder, on April 8th, 2014
All of a sudden, the Ring of Fire is starting to tremble
violently. Last month, we had a
whole bunch of major earthquakes along the Ring of Fire,
and this month volcanoes all over the Ring of Fire are erupting. Of
course there has always been seismic activity within this giant band that
stretches around the Pacific Ocean. After all, approximately 75 percent
of all volcanoes are located in the Ring of Fire and approximately 90 percent
of all global earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. But what is alarming
is that the level of activity appears to be rising. Chile is experiencing
almost constant shaking by earthquakes, a volcano in Peru just awakened for the
first time in 40 years, and major volcanic eruptions have just taken place in
Ecuador, the Kamchatka peninsula and off the coast of Japan. The west
coast of the United States also lies along the Ring of Fire, but so far it has
gotten off easy. Yes, there has been a
little bit of shaking in southern California in recent
weeks, but it hasn’t been too bad. But scientists assure us that will
change. At some point, there will be a major seismic event along the west
coast. It is only a matter of time.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States pays very
little attention to seismic activity around the rest of the world unless it
happens in a heavily populated area. But the truth is that we have been
witnessing some very unusual things lately.
For example, a volcanic eruption off the coast of Japan has
created a brand new Island called “Niijima” that is literally
eating another small volcanic island next to it…
Niijima is Japan’s newest island located in the Philippine Sea
that has consistently grown in size since its inception in November. A NASA
satellite image from March 30 found that Niijima merged with nearby island
Nishino-shima.
Niijima resulted from a seafloor volcano that sprouted in the
western Pacific Ocean this past November. It is located 600 miles south of
Tokyo in the Pacific Ring of Fire, which spans from the coast Chile to Alaska
and Siberia and then south to New Zealand. The volcanic island has not
stopped erupting since November.
As a result of the nonstop eruption, Niijima recently
mergedwith another nearby volcanic island, Nishino-shima. The newly formed
island is about 3,280 feet across and sits 196 feet above sea level.
In Ecuador,
the Tungurahua volcano has been extremely active lately. In fact, it shot
hot ash 10 km up into the sky just the other day…
A volcano in central Ecuador has spewed up a column of hot ash
and smoke 10 kilometres high, increasing fears of an eruption.
Activity has been building at the Tungurahua volcano 130
kilometres south of the capital Quito since early February.
On Friday (Saturday Australian time), experts reported a loud
explosion that lasted for five minutes and an expulsion of ash.
Most Americans don’t realize this, but there are some very
powerful volcanoes in Russia as well. On the Kamchatka peninsula,
which is located on the east coast of Russia, a large volcano has belched a
column of ash 6 km into the air…
Volcano Shiveluch has erupted ash at an altitude of six
kilometres above sea level in Russian Far East’s Ust-Kamchatsky municipal
entity, Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences geophysical service
stated on Sunday.
Down in Peru,
a volcano that has been dormant for most of the past 40 years has suddenly
“awakened” and is now “spewing ash and dust into the sky”…
It’s been four decades since a volcano in Peru has awakened, but
on Tuesday, it came back to life and began spewing ash and dust into the sky.
The volcano is located in southwestern Peru and has led to more than 50 people
being evacuated from the nearby village of Querapi.
So should we be alarmed by all of this?
Without a doubt, it is normal for volcanoes to erupt and for the
earth to shake along the Ring of Fire.
But what is a bit concerning is that the intensity and the
frequency seems to be picking up.
Just look at what has been happening down in Chile. We have
seen dozens upon dozens of large earthquakes down there over the past month,
and there have been eight earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater in
Chile over the past 24 hours alone.
Hopefully things will settle down soon.
But if they don’t, it will probably only be a matter of time
before the west coast of the U.S. joins the party.
Scientists have been warning about “the Big One”
down in California for decades. But up until now, it hasn’t happened and
people have gotten complacent. Scientists tell us that a magnitude 7.5
earthquake along the Puente Hills fault in southern California would be “the
quake from hell” and would cause hundreds of billions of dollars
of damage. An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or greater in the same location
would be catastrophic beyond what most people would dare to imagine.
And do you remember the devastation that the eruption of Mount St.
Helens caused back in 1980?
Well, that was small potatoes compared to what we could eventually
see up in the Northwest.
In Oregon, Mt. Hood experienced a swarm of more
than 100 earthquakes in just a few days last month, fueling
fears of an eruption.
Up in Washington state, Mt. Rainier could send a river of volcanic
mud 30 feet
thick over surrounding communities at any time, and a
full-blown eruption of Mt. Rainier could produce a cloud of volcanic ash that
would potentially cover most of the continental United States.
But of course most of the recent attention has been on the Yellowstone
supervolcano. A YouTube video that seemed to show a herd of bison running
away from Yellowstone has been described as “bunk”
by authorities, but now a new video has
emerged that appears to show a herd of elk running away from Yellowstone…
So does that video actually prove anything?
Of course not.
But what we do know is that certain areas of Yellowstone have been
experiencing “ground
uplift” in recent months, and there has been some highly
unusual earthquake activity in the park in recent
weeks. In fact, one of the earthquakes was the largest to be recorded at
Yellowstone in about 30 years.
Does that mean that something major is going to happen soon?
Let’s hope not, because a major eruption of the Yellowstone
supervolcano would end life as we know it for most of the country.
We have entered a time of heightened seismic activity all over the
globe. Even with all of our modern technology, we are still at the mercy
of natural disasters.
If you are living along the west coast or near one of these
volcanoes, your life could literally change at any moment.
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