Stemar
Well-known member
I hope that isn't on a par with our Great Leader assuring the press that he has full confidence in a beleaguered minister...
Any one in the Azores should read this article. There are concerns about a major earthquake or volcanic eruption.
- Thread starter Concerto
- Start date
savageseadog
Well-known member
Sounds like the script for a disaster movie!
Supine Being
Well-known member
It seems like that one was overbooked for whatever reason. Here's a piece on it: Volcano Watch — The Canary Islands “mega-tsunami” hypothesis, and why it doesn’t carry water | U.S. Geological Survey
Stemar
Well-known member
Darn it - I'll have to sell my article about the imminent destruction of London and New York to the Express, not the Times
Thistle
Well-known member
There mmay be enthusiastic buyers in other parts
blush2
Active member
Foll
Following that and the TV documentary one of the Royal Research Ships did a lot of mapping of the various collapses and showed they all happened at different times and wouldn't have created large tsunamis.
srm
Well-known member
Back to Sao Jorge.
Not much change over the last week with +/- 100 micro tremors along with up to four recorded at 2.0 to 2.4 Richter each day. Alert level still at V4.
However, a press report on 28 April stated:
"Since the beginning of the month, seismovolcanic activity in São Jorge, Azores, has recorded a “decrease in the released energy” and in the number of events, with 30,704 earthquakes having been recorded since the beginning of the crisis, Civil Protection said. "
(via Google Translate)
So perhaps the activity may slowly be easing off.
Just as a point of interest there was a 3.8 earthquake 35km SE of the biggest island, Sao Miguel, at the beginning of last week. It was felt in a number of parishes on the island. Along with other smaller earthquakes around the region it was just part of the normal background level of activity.
Not much change over the last week with +/- 100 micro tremors along with up to four recorded at 2.0 to 2.4 Richter each day. Alert level still at V4.
However, a press report on 28 April stated:
"Since the beginning of the month, seismovolcanic activity in São Jorge, Azores, has recorded a “decrease in the released energy” and in the number of events, with 30,704 earthquakes having been recorded since the beginning of the crisis, Civil Protection said. "
(via Google Translate)
So perhaps the activity may slowly be easing off.
Just as a point of interest there was a 3.8 earthquake 35km SE of the biggest island, Sao Miguel, at the beginning of last week. It was felt in a number of parishes on the island. Along with other smaller earthquakes around the region it was just part of the normal background level of activity.
Concerto
Well-known member
I know I started this thread, but many of the replies have been so informative. Thank you everyone who has contributed.
srm
Well-known member
Sao Jorge continues to gently rumble on. Activity level is much the same as the previous two weeks with over 100 micro tremors recorded each day of which one or two are around 2.0 to 2.5 richter scale and felt at the surface. Alert level still at V4.
Concerto
Well-known member
It certainly has been grumbling for a long time.
Stemar
Well-known member
So have I, but it doesn't seem to do me any good. Maybe I need to try an explosive eruption
Concerto
Well-known member
My advice would be to KEEP CALM. Maybe you should change from Stemar to Very Grumpy Old Git, then everyone would know what to expect. LOL
srm
Well-known member
Just in case anyone is still interested:
After two months the media interest has evaporated and Sao Jorge seems to have a 'new normal'. However, the situation on Sao Jorge continues with little change. A few tremors that can be felt are recorded on most days along with numerous micro tremors. One on the 17 May was recorded at 3.1 on the Richter scale, with the rest in the 2.0 to 2.6 range.
The state of alert has been at V4 since 23 March.
After two months the media interest has evaporated and Sao Jorge seems to have a 'new normal'. However, the situation on Sao Jorge continues with little change. A few tremors that can be felt are recorded on most days along with numerous micro tremors. One on the 17 May was recorded at 3.1 on the Richter scale, with the rest in the 2.0 to 2.6 range.
The state of alert has been at V4 since 23 March.
Minerva
Well-known member
That's the thing with geological timelines, they work on a somewhat slower timeline than the human experience of time.
Reminds me of a radio interview during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland in 2010. The radio interview went like this;
host: Here we have Dr big brains, a "Volcanologist" expert
Dr: Erm, I'm a geologist, but know a lot about about Volcanos
Host: So, how long is this volcano going to go on erupting
Dr: Well Geologically speaking, in a blink of an eye...
?
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
I always remember an incident during my first field work in Svalbard. We were a group of first year geology undergraduates, led by a PhD and a post-doc, with a couple of non geologists. This was in 1972, so we were all very excited by the new ideas arising from plate tectonics. We were camped where we had an excellent view of the highly contorted strata on the west side of Spitzbergen and one evening had a lively discussion about their geological history, talking about collisions with Greenland and suchlike. One of the non-geologists, an American, was listening, and his eyes got rounder and his mouth was dropping open. Eventually, he said "Gee, guys, it must have been real exciting when all that was going on!". We looked at each other, until one of us quietly asked "How long do you think it all took?"
Geologists have a seriously distorted notion of time! A million years is about as short an interval as we can discern; maybe half a million if we're lucky!
newtothis
Well-known member
Are there cataclysmic events in geology as well? Those weird outcrops that have been pushed up from horizontal to vertical... does that happen over aeons or is it from a massive sudden earth movement?
For some reason I always thought things happened faster than they probably did. Presumably we're still going through it all now, just so slowly we can't notice.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
All except things like volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes take place over millions of years. The change over a lifetime is minute. Those contorted strata got that way by movements measured in millimetres per year. A colleague put it nicely by comparing it with the rate fingernails grow. It's happening all over the world in places like the Andes and the Himalayas.
srm
Well-known member
Once again, an update. Activity is slowly decreasing, some days 1 to 3 events slightly above Richter 2.0, other days none with continuing micro tremors .
From CIVISA website daily briefing:
"The decrease in seismic activity, albeit slowly, and the observation of such a pattern over the last few weeks, as well as the absence of other anomalous signs in terms of deformation, gases and waters, led CIVISA to determine the descent. from the Scientific Alert Level from V4 to V3 on the island of S. Jorge. Seismic activity remains, however, well above the reference values for the region, so there is still the possibility of registering felt events and the possible occurrence of earthquakes of higher magnitude cannot be excluded. "
(via Google Translate).
V3 = seismic activity but no risk of eruption.
From CIVISA website daily briefing:
"The decrease in seismic activity, albeit slowly, and the observation of such a pattern over the last few weeks, as well as the absence of other anomalous signs in terms of deformation, gases and waters, led CIVISA to determine the descent. from the Scientific Alert Level from V4 to V3 on the island of S. Jorge. Seismic activity remains, however, well above the reference values for the region, so there is still the possibility of registering felt events and the possible occurrence of earthquakes of higher magnitude cannot be excluded. "
(via Google Translate).
V3 = seismic activity but no risk of eruption.
Concerto
Well-known member
That is good news.
srm
Well-known member
I know, this thread is now one year old.
There was some discussion of the geological timescale so here is a brief update should anyone remember that far back.
Seismic activity under Velas on Sao Jorge has continued to very slowly decrease and is still above normal levels. The alert level is at V3 so an erruption is considered a very low risk.
Looking at the IPMA seismic map Sao Jorge is now getting two or three tremors a week that may be felt, of between 2.0 to 2.8 on the Richter scale, as opposed to two or three a day last year.
Just to put this in perspective, there is continuous low level seismic activity across the whole Azores region.
There was some discussion of the geological timescale so here is a brief update should anyone remember that far back.
Seismic activity under Velas on Sao Jorge has continued to very slowly decrease and is still above normal levels. The alert level is at V3 so an erruption is considered a very low risk.
Looking at the IPMA seismic map Sao Jorge is now getting two or three tremors a week that may be felt, of between 2.0 to 2.8 on the Richter scale, as opposed to two or three a day last year.
Just to put this in perspective, there is continuous low level seismic activity across the whole Azores region.