Pumice float traced to eruption of previously dormant Havre volcano: Pacific quake swarm awakened volcano

Posted by The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

August 13, 2012 – WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A swarm of more than 150 earthquakes over two days last month caused a previously dormant volcano to erupt beneath the Pacific Ocean, a scientist said Monday. The eruption of the Havre Volcano, about halfway between New Zealand and Tonga, is believed to have caused a floating island of pumice larger than 4,000 square miles that was encountered by a New Zealand navy ship last week. Cornel de Ronde, principal scientist of New Zealand’s Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, told Radio New Zealand the source of the pumice had been identified in cooperation with French researchers in Tahiti who monitor earthquakes in the southwest Pacific. “When they looked at their physical records they saw that on July 17th and 18th, there were some 157 earthquakes of magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.8,” he said. De Ronde said they occurred near the time of the first sighting of the pumice ‘raft.’ When the institute looked at its database, it found the Havre volcano, which it had previously surveyed. It was a caldera volcano, like White Island off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, which erupted last week, but the Havre was not thought to have erupted before, he said. De Ronde said the pumice island was so light that it had floated several hundred kilometers from the volcano when it was encountered by the HMNZS Canterbury, which took samples last week. Scientists were also analyzing samples of rock ejected from Mount Tongariro, on New Zealand’s North Island, to try to find out why it erupted a week ago for the first time in 115 years. –Sac Bee

Giant mass of floating pumice indicates third volcanic eruption near New Zealand

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August 10, 2012 – NEW ZEALAND - A floating mass of the volcanic rock, pumice, reportedly covering 25,000 square km, has been found floating in the South Pacific, indicating a third volcano is active near New Zealand. The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) said Friday the floating pumice, measuring 250 nautical miles long and 30 nautical miles wide, was first spotted by a New Zealand air force Orion on a maritime patrol from Samoa to New Zealand. The Orion relayed the information to New Zealand navy vessel HMNZS Canterbury, which spotted the pumice late Thursday about 85 nautical miles west southwest of Raoul Island, one of the Kermadec Islands that lie 750 to 1,000 km northeast of New Zealand. Lieutenant Tim Oscar, a Royal Australian Navy officer on exchange with the Royal New Zealand Navy, described the pumice as “the weirdest thing I’ve seen in 18 years at sea. The lookout reported a shadow on the ocean ahead of us so I ordered the ship’s spotlight to be trained on the area,” Oscar said in the NZDF statement. As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell,” he said. The rock looked to be sitting 2 feet (60 cm) above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white color in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf.” Oscar said he had been briefed by a volcanologist from New Zealand’s Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS Science) the previous day when the ship encountered another area of pumice from an undersea volcano. I knew the pumice was lightweight and posed no danger to the ship. Nonetheless it was quite daunting to be moving toward it at 14 knots. It took about three to four minutes to travel through the raft of pumice and as predicted there was no damage,” he said. “As we moved through the raft of pumice we used the spotlights to try and find the edge – but it extended as far as we could see.” HMNZS Canterbury was en route to Raoul Island with a party of GNS scientists aboard at the time. The Commanding Officer, Commander Sean Stewart, changed course to intercept the pumice and retrieve samples, which would be analyzed to determine which volcano they came from, said the statement. According to GNS Science, the underwater volcano, Monowai, had been active along the Kermadec Arc and the pumice could be a result of that activity, said the NZDF statement. The find comes after eruptions from Mount Tongariro, in New Zealand’s central North Island, late Monday and White Island, a marine volcano about 50 km off the east of the North Island, two days later. The GNS scientists aboard the Canterbury believed the volcanic activity of Tongariro, White Island and along the Kermadec arc was unrelated, said the NZDF statement. –News Track

Mount Tongariro eruption takes New Zealanders by surprise: volcanic lesson will be repeated many more times in the future

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August 7, 2012 – NEW ZEALAND – Ash from New Zealand’s Mount Tongariro covers houses and farmland in this still image taken from video, August 7. A New Zealand volcano dormant for more than a century has spewed boulders and spread an ash cloud over the center of the country, disrupting air traffic but causing no other damage or injuries. A volcano quiet for more than a century erupted in a New Zealand national park, spreading thick ash for several miles and causing some residents to evacuate their homes. Some domestic flights were canceled Tuesday. Mount Tongariro spewed ash and rocks for about 30 minutes late Monday night after a few weeks of increased seismic activity. It didn’t cause any injuries or damage in the sparsely populated central North Island region. Tongariro National Park has three active volcanos, is a popular tourist destination and was the backdrop for many scenes in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies. Some residents left their homes as a precaution, and authorities temporarily closed roads. National carrier Air New Zealand canceled or delayed domestic flights to towns near the mountain, though by Tuesday afternoon, it said it was resuming service to locations where the ash cloud had cleared. No international flights were affected. Police said a witness to the eruption described flashes and explosions followed by a cloud of ash coming from a hole in the north face of the mountain. The Department of Conservation said three hikers were staying in a hut on the opposite slope of Mount Tongariro when it erupted but they walked out of the area safely. Steve Sherburn, a volcanologist at the government agency GNS Science, said the eruption spread a layer of ash one or two inches thick for several miles. He said he’d heard reports of ash traveling on wind currents to coastal towns 60 miles away. He said the eruption was likely caused by steam pressure building within the mountain. The nation’s civil defense ministry said eruption activity was subsiding though it still urged caution for people who were in the vicinity of the volcano. The park has closed hiking trails and sleeping huts on the mountain for now. -CSM

Unpredictable menace: Monday’s Tongariro eruption could be the start of a multitude of larger eruptions, spewing even more ash into the air, a disasters and hazards expert says. Dr. Thomas Wilson, lecturer in hazards and disaster management at Canterbury University, says activity on the mountain could change quickly. However, it is difficult to know what will happen next and although things could get worse the volcano might settle down completely or small eruptions could continue. “I can’t give you any probabilities on the likelihood of these scenarios,” he said. “But we can’t rule anything out at this stage.” The volcano erupted at 11.50pm, spewing ash from the Te Maari craters on the northern side of the mountain. It has disrupted flights over the central North Island, and aerial news footage shows a fine covering of ash downwind from the volcano. What happened in southern Japan following the eruption of the Shinmoedake volcano in 2011 is similar to what would happen in New Zealand if a much larger eruption was to occur at Tongariro, Dr Wilson says. Centimetres of ash covered farms and towns, impacting on agriculture but it took just six months for things to return to normal.  -3 News

Mount Tongariro erupts in New Zealand- loud explosions, lightning, plumes of smoke; first activity in 100 years

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August 6, 2012 – NEW ZEALAND – The volcanic alert level for Mt. Tongariro has risen from 1 to 2 after the central North Island volcano erupted for the first time in more than a century late last night. GNS science is reporting that at approximately 11:50 pm on Monday night ash fall began to be reported in the volcano’s vicinity – it has since been reported as far east as SH5 near Te Haroto and in Napier. GNS duty volcanologist Michael Rosenberg told Radio New Zealand that some people are reported to have left their houses on the southern shores of Lake Rotoaira, though no formal notices of evacuation have been issued so far by Civil Defense. He said residents in the area have told GNS of hearing several loud explosions, lightning and plumes of smoke and police have been told by an onlooker that “a new hole in the side of the mountain” had formed. They have also reported bright red rocks flying out of the mountain. The eruption reportedly happened at the Te Mari Craters, which are close to the Ketetahi Hot Springs on the northern side of the mountain. Civil Defence says the volcanic activity could pose a threat to the Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Manawatu-Wanganui, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki regions. A warning was also issued at 1.45am to people in these affected areas saying residents should stay indoors since volcanic ash is a health hazard. –NZ Herald

Scientists find new string of underwater volcanoes in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty

Posted by  The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

June 2, 2012 – NEW ZEALAND – A group of Wellington scientists have returned from an expedition confirming volcanic activity in a seamount or under-sea mountain off the Bay of Plenty. Niwa says the unique area needs protecting from activities like fishing and sea bed mining in the future. The Tangaroa seamount near White Island in the Bay of Plenty has been confirmed by a Niwa expedition to be volcanic. Niwa principal scientist Malcolm Clark says they have discovered new hydrothermal vents which create chimney-like structures. “Some of the venting we found was very high temperature, blacksmoker type situations, where the temperature is several hundred degrees Celsius.” The top of the seamount is nearly a kilometre below the ocean’s surface. “These are species which are adapted to live in quite extreme conditions, high levels of hydrogen sulphide which is toxic to most life forms, quite high temperatures, they’re deep, there’s no light, they’re under quite high pressure,” says Malcolm. Dr Clark has just returned from taking the first biological samples of the animals which have adapted to Tangaroa’s unique environmental conditions. There are 50 submarine volcanoes stretching along the Kermadec Ridge. It’s a significant feature of the Western Pacific, extending almost 1500km to the edge of the New Zealand., northeast of the Kermadec Islands. Hydrothermal vents associated with these volcanoes release hot water and gases with different chemical compositions, so specific communities have adapted to survive in each area. –Sun Live