Monday, November 28, 2005
Eruption causes concerns in Comoros
Thick volcanic ash blanketed the greater part of the island of Grand Comore today after Mount Karthala erupted for the second time this year. Officials warned there was a risk of poisonous gas emissions and polluted water supplies, and urged people to stay indoors as dust and ash continued spewing out of the notoriously active volcano.
"We are expecting serious consequences in terms of health - water will be polluted and [there will be a] food shortage if it lasts longer," World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr Mamadou Ball told the UN media 'IRIN'.The risk of a full-blown eruption remains a concern, but there has been no sign of potentially devastating lava flows, and no casualties have been reported as a result of the volcanic activity that began on Thursday night.
"The amount of volcanic ash in the air has made it impossible to fly over the summit of Mount Karthala to assess the risk - it is impossible to drive, and authorities have warned people to stay home," said Giuseppina Mazza, the UN Resident Coordinator.Comparing the situation to the eruption in April this year, when ash and other debris contaminated the island's water supplies and forced 10,000 people living in the shadow of the mountain to flee, Ms Mazza warned, "The risk depends on the toxicity of the dust and this dust seems much heavier," she added.
Mount Karthala, one of the world's largest active volcanoes, is the southernmost and largest of the two volcanoes that form Grand Comore Island in the Indian Ocean Comoros archipelago. It has having erupted more than 20 times since the 1800s.Mount Karthala has a great potential of destruction, causing Comoran authorities and humanitarian agencies to be on high alert. The volcano last erupted in July 1991. At that occasion, no persons were killed although tens of thousands of villagers had to flee their homes.
Large damage was done to crops and pastures. The volcano is known to erupt in a cycle of approximately 11 years. Two strong eruptions in 1972 and 1977 did significant damages as lava flows reached the ocean. In 1977, the coastal village of Singani was partly destroyed by lava flows. In 1860, a lava flow even reached the coast close to Moroni, the capital of Comoros.
The entire Comoran archipelago - with the four major islands Grande Comore, Anjouan, Moheli and Mayotte (the latter a French colony) - is created through volcanism in geologically modern times. The volcanoes are a result of the island of Madagascar's drifting from the African continent and subsequent tensions in the stretching sea floor.
"We are expecting serious consequences in terms of health - water will be polluted and [there will be a] food shortage if it lasts longer," World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr Mamadou Ball told the UN media 'IRIN'.The risk of a full-blown eruption remains a concern, but there has been no sign of potentially devastating lava flows, and no casualties have been reported as a result of the volcanic activity that began on Thursday night.
"The amount of volcanic ash in the air has made it impossible to fly over the summit of Mount Karthala to assess the risk - it is impossible to drive, and authorities have warned people to stay home," said Giuseppina Mazza, the UN Resident Coordinator.Comparing the situation to the eruption in April this year, when ash and other debris contaminated the island's water supplies and forced 10,000 people living in the shadow of the mountain to flee, Ms Mazza warned, "The risk depends on the toxicity of the dust and this dust seems much heavier," she added.
Mount Karthala, one of the world's largest active volcanoes, is the southernmost and largest of the two volcanoes that form Grand Comore Island in the Indian Ocean Comoros archipelago. It has having erupted more than 20 times since the 1800s.Mount Karthala has a great potential of destruction, causing Comoran authorities and humanitarian agencies to be on high alert. The volcano last erupted in July 1991. At that occasion, no persons were killed although tens of thousands of villagers had to flee their homes.
Large damage was done to crops and pastures. The volcano is known to erupt in a cycle of approximately 11 years. Two strong eruptions in 1972 and 1977 did significant damages as lava flows reached the ocean. In 1977, the coastal village of Singani was partly destroyed by lava flows. In 1860, a lava flow even reached the coast close to Moroni, the capital of Comoros.
The entire Comoran archipelago - with the four major islands Grande Comore, Anjouan, Moheli and Mayotte (the latter a French colony) - is created through volcanism in geologically modern times. The volcanoes are a result of the island of Madagascar's drifting from the African continent and subsequent tensions in the stretching sea floor.
Volcano eruption in Columbia
A volcano has erupted in southwestern Colombia, spewing smoke and ash, and raising fears for the safety of nearby villagers, officials said. Police and emergency officials were on high alert after the 4,300 metre Galeras volcano became active at dawn and dumped heaps of ash on the city of Pasto, over 19 kilometres away. Local experts said they could not rule out the possibility of further eruptions.
The government this month ordered the preventive evacuation of thousands of people living in the shadow of the volcano amid signs of an imminent eruption. But many farmers are believed to have defied the order and stayed behind, fearful of losing their livelihoods by leaving crops unattended. Pasto Mayor Raul Delgado said, the mandatory evacuation order was still in effect. Schools and many offices in Pasto were closed, as thousands evacuated from nearby towns of Briceno and Florida.
Army and local aid officials helped people move valuables out of their homes and transfer them to shelters. But many were unwilling to leave their homes. A resident of Briceno, Carla Rosa, said she was going to stay, adding "if something more severe happens, then we will go for an immediate evacuation."
The Galeras has a long history of activity, fraying nerves in many of Narino state's towns. More than 100 minor tremors were felt in the city during the volcano's last major eruption, in April 2002, though no damage or injury was reported. A 1993 eruption killed nine people, including five scientists from around the globe who had descended into the crater to sample gases at the moment it blew.
The government this month ordered the preventive evacuation of thousands of people living in the shadow of the volcano amid signs of an imminent eruption. But many farmers are believed to have defied the order and stayed behind, fearful of losing their livelihoods by leaving crops unattended. Pasto Mayor Raul Delgado said, the mandatory evacuation order was still in effect. Schools and many offices in Pasto were closed, as thousands evacuated from nearby towns of Briceno and Florida.
Army and local aid officials helped people move valuables out of their homes and transfer them to shelters. But many were unwilling to leave their homes. A resident of Briceno, Carla Rosa, said she was going to stay, adding "if something more severe happens, then we will go for an immediate evacuation."
The Galeras has a long history of activity, fraying nerves in many of Narino state's towns. More than 100 minor tremors were felt in the city during the volcano's last major eruption, in April 2002, though no damage or injury was reported. A 1993 eruption killed nine people, including five scientists from around the globe who had descended into the crater to sample gases at the moment it blew.
Spectacular eruption caught by satellite
Montagu Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands about 2000 kilometers from mainland Antarctica, is home to a newly erupting volcano with a fast-moving lava flow that has caused the island to grow by about 50 acres in the last month. Spectacular new satellite images (click image for enlarged view) surprised researchers who believed the volcano was settling down after an initial burst of activity in 2001.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) only became aware of the new eruption after seeing the satellite images. The images show a large and fast flowing lava flow that is pouring into the sea like a huge waterfall. "Red hot lava has formed a molten river 90 metres wide that is moving fast, possibly several metres per second, and extending the shoreline on the north side of the island. This event is special because Montagu Island is mostly ice covered and it's very rare that we get to make direct observations of eruptions under ice sheets," said BAS researcher Dr John Smellie, a leading authority on volcanoes.
The South Sandwich Islands are what vulcanologists call a volcanic arc. They are of interest to researchers because of their remoteness from any continental landmass, making the lavas 'pristine' - unaffected by continental contamination. Such volcanic areas may help reveals how the Earth's crust was formed and how it will evolve over time. Studying erupting volcanoes by satellite, particularly those in remote regions, is also of interest in atmospheric research because the gases they release can be compared to man-made emissions.
Dr Smellie intends to get there for a first hand look as soon as possible. He plans to fly over the volcano in the New Year to get more close-up views for his research. "My work usually involves studying Antarctic rock formations to find out how past eruptions affected the growth and retreat of ice sheets over the last 30 million years. This opportunity to monitor a live eruption and see how it affects ice cover is priceless," he said.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) only became aware of the new eruption after seeing the satellite images. The images show a large and fast flowing lava flow that is pouring into the sea like a huge waterfall. "Red hot lava has formed a molten river 90 metres wide that is moving fast, possibly several metres per second, and extending the shoreline on the north side of the island. This event is special because Montagu Island is mostly ice covered and it's very rare that we get to make direct observations of eruptions under ice sheets," said BAS researcher Dr John Smellie, a leading authority on volcanoes.
The South Sandwich Islands are what vulcanologists call a volcanic arc. They are of interest to researchers because of their remoteness from any continental landmass, making the lavas 'pristine' - unaffected by continental contamination. Such volcanic areas may help reveals how the Earth's crust was formed and how it will evolve over time. Studying erupting volcanoes by satellite, particularly those in remote regions, is also of interest in atmospheric research because the gases they release can be compared to man-made emissions.
Dr Smellie intends to get there for a first hand look as soon as possible. He plans to fly over the volcano in the New Year to get more close-up views for his research. "My work usually involves studying Antarctic rock formations to find out how past eruptions affected the growth and retreat of ice sheets over the last 30 million years. This opportunity to monitor a live eruption and see how it affects ice cover is priceless," he said.
Is it a future volcano in the making?
A recent survey of a bulge that covers about 100 square miles near the South Sister indicates the area is still growing, suggesting it could be another volcano in the making or a major shift of molten rock under the center of the Cascade Range.
Recent eruptions at nearby Mount St. Helens in Washington state have rekindled interest in the annual Sisters survey and its findings.
Oregon has four of the 18 most active volcanoes in the nation — Mount Hood, Crater Lake, Newberry and South Sister.
A recent U.S. Geological Survey report said monitoring is inadequate at all of them, with only basic monitoring at about half of the active volcanoes.
Unlike the volcanoes, the bulge gets an extensive annual survey to track its growth. Spread out across an area nearly as big as the city of Portland, It's centered about three miles southwest of the South Sister, about 25 miles from Bend.
The results of the late August survey won't be ready for weeks, but scientists have reached some conclusions about the bulge from past monitoring.
They say it probably began growing in 1997 and has been rising ever since at a rate of about 1.4 inches a year. It was first observed from space using a relatively new imaging technology known as radar interferometry that can measure changes in the Earth's surface.
The likely cause of the bulge is a pool of magma that, according to Deschutes National Forest geologist Larry Chitwood, is equal in size to a lake 1 mile across and 65 feet deep.
The magma lake is rising 10 feet each year, under tremendous pressure, and it deforms the Earth's surface as it expands, causing the bulge.
Other causes could be anything from the birth of a new volcano — a fourth Sister in the making — to a routine and anticlimactic pooling of liquid rock, researchers say.
"The honest and shortest answer is, we don't know," said Dan Dzurisin, a USGS geologist.
Dzurisin recently led a three-person leveling crew on a slow walk across the top of the bulge. They were hoping to detect any change in its surface using survey equipment accurate to one-sixteenth of an inch for every mile measured.
Dzurisin's survey data, in concert with space imaging and satellite positioning measurements from two dozen fixed points on the bulge, give scientists an idea of the bulge's depth and size.
Additional information from seismographs and chemical monitoring of area springs reveal movement of the magma underground. A swarm of 350 small earthquakes in March 2004 indicated magma was on the move, but the bulge has been quiet ever since.
Whether the magma will move again or ever reach the surface is a mystery. But if it did, geological history suggests it would result only in small cinder cones that spew ash and lava.
The good news is that such an eruption likely would not seriously affect any population centers, Chitwood said.
Such cones are the most common volcanic features on Earth, he added. Central Oregon has about 600. Basalt flows have occurred in the area of the bulge every 1,000 to 1,500 years for the past 4,000 years, he said. And the area is due for another.
"The bulge is on time," Chitwood said. "The bus has arrived."
Recent eruptions at nearby Mount St. Helens in Washington state have rekindled interest in the annual Sisters survey and its findings.
Oregon has four of the 18 most active volcanoes in the nation — Mount Hood, Crater Lake, Newberry and South Sister.
A recent U.S. Geological Survey report said monitoring is inadequate at all of them, with only basic monitoring at about half of the active volcanoes.
Unlike the volcanoes, the bulge gets an extensive annual survey to track its growth. Spread out across an area nearly as big as the city of Portland, It's centered about three miles southwest of the South Sister, about 25 miles from Bend.
The results of the late August survey won't be ready for weeks, but scientists have reached some conclusions about the bulge from past monitoring.
They say it probably began growing in 1997 and has been rising ever since at a rate of about 1.4 inches a year. It was first observed from space using a relatively new imaging technology known as radar interferometry that can measure changes in the Earth's surface.
The likely cause of the bulge is a pool of magma that, according to Deschutes National Forest geologist Larry Chitwood, is equal in size to a lake 1 mile across and 65 feet deep.
The magma lake is rising 10 feet each year, under tremendous pressure, and it deforms the Earth's surface as it expands, causing the bulge.
Other causes could be anything from the birth of a new volcano — a fourth Sister in the making — to a routine and anticlimactic pooling of liquid rock, researchers say.
"The honest and shortest answer is, we don't know," said Dan Dzurisin, a USGS geologist.
Dzurisin recently led a three-person leveling crew on a slow walk across the top of the bulge. They were hoping to detect any change in its surface using survey equipment accurate to one-sixteenth of an inch for every mile measured.
Dzurisin's survey data, in concert with space imaging and satellite positioning measurements from two dozen fixed points on the bulge, give scientists an idea of the bulge's depth and size.
Additional information from seismographs and chemical monitoring of area springs reveal movement of the magma underground. A swarm of 350 small earthquakes in March 2004 indicated magma was on the move, but the bulge has been quiet ever since.
Whether the magma will move again or ever reach the surface is a mystery. But if it did, geological history suggests it would result only in small cinder cones that spew ash and lava.
The good news is that such an eruption likely would not seriously affect any population centers, Chitwood said.
Such cones are the most common volcanic features on Earth, he added. Central Oregon has about 600. Basalt flows have occurred in the area of the bulge every 1,000 to 1,500 years for the past 4,000 years, he said. And the area is due for another.
"The bulge is on time," Chitwood said. "The bus has arrived."
Island's size expands due to volcanic eruptions
Spectacular new satellite images show that Montagu Island, an erupting volcano in the South Sandwich Islands, has grown by 50 acres equivalent to 40 football pitches in the last month.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) were alerted to satellite data showing a large and fast flowing lava flow that is pouring into the sea like a huge waterfall.
“Red hot lava has formed a molten river 90 metres wide that is moving fast, possibly several metre per second and extending the shoreline on the north side of the island. This event is special because Montagu Island is mostly ice covered and it's very rare that we get to make direct observations of eruptions under ice sheets”, said Dr. John Smellie from BAS.
“My work usually involves studying Antarctic rock formations to find out how past eruptions affected the growth and retreat of ice sheets over the last 30 million years. This opportunity to monitor a live eruption and see how it affects ice cover is priceless”, added the BAS researcher who anticipated he plans to fly over the volcano in the New Year to get more close-up views for his research.
“It will be the highlight of my career” he says.
Researchers believed that volcanic activity on Montagu Island, which started in 2001, was winding down until they were alerted to the new satellite pictures showing the large, fast-moving lava flow. It is the first eruption observed on the island.
The 11 South Sandwich Islands form an arc on a volcanic fault line. They are important to researchers because of their remoteness from any continental landmass, making the lavas pristine, or unaffected by continental contamination. This helps reveal how the Earth's crust was formed and how it will evolve.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) were alerted to satellite data showing a large and fast flowing lava flow that is pouring into the sea like a huge waterfall.
“Red hot lava has formed a molten river 90 metres wide that is moving fast, possibly several metre per second and extending the shoreline on the north side of the island. This event is special because Montagu Island is mostly ice covered and it's very rare that we get to make direct observations of eruptions under ice sheets”, said Dr. John Smellie from BAS.
“My work usually involves studying Antarctic rock formations to find out how past eruptions affected the growth and retreat of ice sheets over the last 30 million years. This opportunity to monitor a live eruption and see how it affects ice cover is priceless”, added the BAS researcher who anticipated he plans to fly over the volcano in the New Year to get more close-up views for his research.
“It will be the highlight of my career” he says.
Researchers believed that volcanic activity on Montagu Island, which started in 2001, was winding down until they were alerted to the new satellite pictures showing the large, fast-moving lava flow. It is the first eruption observed on the island.
The 11 South Sandwich Islands form an arc on a volcanic fault line. They are important to researchers because of their remoteness from any continental landmass, making the lavas pristine, or unaffected by continental contamination. This helps reveal how the Earth's crust was formed and how it will evolve.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Mount St.Helen displays dust cloud
A rock fall at Mount Saint Helens caused a large gray cloud of dust to appear above the volcano on Tuesday, but there was no sign of increased seismic activity.
Seismic levels at Mount Saint Helens, which came back to life last year by emitting steam and ash, are "amazingly regular," said Seth Moran, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 and killed 57 people and was mostly dormant until September 2004, when new magma activity pushed up a lava dome in the crater of the volcano that also emitted steam and ash for weeks.
"This is the first rock fall that we've seen in a while," said Moran, who added that rock falls are a common occurrence when a volcano builds a lava dome.
Moran said that clear weather and calm winds kept the dust cloud hanging over the volcano Tuesday afternoon, making it visible for miles.
Mount St. Helens is located in southwestern Washington state, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Seattle, and 50 miles (80 km) north of a busy airport at Portland, Oregon.
The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors Mount Saint Helens from its Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, kept its alert status at its second-highest level. No major eruptions are expected to be imminent.
Seismic levels at Mount Saint Helens, which came back to life last year by emitting steam and ash, are "amazingly regular," said Seth Moran, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 and killed 57 people and was mostly dormant until September 2004, when new magma activity pushed up a lava dome in the crater of the volcano that also emitted steam and ash for weeks.
"This is the first rock fall that we've seen in a while," said Moran, who added that rock falls are a common occurrence when a volcano builds a lava dome.
Moran said that clear weather and calm winds kept the dust cloud hanging over the volcano Tuesday afternoon, making it visible for miles.
Mount St. Helens is located in southwestern Washington state, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Seattle, and 50 miles (80 km) north of a busy airport at Portland, Oregon.
The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors Mount Saint Helens from its Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, kept its alert status at its second-highest level. No major eruptions are expected to be imminent.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Volcanic eruptions...hot stuff!
Volcanoes evoke images of black, bubbling lava in Hawaii or steaming hot springs in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park.
But volcanic rock in the Berkeley hills? Yup, and plenty of it.
The creamy-yellowish rock, known as Northbrae rhyolite, is scattered throughout a quiet residential area called Thousand Oaks, adding a geological touch to private gardens and corner parks.
Some of the rocks are the size of a bread box, neatly layered to create a sidewalk retaining wall or a set of front steps. Others are at least a story high, some with pathways running through, inviting to kids who want to scramble up as well as climbers breaking in new equipment.
The largest formations are the centerpieces for a number of small parks that dot the area. But perhaps the most intriguing are those that have been incorporated into people's homes -- in the foundation, walls and gardens.
"People either buy the houses because of the rocks or they learn to live with them,'' said Jonathan Chester, a photographer who is working on a book about the volcanic rock called "Berkeley Rocks.'' He estimates that hundreds of homes in the area have Northbrae rhyolite on the premises. One homeowner even used it as material for a shower wall.
The bedrock outcrops are the result of eruptions 11.5 million years agofrom volcanoes south of San Jose, most likely related to a volcanic field northeast of Hollister. "Exactly how many it's hard to say, but it's probably more than one volcano,'' said Steve Edwards, director of Regional Parks Botanic Garden who, as a UC Berkeley graduate student, did field mapping of Round Top, a volcano in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland hills.
He called the volcanic rock in the Berkeley Hills fascinating, transported to its current location by movement along the Hayward and Calaveras fault lines.
Lin Murphy, who researched Northbrae rhyolite while earning her master's degree at Cal State Hayward, concluded that Northbrae rhyolite is distinct from volcanic rock found in Sibley and in Richmond, identifiable by its rounded and polished surfaces and white flow bands that show how the lava erupted.
Because of its apparent movement along the fault lines, the rock is rich with silica, creating an especially hard substance.
"That's my explanation for why Indian Rock is so much better to climb on because it has so much in it and it keeps it from falling apart,'' said Murphy, who now lives in Colorado, referring to one of the largest outcroppings.
In 1914, Andrew Lawson, a geology professor at UC Berkeley who mapped the San Andreas and Hayward faults, discovered the rhyolite while training his students to do geological field mapping.
He named it Northbrae rhyolite after the surrounding neighborhood.
"It's there and it's beautiful, and you don't have to go to the mountains,'' said Barbara Robben, who recently led a walk through the volcanic rock for the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, one of several groups that offer tours of volcanic rock in the area.
Four hikers recently went on an exploration of the area, led by Robert Johnson, a Berkeley resident and volunteer tour leader for Greenbelt Alliance, a conservation group that offers free hikes year-round.
The walk began at the Great Stone Face Park, which occupies a corner of a quiet residential area that overlooks the bay. On the edge of a gentle slope of grass is a volcanic formation about 15 feet high with just enough crevices and indentations to make it perfect for climbing. Smaller boulders nearby create unexpected pathways.
The park is one of a handful that were donated to the city of Berkeley by real estate developer Duncan McDuffie in the early 1900s when he was designing the Northbrae neighborhood.
McDuffie practiced a philosophy of linking natural features of the area with architectural designs, whether it meant mapping circles around trees, setting aside public parks, or sprinkling developments among multi-story volcanic rocks.
The area was developed during Berkeley's architectural renaissance when Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and others designers trained in the Beaux Arts tradition followed the "building with nature'' style, creating rustic buildings and natural materials that blended in with the environment.
"Instead of shying away from it, they embraced the natural features and made it part of the excitement of the house and the drama of the architecture,'' said Lesley Emmington of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Foundation. "It was just a wonderful time of creativity and embracing the East Bay and the hillsides.''
A short walk from Great Stone Face Park is a home that illustrates the easy blend of architecture and rock. At the entrance of a shady Julie Morgan home, large outcroppings loom on either side of the front steps, adding a dramatic dimension to the landscape.
The area is brimming with rocks. Retaining walls made of volcanic formations stretch on for blocks, a buffer for an array of California Craftsman homes, English Tudors and those influenced by European styles.
As the walkers made their way along Yosemite Road, they occasionally would peek through the front gates and spot a large volcanic rock on the side of a garden surrounded by grass, shrubs and colorful perennials.
On the Alameda, they stoped in front of a driveway that wound its way up and around a huge volcanic mass. The rock occupied almost the entire front yard, surrounded by ferns, cypress shrubs, and Japanese maples.
"We called it the boulder home,'' said the new homeowner who was just moving in. The owner, who didn't want to give her name, said that the rock was definitely part of the attraction of the house, adding that her son likes to climb through a path that runs through the middle of the formation. "They're magnificent, solid, timeless.''
As Johnson led the group farther down the Alameda, they spied a variety of volcanic rocks, some no more than a hump, others tall enough to mingle with the trees. One house was built in an L-shape around a huge outcropping, while another had used it to create a steaming sauna. Several street sign pillars were made of the ubiquitous rock.
"To see what people do with them is quite fascinating,'' Johnson said, pointing out a home with a chimney made out of stacks of rocks.
Johnson led the group to Contra Costa Rock Park, an area dominated by a large outcropping big enough to climb on with a postage-stamp lawn in the back. Bruce Simon of Berkeley and his dog, Tessie, were perched on the top, savoring the shimmering view of the bay. "It's just part of our regular neighborhood walk with no crowds,'' he said.
The walkers made their way up Indian Rock Path, one of hundreds of paths that wind their way through the hills, until they arrived at Indian Rock. The largest of the Northbrae rhyolite, it was donated to the city of Berkeley in 1917 by McDuffie and is steeped with rock climbing lore. Dick Leonard, regarded as the father of modern rock climbing, and noted environmentalist David Brower developed their rock climbing skills here.
Winding steps are chiseled on the sides, leading climbers up to one of the best views of the Bay Area.
A short distance away is Mortar Rock Park, a smaller shadier version of rhyolite surrounded by California buckeye and live oak trees. Holes still remain where Ohlone Indians ground acorns, a remnant of the area's rich history .
"They're amazing natural, architectural features,'' said Nancy Shapiro, a longtime Berkeley resident, as she watched her dog, Cookie, scramble up on one of the rock formations.
"Visually and tactically, they give a great texture to the neighborhood,'' she said. "They're just great surprises."
Rock on
Berkeley Path Wanderers puts out a map showing the volcanic rock parks as well as pedestrian paths to reach them. The group also occasionally offers tours of the volcanic rocks.
But volcanic rock in the Berkeley hills? Yup, and plenty of it.
The creamy-yellowish rock, known as Northbrae rhyolite, is scattered throughout a quiet residential area called Thousand Oaks, adding a geological touch to private gardens and corner parks.
Some of the rocks are the size of a bread box, neatly layered to create a sidewalk retaining wall or a set of front steps. Others are at least a story high, some with pathways running through, inviting to kids who want to scramble up as well as climbers breaking in new equipment.
The largest formations are the centerpieces for a number of small parks that dot the area. But perhaps the most intriguing are those that have been incorporated into people's homes -- in the foundation, walls and gardens.
"People either buy the houses because of the rocks or they learn to live with them,'' said Jonathan Chester, a photographer who is working on a book about the volcanic rock called "Berkeley Rocks.'' He estimates that hundreds of homes in the area have Northbrae rhyolite on the premises. One homeowner even used it as material for a shower wall.
The bedrock outcrops are the result of eruptions 11.5 million years agofrom volcanoes south of San Jose, most likely related to a volcanic field northeast of Hollister. "Exactly how many it's hard to say, but it's probably more than one volcano,'' said Steve Edwards, director of Regional Parks Botanic Garden who, as a UC Berkeley graduate student, did field mapping of Round Top, a volcano in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland hills.
He called the volcanic rock in the Berkeley Hills fascinating, transported to its current location by movement along the Hayward and Calaveras fault lines.
Lin Murphy, who researched Northbrae rhyolite while earning her master's degree at Cal State Hayward, concluded that Northbrae rhyolite is distinct from volcanic rock found in Sibley and in Richmond, identifiable by its rounded and polished surfaces and white flow bands that show how the lava erupted.
Because of its apparent movement along the fault lines, the rock is rich with silica, creating an especially hard substance.
"That's my explanation for why Indian Rock is so much better to climb on because it has so much in it and it keeps it from falling apart,'' said Murphy, who now lives in Colorado, referring to one of the largest outcroppings.
In 1914, Andrew Lawson, a geology professor at UC Berkeley who mapped the San Andreas and Hayward faults, discovered the rhyolite while training his students to do geological field mapping.
He named it Northbrae rhyolite after the surrounding neighborhood.
"It's there and it's beautiful, and you don't have to go to the mountains,'' said Barbara Robben, who recently led a walk through the volcanic rock for the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, one of several groups that offer tours of volcanic rock in the area.
Four hikers recently went on an exploration of the area, led by Robert Johnson, a Berkeley resident and volunteer tour leader for Greenbelt Alliance, a conservation group that offers free hikes year-round.
The walk began at the Great Stone Face Park, which occupies a corner of a quiet residential area that overlooks the bay. On the edge of a gentle slope of grass is a volcanic formation about 15 feet high with just enough crevices and indentations to make it perfect for climbing. Smaller boulders nearby create unexpected pathways.
The park is one of a handful that were donated to the city of Berkeley by real estate developer Duncan McDuffie in the early 1900s when he was designing the Northbrae neighborhood.
McDuffie practiced a philosophy of linking natural features of the area with architectural designs, whether it meant mapping circles around trees, setting aside public parks, or sprinkling developments among multi-story volcanic rocks.
The area was developed during Berkeley's architectural renaissance when Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and others designers trained in the Beaux Arts tradition followed the "building with nature'' style, creating rustic buildings and natural materials that blended in with the environment.
"Instead of shying away from it, they embraced the natural features and made it part of the excitement of the house and the drama of the architecture,'' said Lesley Emmington of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Foundation. "It was just a wonderful time of creativity and embracing the East Bay and the hillsides.''
A short walk from Great Stone Face Park is a home that illustrates the easy blend of architecture and rock. At the entrance of a shady Julie Morgan home, large outcroppings loom on either side of the front steps, adding a dramatic dimension to the landscape.
The area is brimming with rocks. Retaining walls made of volcanic formations stretch on for blocks, a buffer for an array of California Craftsman homes, English Tudors and those influenced by European styles.
As the walkers made their way along Yosemite Road, they occasionally would peek through the front gates and spot a large volcanic rock on the side of a garden surrounded by grass, shrubs and colorful perennials.
On the Alameda, they stoped in front of a driveway that wound its way up and around a huge volcanic mass. The rock occupied almost the entire front yard, surrounded by ferns, cypress shrubs, and Japanese maples.
"We called it the boulder home,'' said the new homeowner who was just moving in. The owner, who didn't want to give her name, said that the rock was definitely part of the attraction of the house, adding that her son likes to climb through a path that runs through the middle of the formation. "They're magnificent, solid, timeless.''
As Johnson led the group farther down the Alameda, they spied a variety of volcanic rocks, some no more than a hump, others tall enough to mingle with the trees. One house was built in an L-shape around a huge outcropping, while another had used it to create a steaming sauna. Several street sign pillars were made of the ubiquitous rock.
"To see what people do with them is quite fascinating,'' Johnson said, pointing out a home with a chimney made out of stacks of rocks.
Johnson led the group to Contra Costa Rock Park, an area dominated by a large outcropping big enough to climb on with a postage-stamp lawn in the back. Bruce Simon of Berkeley and his dog, Tessie, were perched on the top, savoring the shimmering view of the bay. "It's just part of our regular neighborhood walk with no crowds,'' he said.
The walkers made their way up Indian Rock Path, one of hundreds of paths that wind their way through the hills, until they arrived at Indian Rock. The largest of the Northbrae rhyolite, it was donated to the city of Berkeley in 1917 by McDuffie and is steeped with rock climbing lore. Dick Leonard, regarded as the father of modern rock climbing, and noted environmentalist David Brower developed their rock climbing skills here.
Winding steps are chiseled on the sides, leading climbers up to one of the best views of the Bay Area.
A short distance away is Mortar Rock Park, a smaller shadier version of rhyolite surrounded by California buckeye and live oak trees. Holes still remain where Ohlone Indians ground acorns, a remnant of the area's rich history .
"They're amazing natural, architectural features,'' said Nancy Shapiro, a longtime Berkeley resident, as she watched her dog, Cookie, scramble up on one of the rock formations.
"Visually and tactically, they give a great texture to the neighborhood,'' she said. "They're just great surprises."
Rock on
Berkeley Path Wanderers puts out a map showing the volcanic rock parks as well as pedestrian paths to reach them. The group also occasionally offers tours of the volcanic rocks.
Volcanoes evoke images of black, bubbling lava in Hawaii or steaming hot springs in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park.
But volcanic rock in the Berkeley hills? Yup, and plenty of it.
The creamy-yellowish rock, known as Northbrae rhyolite, is scattered throughout a quiet residential area called Thousand Oaks, adding a geological touch to private gardens and corner parks.
Some of the rocks are the size of a bread box, neatly layered to create a sidewalk retaining wall or a set of front steps. Others are at least a story high, some with pathways running through, inviting to kids who want to scramble up as well as climbers breaking in new equipment.
The largest formations are the centerpieces for a number of small parks that dot the area. But perhaps the most intriguing are those that have been incorporated into people's homes -- in the foundation, walls and gardens.
"People either buy the houses because of the rocks or they learn to live with them,'' said Jonathan Chester, a photographer who is working on a book about the volcanic rock called "Berkeley Rocks.'' He estimates that hundreds of homes in the area have Northbrae rhyolite on the premises. One homeowner even used it as material for a shower wall.
The bedrock outcrops are the result of eruptions 11.5 million years agofrom volcanoes south of San Jose, most likely related to a volcanic field northeast of Hollister. "Exactly how many it's hard to say, but it's probably more than one volcano,'' said Steve Edwards, director of Regional Parks Botanic Garden who, as a UC Berkeley graduate student, did field mapping of Round Top, a volcano in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland hills.
He called the volcanic rock in the Berkeley Hills fascinating, transported to its current location by movement along the Hayward and Calaveras fault lines.
Lin Murphy, who researched Northbrae rhyolite while earning her master's degree at Cal State Hayward, concluded that Northbrae rhyolite is distinct from volcanic rock found in Sibley and in Richmond, identifiable by its rounded and polished surfaces and white flow bands that show how the lava erupted.
Because of its apparent movement along the fault lines, the rock is rich with silica, creating an especially hard substance.
"That's my explanation for why Indian Rock is so much better to climb on because it has so much in it and it keeps it from falling apart,'' said Murphy, who now lives in Colorado, referring to one of the largest outcroppings.
In 1914, Andrew Lawson, a geology professor at UC Berkeley who mapped the San Andreas and Hayward faults, discovered the rhyolite while training his students to do geological field mapping.
He named it Northbrae rhyolite after the surrounding neighborhood.
"It's there and it's beautiful, and you don't have to go to the mountains,'' said Barbara Robben, who recently led a walk through the volcanic rock for the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, one of several groups that offer tours of volcanic rock in the area.
Four hikers recently went on an exploration of the area, led by Robert Johnson, a Berkeley resident and volunteer tour leader for Greenbelt Alliance, a conservation group that offers free hikes year-round.
The walk began at the Great Stone Face Park, which occupies a corner of a quiet residential area that overlooks the bay. On the edge of a gentle slope of grass is a volcanic formation about 15 feet high with just enough crevices and indentations to make it perfect for climbing. Smaller boulders nearby create unexpected pathways.
The park is one of a handful that were donated to the city of Berkeley by real estate developer Duncan McDuffie in the early 1900s when he was designing the Northbrae neighborhood.
McDuffie practiced a philosophy of linking natural features of the area with architectural designs, whether it meant mapping circles around trees, setting aside public parks, or sprinkling developments among multi-story volcanic rocks.
The area was developed during Berkeley's architectural renaissance when Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and others designers trained in the Beaux Arts tradition followed the "building with nature'' style, creating rustic buildings and natural materials that blended in with the environment.
"Instead of shying away from it, they embraced the natural features and made it part of the excitement of the house and the drama of the architecture,'' said Lesley Emmington of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Foundation. "It was just a wonderful time of creativity and embracing the East Bay and the hillsides.''
A short walk from Great Stone Face Park is a home that illustrates the easy blend of architecture and rock. At the entrance of a shady Julie Morgan home, large outcroppings loom on either side of the front steps, adding a dramatic dimension to the landscape.
The area is brimming with rocks. Retaining walls made of volcanic formations stretch on for blocks, a buffer for an array of California Craftsman homes, English Tudors and those influenced by European styles.
As the walkers made their way along Yosemite Road, they occasionally would peek through the front gates and spot a large volcanic rock on the side of a garden surrounded by grass, shrubs and colorful perennials.
On the Alameda, they stoped in front of a driveway that wound its way up and around a huge volcanic mass. The rock occupied almost the entire front yard, surrounded by ferns, cypress shrubs, and Japanese maples.
"We called it the boulder home,'' said the new homeowner who was just moving in. The owner, who didn't want to give her name, said that the rock was definitely part of the attraction of the house, adding that her son likes to climb through a path that runs through the middle of the formation. "They're magnificent, solid, timeless.''
As Johnson led the group farther down the Alameda, they spied a variety of volcanic rocks, some no more than a hump, others tall enough to mingle with the trees. One house was built in an L-shape around a huge outcropping, while another had used it to create a steaming sauna. Several street sign pillars were made of the ubiquitous rock.
"To see what people do with them is quite fascinating,'' Johnson said, pointing out a home with a chimney made out of stacks of rocks.
Johnson led the group to Contra Costa Rock Park, an area dominated by a large outcropping big enough to climb on with a postage-stamp lawn in the back. Bruce Simon of Berkeley and his dog, Tessie, were perched on the top, savoring the shimmering view of the bay. "It's just part of our regular neighborhood walk with no crowds,'' he said.
The walkers made their way up Indian Rock Path, one of hundreds of paths that wind their way through the hills, until they arrived at Indian Rock. The largest of the Northbrae rhyolite, it was donated to the city of Berkeley in 1917 by McDuffie and is steeped with rock climbing lore. Dick Leonard, regarded as the father of modern rock climbing, and noted environmentalist David Brower developed their rock climbing skills here.
Winding steps are chiseled on the sides, leading climbers up to one of the best views of the Bay Area.
A short distance away is Mortar Rock Park, a smaller shadier version of rhyolite surrounded by California buckeye and live oak trees. Holes still remain where Ohlone Indians ground acorns, a remnant of the area's rich history .
"They're amazing natural, architectural features,'' said Nancy Shapiro, a longtime Berkeley resident, as she watched her dog, Cookie, scramble up on one of the rock formations.
"Visually and tactically, they give a great texture to the neighborhood,'' she said. "They're just great surprises."
Rock on
Berkeley Path Wanderers puts out a map showing the volcanic rock parks as well as pedestrian paths to reach them. The group also occasionally offers tours of the volcanic rocks.
But volcanic rock in the Berkeley hills? Yup, and plenty of it.
The creamy-yellowish rock, known as Northbrae rhyolite, is scattered throughout a quiet residential area called Thousand Oaks, adding a geological touch to private gardens and corner parks.
Some of the rocks are the size of a bread box, neatly layered to create a sidewalk retaining wall or a set of front steps. Others are at least a story high, some with pathways running through, inviting to kids who want to scramble up as well as climbers breaking in new equipment.
The largest formations are the centerpieces for a number of small parks that dot the area. But perhaps the most intriguing are those that have been incorporated into people's homes -- in the foundation, walls and gardens.
"People either buy the houses because of the rocks or they learn to live with them,'' said Jonathan Chester, a photographer who is working on a book about the volcanic rock called "Berkeley Rocks.'' He estimates that hundreds of homes in the area have Northbrae rhyolite on the premises. One homeowner even used it as material for a shower wall.
The bedrock outcrops are the result of eruptions 11.5 million years agofrom volcanoes south of San Jose, most likely related to a volcanic field northeast of Hollister. "Exactly how many it's hard to say, but it's probably more than one volcano,'' said Steve Edwards, director of Regional Parks Botanic Garden who, as a UC Berkeley graduate student, did field mapping of Round Top, a volcano in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland hills.
He called the volcanic rock in the Berkeley Hills fascinating, transported to its current location by movement along the Hayward and Calaveras fault lines.
Lin Murphy, who researched Northbrae rhyolite while earning her master's degree at Cal State Hayward, concluded that Northbrae rhyolite is distinct from volcanic rock found in Sibley and in Richmond, identifiable by its rounded and polished surfaces and white flow bands that show how the lava erupted.
Because of its apparent movement along the fault lines, the rock is rich with silica, creating an especially hard substance.
"That's my explanation for why Indian Rock is so much better to climb on because it has so much in it and it keeps it from falling apart,'' said Murphy, who now lives in Colorado, referring to one of the largest outcroppings.
In 1914, Andrew Lawson, a geology professor at UC Berkeley who mapped the San Andreas and Hayward faults, discovered the rhyolite while training his students to do geological field mapping.
He named it Northbrae rhyolite after the surrounding neighborhood.
"It's there and it's beautiful, and you don't have to go to the mountains,'' said Barbara Robben, who recently led a walk through the volcanic rock for the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, one of several groups that offer tours of volcanic rock in the area.
Four hikers recently went on an exploration of the area, led by Robert Johnson, a Berkeley resident and volunteer tour leader for Greenbelt Alliance, a conservation group that offers free hikes year-round.
The walk began at the Great Stone Face Park, which occupies a corner of a quiet residential area that overlooks the bay. On the edge of a gentle slope of grass is a volcanic formation about 15 feet high with just enough crevices and indentations to make it perfect for climbing. Smaller boulders nearby create unexpected pathways.
The park is one of a handful that were donated to the city of Berkeley by real estate developer Duncan McDuffie in the early 1900s when he was designing the Northbrae neighborhood.
McDuffie practiced a philosophy of linking natural features of the area with architectural designs, whether it meant mapping circles around trees, setting aside public parks, or sprinkling developments among multi-story volcanic rocks.
The area was developed during Berkeley's architectural renaissance when Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and others designers trained in the Beaux Arts tradition followed the "building with nature'' style, creating rustic buildings and natural materials that blended in with the environment.
"Instead of shying away from it, they embraced the natural features and made it part of the excitement of the house and the drama of the architecture,'' said Lesley Emmington of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Foundation. "It was just a wonderful time of creativity and embracing the East Bay and the hillsides.''
A short walk from Great Stone Face Park is a home that illustrates the easy blend of architecture and rock. At the entrance of a shady Julie Morgan home, large outcroppings loom on either side of the front steps, adding a dramatic dimension to the landscape.
The area is brimming with rocks. Retaining walls made of volcanic formations stretch on for blocks, a buffer for an array of California Craftsman homes, English Tudors and those influenced by European styles.
As the walkers made their way along Yosemite Road, they occasionally would peek through the front gates and spot a large volcanic rock on the side of a garden surrounded by grass, shrubs and colorful perennials.
On the Alameda, they stoped in front of a driveway that wound its way up and around a huge volcanic mass. The rock occupied almost the entire front yard, surrounded by ferns, cypress shrubs, and Japanese maples.
"We called it the boulder home,'' said the new homeowner who was just moving in. The owner, who didn't want to give her name, said that the rock was definitely part of the attraction of the house, adding that her son likes to climb through a path that runs through the middle of the formation. "They're magnificent, solid, timeless.''
As Johnson led the group farther down the Alameda, they spied a variety of volcanic rocks, some no more than a hump, others tall enough to mingle with the trees. One house was built in an L-shape around a huge outcropping, while another had used it to create a steaming sauna. Several street sign pillars were made of the ubiquitous rock.
"To see what people do with them is quite fascinating,'' Johnson said, pointing out a home with a chimney made out of stacks of rocks.
Johnson led the group to Contra Costa Rock Park, an area dominated by a large outcropping big enough to climb on with a postage-stamp lawn in the back. Bruce Simon of Berkeley and his dog, Tessie, were perched on the top, savoring the shimmering view of the bay. "It's just part of our regular neighborhood walk with no crowds,'' he said.
The walkers made their way up Indian Rock Path, one of hundreds of paths that wind their way through the hills, until they arrived at Indian Rock. The largest of the Northbrae rhyolite, it was donated to the city of Berkeley in 1917 by McDuffie and is steeped with rock climbing lore. Dick Leonard, regarded as the father of modern rock climbing, and noted environmentalist David Brower developed their rock climbing skills here.
Winding steps are chiseled on the sides, leading climbers up to one of the best views of the Bay Area.
A short distance away is Mortar Rock Park, a smaller shadier version of rhyolite surrounded by California buckeye and live oak trees. Holes still remain where Ohlone Indians ground acorns, a remnant of the area's rich history .
"They're amazing natural, architectural features,'' said Nancy Shapiro, a longtime Berkeley resident, as she watched her dog, Cookie, scramble up on one of the rock formations.
"Visually and tactically, they give a great texture to the neighborhood,'' she said. "They're just great surprises."
Rock on
Berkeley Path Wanderers puts out a map showing the volcanic rock parks as well as pedestrian paths to reach them. The group also occasionally offers tours of the volcanic rocks.
Explosive stories
Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are being told to resist the temptation to gather volcanic rocks into neat, little stacks.
Piles of rocks along trails, at overlooks and on lava lakes at the Big Island park are a concern to scientists, who say displacing rocks makes research at the sites more difficult.
But Pele Hanoa, 82, compared the practice to sacrilege, since the national park contains many sites considered sacred to Hawaiians.
NEED MORE?
"We don't want those rock pilings put up all over the place," Hanoa said. "That's desecration of our culture."
It's unclear where the rock-stacking practice originated, but the piles of three or more stones are popular in the islands and can be seen bordering roads, in valleys and other scenic sites.
Rangers say the rock piles alter the park's natural setting and violate federal law. They warn that those who insist on stacking rocks could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Some 2.5 million people visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park each year. Most rock stacks are at Halemaumau Crater, the southwest rift zone's 1971 flow and the 1982 lava flow, officials said.
A study on the location of specific types of rocks blasted out of Kilauea gave clues that the volcano had a long history of explosive eruptions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which runs the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory within the national park.
The study noted that "the construction of rock piles erases geologic history."
The park plans to post signs and hand out fliers to educate visitors and tour operators about the problem.
Piles of rocks along trails, at overlooks and on lava lakes at the Big Island park are a concern to scientists, who say displacing rocks makes research at the sites more difficult.
But Pele Hanoa, 82, compared the practice to sacrilege, since the national park contains many sites considered sacred to Hawaiians.
NEED MORE?
"We don't want those rock pilings put up all over the place," Hanoa said. "That's desecration of our culture."
It's unclear where the rock-stacking practice originated, but the piles of three or more stones are popular in the islands and can be seen bordering roads, in valleys and other scenic sites.
Rangers say the rock piles alter the park's natural setting and violate federal law. They warn that those who insist on stacking rocks could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Some 2.5 million people visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park each year. Most rock stacks are at Halemaumau Crater, the southwest rift zone's 1971 flow and the 1982 lava flow, officials said.
A study on the location of specific types of rocks blasted out of Kilauea gave clues that the volcano had a long history of explosive eruptions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which runs the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory within the national park.
The study noted that "the construction of rock piles erases geologic history."
The park plans to post signs and hand out fliers to educate visitors and tour operators about the problem.
Book, therapy for survivors of disasters
"WHEN I first interviewed Joel, he admitted to being afraid of the rain. He believed that every strong rain would bring on another mudslide. I introduced the draw-a-person-in-the-rain as a therapeutic intervention, which seemed appropriate at the time because of the nature of his fears. I was surprised by his first drawing in the series, because he portrayed a young boy with adequate coping skills and no fear of the rain ... I continued to probe. What resulted was a series of drawings that ran like a storybook. Through drawing and the story he created, he succeeded in breaking through his denials and managed to resolve his fears."
This is an excerpt from a field psychologist's narrative about her therapy session with a boy who survived the 1990 earthquake and mudslides in Nueva Ecija.
Post-disaster relief and rehabilitation should go beyond the material and economic. Survivors need healing, not just of their physical wounds, but of their spirit as well. Adults, and children most specially, are vulnerable to the long-term psychological effects of their horrible experiences if no one helps them address and process their trauma.
Noted clinical psychologist, researcher and author Dr. Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang has been involved in addressing post-traumatic stress of survivors of major disasters in recent years and helping them come to terms with their pain and loss.
The book, "Pakikipagkapwa Damdamin: Accompanying Survivors of Disasters" (Bookmark, 1996), is the result of Carandang's and her Ateneo de Manila University team's efforts, funded by Unicef, to give psychological aid to survivors of the 1990 earthquake and the 1991 Mount Pinatubo and 1993 Mayon Volcano eruptions.
This "helping manual" for those working with survivors could very well have been written for the November landslides that claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed thousands of homes in Luzon. It could also find context in the Dec. 26 tsunami tragedy that killed more than 150,000 people along the coastlines of Asia and parts of Africa.
"Pakikipagkapwa-Damdamin," which is being reprinted, is different from other books on psychosocial rehabilitation. It uses the psychological approach instead of the symptom-oriented method. It examines the inner world of survivors by "letting them speak for themselves."
The phenomenology of the helper or carer is also laid bare. How do they see themselves, how do they sustain their level of energy?
Community barometer
The book reveals that children are the barometers of the psychological and emotional climate of the community. No matter how the adults try to conceal their true feelings, the children always provide an accurate gauge of where the community was at.
Children are the perfect entry points for gaining rapport, whether it is through "kodak magic" or games.A therapist uses a number of ways to make the atmosphere more accepting for a child.
Through "mirroring" or imitating the child's posture or facial expression, the psychologist enters the child's world and makes the child feel at ease, connected and accepted.
"Following the child's lead" is letting the child set the pace for beginning interaction. The therapist keeps his voice down, he is friendly but not overeager, and waits for the child's response instead of demanding it.Introductions, using names, sitting close and touching also make the child feel safe. Listening and showing interest in their answers are some of the many techniques to gain entry to a child's world.
Drawing, writing
Child therapists have always relied on nonverbal ways a child communicates. A child's drawing speaks a thousand words. It is also a tool for drawing out more stories.
Says Carandang: "Asking a child to draw enriched our pool of information. Drawing allowed children to re-live their traumatic experiences, a process necessary for their recovery. For example, when invited to draw her story of the earthquake, a 12-year-old illustrated a scene that she had failed to mention during the verbal interview."
Writing, Carandang adds, is also an effective tool for rapport and self-expression among older children. It can even be "infectious" to other children and adults.
Using story metaphors (about a group of ants, for example, that wanted to eat an ensaymada but whose path was blocked by water), play therapy, re-framing or looking at things in a new light, talking about lessons learned, making use of their senses and their connectedness to nature -- these help children make sense of their experiences.
Stuck adults
Carandang recalls her experience working with survivors of the 1990 earthquake in Nueva Ecija: "Working with adults who were in various emotional states was an essential part of the holistic multilevel process. As we met face-to-face with them, we found out that we needed to help them move on with their grieving process, that most of them were stuck and needed help to get unstuck from their immobilized states."
She narrates: "Emotional states varied from bitterness, pain, depression to suicidal thoughts. For some, intrusive thoughts were a problem."
She lists the survivors' lamentations:
"Sometimes, I think I will go crazy."
"We don't know where to turn to."
"Our land was washed out. Everything is gone. I grow weak when I think of it. That used to be land, the most beautiful land. It's gone."
"When everything is back to what it used to be, maybe that is when my mind will be back to normal."
But the survivors were able to cope with what happened. They never blamed anybody for what happened. They continued to hope, worked hard work and persevered. They also recognized the courage their children have given them.
Talking helped: "Alam namin ang damdamin ng bawat isa. Nagbibidahan kami. Kung minsan, nakikibida na ako, nakikihunta ako sa mga kapitbahay para lalong malibang ko iyong iniisip ko (We know what each one feels. We swap stories. Sometimes, I talk a lot about my own experience. I talk about what I think to my neighbors, the better to distract myself from my worries)."
Metaphors of nature
Since their lives have been spent close to nature, Carandang says, adults have a deep emotional bond with it. Familiar nature scenes were used as metaphors to help adults regain a sense of transcendence or ability to look beyond their present situation.
One therapist used two mountains that marked the boundaries of the relief center -- one barren, the other lush -- to re-frame the outlook of an adult stuck in his feeling of loss."Many adults," Carandang says, "believed that God sent the disasters to punish them for their wrongdoings."
The team had to explain to survivors that the disasters were not their fault in order to bring them out of self-blame.
The support system, prayers, even specialized techniques such as hypnosis and massage helped those suffering from psychosomatic reactions.
Recalls Carandang: "Perhaps the most tender and touching part of the prayer service that our team experienced was the offertory, where the people, again, despite their sorrow, offered themselves quietly to the Lord, calling Him Amang mapagmahal (loving Father).
Finally, the community offered a big rock -- a symbol of their tibay ng pananampalataya (strength of their faith). This last offering served to remind them of the deeper directions of the community's healing: stronger and more compelling than the shared outpouring of grief was the will to renew lives of enduring trust, faith and hope."
This is an excerpt from a field psychologist's narrative about her therapy session with a boy who survived the 1990 earthquake and mudslides in Nueva Ecija.
Post-disaster relief and rehabilitation should go beyond the material and economic. Survivors need healing, not just of their physical wounds, but of their spirit as well. Adults, and children most specially, are vulnerable to the long-term psychological effects of their horrible experiences if no one helps them address and process their trauma.
Noted clinical psychologist, researcher and author Dr. Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang has been involved in addressing post-traumatic stress of survivors of major disasters in recent years and helping them come to terms with their pain and loss.
The book, "Pakikipagkapwa Damdamin: Accompanying Survivors of Disasters" (Bookmark, 1996), is the result of Carandang's and her Ateneo de Manila University team's efforts, funded by Unicef, to give psychological aid to survivors of the 1990 earthquake and the 1991 Mount Pinatubo and 1993 Mayon Volcano eruptions.
This "helping manual" for those working with survivors could very well have been written for the November landslides that claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed thousands of homes in Luzon. It could also find context in the Dec. 26 tsunami tragedy that killed more than 150,000 people along the coastlines of Asia and parts of Africa.
"Pakikipagkapwa-Damdamin," which is being reprinted, is different from other books on psychosocial rehabilitation. It uses the psychological approach instead of the symptom-oriented method. It examines the inner world of survivors by "letting them speak for themselves."
The phenomenology of the helper or carer is also laid bare. How do they see themselves, how do they sustain their level of energy?
Community barometer
The book reveals that children are the barometers of the psychological and emotional climate of the community. No matter how the adults try to conceal their true feelings, the children always provide an accurate gauge of where the community was at.
Children are the perfect entry points for gaining rapport, whether it is through "kodak magic" or games.A therapist uses a number of ways to make the atmosphere more accepting for a child.
Through "mirroring" or imitating the child's posture or facial expression, the psychologist enters the child's world and makes the child feel at ease, connected and accepted.
"Following the child's lead" is letting the child set the pace for beginning interaction. The therapist keeps his voice down, he is friendly but not overeager, and waits for the child's response instead of demanding it.Introductions, using names, sitting close and touching also make the child feel safe. Listening and showing interest in their answers are some of the many techniques to gain entry to a child's world.
Drawing, writing
Child therapists have always relied on nonverbal ways a child communicates. A child's drawing speaks a thousand words. It is also a tool for drawing out more stories.
Says Carandang: "Asking a child to draw enriched our pool of information. Drawing allowed children to re-live their traumatic experiences, a process necessary for their recovery. For example, when invited to draw her story of the earthquake, a 12-year-old illustrated a scene that she had failed to mention during the verbal interview."
Writing, Carandang adds, is also an effective tool for rapport and self-expression among older children. It can even be "infectious" to other children and adults.
Using story metaphors (about a group of ants, for example, that wanted to eat an ensaymada but whose path was blocked by water), play therapy, re-framing or looking at things in a new light, talking about lessons learned, making use of their senses and their connectedness to nature -- these help children make sense of their experiences.
Stuck adults
Carandang recalls her experience working with survivors of the 1990 earthquake in Nueva Ecija: "Working with adults who were in various emotional states was an essential part of the holistic multilevel process. As we met face-to-face with them, we found out that we needed to help them move on with their grieving process, that most of them were stuck and needed help to get unstuck from their immobilized states."
She narrates: "Emotional states varied from bitterness, pain, depression to suicidal thoughts. For some, intrusive thoughts were a problem."
She lists the survivors' lamentations:
"Sometimes, I think I will go crazy."
"We don't know where to turn to."
"Our land was washed out. Everything is gone. I grow weak when I think of it. That used to be land, the most beautiful land. It's gone."
"When everything is back to what it used to be, maybe that is when my mind will be back to normal."
But the survivors were able to cope with what happened. They never blamed anybody for what happened. They continued to hope, worked hard work and persevered. They also recognized the courage their children have given them.
Talking helped: "Alam namin ang damdamin ng bawat isa. Nagbibidahan kami. Kung minsan, nakikibida na ako, nakikihunta ako sa mga kapitbahay para lalong malibang ko iyong iniisip ko (We know what each one feels. We swap stories. Sometimes, I talk a lot about my own experience. I talk about what I think to my neighbors, the better to distract myself from my worries)."
Metaphors of nature
Since their lives have been spent close to nature, Carandang says, adults have a deep emotional bond with it. Familiar nature scenes were used as metaphors to help adults regain a sense of transcendence or ability to look beyond their present situation.
One therapist used two mountains that marked the boundaries of the relief center -- one barren, the other lush -- to re-frame the outlook of an adult stuck in his feeling of loss."Many adults," Carandang says, "believed that God sent the disasters to punish them for their wrongdoings."
The team had to explain to survivors that the disasters were not their fault in order to bring them out of self-blame.
The support system, prayers, even specialized techniques such as hypnosis and massage helped those suffering from psychosomatic reactions.
Recalls Carandang: "Perhaps the most tender and touching part of the prayer service that our team experienced was the offertory, where the people, again, despite their sorrow, offered themselves quietly to the Lord, calling Him Amang mapagmahal (loving Father).
Finally, the community offered a big rock -- a symbol of their tibay ng pananampalataya (strength of their faith). This last offering served to remind them of the deeper directions of the community's healing: stronger and more compelling than the shared outpouring of grief was the will to renew lives of enduring trust, faith and hope."
Ancient volcano eruptions influenced actual climate
Scientists on drill ships are studying colossal slabs of volcanic lava hidden under the sea that shaped its climate, helped determine its life forms and record Earth's violent past.
They think their research can help explain what's happening to our warming world today.
The extent of some of these buried lava flows is mind-boggling. Fragments left by a series of eruptions 200 million years ago in what's now the Atlantic Ocean stretch across four continents, in places ranging from New England to France and from the Amazon to West Africa.
An even larger outburst, 120 million years ago off the Indonesian island of Java in the southwest Pacific, slathered molten rock over more than 1.2 million square miles of ocean floor, enough to cover Alaska or Western Europe with a layer up to 18 miles thick.
Along with somewhat smaller -- but still enormous -- volcanic eruptions on dry land, these belches from the planet's fiery interior contributed to a series of mass extinctions of most of the organisms that were then alive. Although the extinctions were devastating to life at the time, scientists think they opened the way for new, more advanced creatures to evolve, including ourselves. Without them, we wouldn't be here.
Mass extinctions have "radically changed the types of life on Earth, because rapid evolution after each disaster led to the older forms becoming replaced by newer forms," said Gregory McHone, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
The blasts from the past may have ominous implications for future climate change, however, some scientists say.
"The rapid release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, happening today, appears to have happened in the past, too," said Paul Wignall, an earth scientist at the University of Leeds in England.
"In many ways, these rapid and giant eruptions seem to replicate the effects of fossil fuel burning, and so have provided natural experiments closely similar to human activity," Wignall wrote in an e-mail message. "The consequence of rapid warming of oceans and atmospheres appears to be mass extinction."
Lava is a common type of rock that's been melted by temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and flows out from a volcano or a crack in the Earth's surface. It rises from a 400-mile-thick layer of hot, gooey material, known as magma that lies between the planet's crust and its solid core.
The vast expanses of seafloor lava -- technically known as Large Igneous Provinces -- are "one of Earth's most fascinating features," said John Mahoney, a geologist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. "They provide insights into the causes of major environmental and biological changes in the past," he said in an e-mail interview, and "almost certainly played an important role in bringing about these extinctions."
The oceanic lava sheets are mostly invisible from the surface, but Earth's continents also bear traces of huge volcanic eruptions, some of them recent.
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, for instance, contains a 50-by-40-mile crater left by a series of volcanic eruptions, averaging about 600,000 years apart. The latest explosion came 630,000 years ago, so the park is overdue for another.
"Eventually Yellowstone will erupt again," said Don Hyndman, a geologist at the University of Montana. "When it does, I don't want to be living in Bozeman" -- 90 miles away. "The last event blew ash as far as Kansas and Arkansas." It produced enough lava, ash and rock to cover New York state 67 feet deep, he said.
Exploration of the lava beds also is turning up new sources of valuable minerals, according to Don Schissel, an executive with BHP Billiton, a global mining company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
"There is a clear relationship between Large Igneous Provinces and the world's nickel, copper, platinum ore deposits," Schissel reported last fall in a collection of research papers on the provinces.
They think their research can help explain what's happening to our warming world today.
The extent of some of these buried lava flows is mind-boggling. Fragments left by a series of eruptions 200 million years ago in what's now the Atlantic Ocean stretch across four continents, in places ranging from New England to France and from the Amazon to West Africa.
An even larger outburst, 120 million years ago off the Indonesian island of Java in the southwest Pacific, slathered molten rock over more than 1.2 million square miles of ocean floor, enough to cover Alaska or Western Europe with a layer up to 18 miles thick.
Along with somewhat smaller -- but still enormous -- volcanic eruptions on dry land, these belches from the planet's fiery interior contributed to a series of mass extinctions of most of the organisms that were then alive. Although the extinctions were devastating to life at the time, scientists think they opened the way for new, more advanced creatures to evolve, including ourselves. Without them, we wouldn't be here.
Mass extinctions have "radically changed the types of life on Earth, because rapid evolution after each disaster led to the older forms becoming replaced by newer forms," said Gregory McHone, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
The blasts from the past may have ominous implications for future climate change, however, some scientists say.
"The rapid release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, happening today, appears to have happened in the past, too," said Paul Wignall, an earth scientist at the University of Leeds in England.
"In many ways, these rapid and giant eruptions seem to replicate the effects of fossil fuel burning, and so have provided natural experiments closely similar to human activity," Wignall wrote in an e-mail message. "The consequence of rapid warming of oceans and atmospheres appears to be mass extinction."
Lava is a common type of rock that's been melted by temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and flows out from a volcano or a crack in the Earth's surface. It rises from a 400-mile-thick layer of hot, gooey material, known as magma that lies between the planet's crust and its solid core.
The vast expanses of seafloor lava -- technically known as Large Igneous Provinces -- are "one of Earth's most fascinating features," said John Mahoney, a geologist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. "They provide insights into the causes of major environmental and biological changes in the past," he said in an e-mail interview, and "almost certainly played an important role in bringing about these extinctions."
The oceanic lava sheets are mostly invisible from the surface, but Earth's continents also bear traces of huge volcanic eruptions, some of them recent.
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, for instance, contains a 50-by-40-mile crater left by a series of volcanic eruptions, averaging about 600,000 years apart. The latest explosion came 630,000 years ago, so the park is overdue for another.
"Eventually Yellowstone will erupt again," said Don Hyndman, a geologist at the University of Montana. "When it does, I don't want to be living in Bozeman" -- 90 miles away. "The last event blew ash as far as Kansas and Arkansas." It produced enough lava, ash and rock to cover New York state 67 feet deep, he said.
Exploration of the lava beds also is turning up new sources of valuable minerals, according to Don Schissel, an executive with BHP Billiton, a global mining company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
"There is a clear relationship between Large Igneous Provinces and the world's nickel, copper, platinum ore deposits," Schissel reported last fall in a collection of research papers on the provinces.
Friday, November 11, 2005
There is much more than volcanoes to learn about Venus
Little is known about Earth’s neighbor Venus because its surface is veiled by thick, swirling clouds.
But scientists expect an upcoming Venus mission to help unlock some of the second planet’s secrets.
The European Space Agency’s Venus Express, with 12 Americans on the mostly European team, is launching a spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today. The spacecraft is expected to arrive just outside Venus’s atmosphere in April 2006 for the 16-month mission.
Larry Esposito, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado and member of the Venus Express science team, anticipates a slew of new information about Venus’ atmosphere because the team is launching better technology than was used on two dozen previous missions.
Esposito said he is particularly interested in finding out whether Venus’ volcanoes are still active. In a recent press release, Esposito — who made the first observations of Venus with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 — said the Magellan mission, which mapped Venus in the 1990s, did not find evidence of volcanic activity.
“We may discover erupting volcanos and an understanding of the absorbing materials and clouds of Venus,” Esposito said.
The scientists will be looking for clues about the planet’s atmosphere.
“We’ll be observing (the atmosphere) and relate the information to the question of whether life ever arose on Venus,” Esposito said.
Esposito’s research will focus on the “ultraviolet absorbers” that block sunlight from reaching the surface of Venus.
Scientists have long been interested in the planet because of some of its similarities to Earth. Venus receives about the same amount of radiation from the sun as Earth does, and the two planets formed at about the same time and have similar size, mass and composition. However, Mars has received more attention in the media over the past decade.
“(Mars) is a place where life could have risen and might even exist now,” Esposito said. “Some of the current interest in Mars has caused neglect in Venus over the last decade.”
But scientists expect an upcoming Venus mission to help unlock some of the second planet’s secrets.
The European Space Agency’s Venus Express, with 12 Americans on the mostly European team, is launching a spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today. The spacecraft is expected to arrive just outside Venus’s atmosphere in April 2006 for the 16-month mission.
Larry Esposito, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado and member of the Venus Express science team, anticipates a slew of new information about Venus’ atmosphere because the team is launching better technology than was used on two dozen previous missions.
Esposito said he is particularly interested in finding out whether Venus’ volcanoes are still active. In a recent press release, Esposito — who made the first observations of Venus with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 — said the Magellan mission, which mapped Venus in the 1990s, did not find evidence of volcanic activity.
“We may discover erupting volcanos and an understanding of the absorbing materials and clouds of Venus,” Esposito said.
The scientists will be looking for clues about the planet’s atmosphere.
“We’ll be observing (the atmosphere) and relate the information to the question of whether life ever arose on Venus,” Esposito said.
Esposito’s research will focus on the “ultraviolet absorbers” that block sunlight from reaching the surface of Venus.
Scientists have long been interested in the planet because of some of its similarities to Earth. Venus receives about the same amount of radiation from the sun as Earth does, and the two planets formed at about the same time and have similar size, mass and composition. However, Mars has received more attention in the media over the past decade.
“(Mars) is a place where life could have risen and might even exist now,” Esposito said. “Some of the current interest in Mars has caused neglect in Venus over the last decade.”
Some volcanoes in Alaska may be affecting air traffic
Some of Alaska's volcanoes have been rumbling over the last year, only to go quiet again.
Keeping an eye on the many active volcanoes in the Aleutian Chains and along the Alaska Peninsula is a big job, but the Alaska Volcano Observatory does just that, eyeing the small day to day changes that indicated a quiet volcano is beginning to stir.
The level of seismic activity at Mount Spurr remains slightly elevated. Steaming was observed most of last week and could even be seen from town thanks to clear skies. AVO scientists conducted a flyover last Thursday just to check on things. While nothing indicates an impending eruption, after the 1992, blast that covered Anchorage in ash, scientists take note of all activity.
“Because it's at color code yellow, we keep an eye on it. But things would really start to happen in addition to what we're seeing now before we would expect an eruption,” said Michelle Coombs, USGS-AVO geologist.
Mount Veniaminof is also at color code yellow thanks to a minor ash emission, rising only a couple hundred feet, that occurred Friday. AVO scientists expect steam and ash emissions to continue on and off and that could threaten people and low-flying aircraft near the volcano.
“We always keep the FAA and Airlines in tune with what the volcanoes are doing. And Veni is one that can push ash up that might impact small aircraft or larger aircraft during bigger eruptions. So we'll definitely keep them informed. But right now, the puffs are really, really small,” said Coombs.
Keeping an eye on the many active volcanoes in the Aleutian Chains and along the Alaska Peninsula is a big job, but the Alaska Volcano Observatory does just that, eyeing the small day to day changes that indicated a quiet volcano is beginning to stir.
The level of seismic activity at Mount Spurr remains slightly elevated. Steaming was observed most of last week and could even be seen from town thanks to clear skies. AVO scientists conducted a flyover last Thursday just to check on things. While nothing indicates an impending eruption, after the 1992, blast that covered Anchorage in ash, scientists take note of all activity.
“Because it's at color code yellow, we keep an eye on it. But things would really start to happen in addition to what we're seeing now before we would expect an eruption,” said Michelle Coombs, USGS-AVO geologist.
Mount Veniaminof is also at color code yellow thanks to a minor ash emission, rising only a couple hundred feet, that occurred Friday. AVO scientists expect steam and ash emissions to continue on and off and that could threaten people and low-flying aircraft near the volcano.
“We always keep the FAA and Airlines in tune with what the volcanoes are doing. And Veni is one that can push ash up that might impact small aircraft or larger aircraft during bigger eruptions. So we'll definitely keep them informed. But right now, the puffs are really, really small,” said Coombs.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Hotel arrange for volcano tours for guests
It's a hot day when we hike to the lava fields to see the petroglyphs with Uncle Kalani.
Trekking along an ancient coastal footpath, we enter a wooded area and squeeze past overgrown mesquite branches that block our progress.
There's something so Indiana Jones about it, and the spirit of discovery swells as much in my breast as it does in the hearts of my children, who stay just two paces behind Uncle Kalani (known as uncle in the Hawaiian tradition of respect) lest they miss a word he has to say.
Kalani, a native Hawaiian, "Beachboy" and cultural adviser at the Fairmont Orchid hotel, is well-versed in Hawaiian culture and history.
As we hike, he tells us tales of his ancestors. He learned these stories from his elders, he explains, which is the Hawaiian way. He turns to my son and says, "You must listen. To us, children are exotic flowers and we tend them with teachings. All our legends, all our musical traditions, will help you in your life."
Enthralled, 11-year-old Nick just nods, and when Kalani turns to head toward our destination, the Puako Petroglyph Preserve, my exuberant child follows him, wide-eyed with wonder.
Suddenly, we reach a clearing of baked, crusty red lava that flows like an undulating sea of rock. Our small group, participants on a cultural hike organized by the hotel, stare in silence. The sacredness of the site is palpable, and even the youngest child among us resists the temptation to scamper across the etchings.
This preserve, one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs extant in Hawaii, boasts approximately 5,000 compelling carvings, some dating back to 1000 A.D. The Hawaiians had no written language before Western contact and petroglyphs, mysterious symbols engraved in the lava rock, are thought to be one way the ancient people passed messages to one another, preserved family histories, left legends for future generations and marked sacred spots. This expansive field portrays dogs, fishermen, turtles, royal Hawaiian families, sailing canoes, pregnant women, a mother with twins and more.
Kalani shows us how to walk carefully between them, and we follow him in eerie silence. He enjoys honing our mythical comprehension skills and teaching us about the symbols. Soon we see parallels between them, and offer our theories of interpretation.
On the way back, when we reach the beach trail, Kalani stops to face us. He smiles, nodding, a professor, pleased with our progress.
"You did well," he says. And he rewards us with a story of Pele, that mischievous goddess of the volcano, whom many believe keeps the spirit of the Big Island alive.
These are the sorts of experiences I want my kids to have on Hawaii. As a pre-teen, I lived here briefly in the '70s and it was the island's mysticism that moved me most of all.
I was aware of the beauty of black lava rocks and lavender-colored seas, but these seemed more a door to what burned beneath, a sort of intensity, a healing quality, that calls out to those who listen.
Ancient Hawaiians believed that the entire island, including the Kohala Coast and especially the land beneath the Fairmont Orchid, was deeply sacred.
Karen Chandler, a yoga instructor at the Fairmont Orchid, says that on her first visit to the island, she fell weeping to her knees in a meadow outside nearby Waimea, so touched was she by the gentleness of the energy around her. She knew then she would have to move here someday — something heard often from transplanted mainlanders.
Chandler encourages her students and other hotel guests to explore the landscape around the Orchid, from the coconut grove to the Plantation Estates, to seek out energy spots that speak to them.
"For the sacredness to be real, we have to feel it ourselves," says Chandler, adding that at Honokane Nui, a valley just past Pololu, "the rocks will sing to you, if you allow yourself to slow down enough to hear them."
One of the more fascinating things about Hawaii is Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, sometimes described as Hawaii's "drive-in volcano" because of the frequency and quiet manner of its eruptions. Each time it erupts, the island changes and evolves, essentially giving birth to itself.
When I first landed on the Kohala Coast years ago, I thought I had been transported to Mars, so surreal was the pervasive black lava that blanketed the ground, the only green spots dollops of emerald by the sea that looked like crocuses popping through stone from the air.
Encompassing 10 of the 15 climatic zones, from desert to glacier, the Big Island's textured topography makes it a luscious and inviting garden of earthly delights. Along the Kohala Coast, much of the allure stems from the five mountains that surround it, rising like watchdogs on guard.
Considered sacred by not only the Hawaiians of old, but also the modern day residents, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai, Kohala and Haleakala (Maui's tallest peak), define the area and contribute to its mystical ambiance.
You don't have to feel the Big Island's spiritual presence to enjoy an immersion in Hawaiian culture and history at the Fairmont Orchid. Culturally sensitive and environmentally committed, this Canadian-owned hotel group ensures that no two hotels are alike and that each one revels in its history.
They even brought in a kahuna, or Hawaiian holy person, to determine what to do with some petroglyphs that were found on the property. Nobody knew how these carved rocks should be positioned on the property, but Kaimiloa Danang, the kahuna, sensed a strong message from the petroglyphs. She felt they needed to face northeast — to the rising sun, all except one, a petroglyph representing a male.
This one, she felt needed to face south, toward Tahiti, the land from where many of the original Hawaiians are believed to have come. Native Hawaiians, raised in the ways of the sea and students of their heritage, work at the hotel as ambassadors of the Hawaiian culture. Based on the popular "Beach Boys of Waikiki" concept, these Hawaiians lend a hand in revealing the wonders of their nature-based traditions.
Their down-to-earth approach, far from being hokey or touristy, enlightens visitors who might have come to Hawaii believing it to be just another beach resort.
At the Fairmont Orchid, Beachboys, as well as Mele McPherson, the hotel's only Beachgirl, teach guests to surf, weave with coconut fronds, shore fish from an outrigger canoe, kayak, snorkel and lead turtle talks. Like Uncle Kalani, they take guests to see the petroglyphs, ancient Hawaiian fishponds and shelter caves, and tell stories of their ancestors.
Even the hotel's sunset ceremony follows a centuries-old tradition. Prior to sunset, a Beachboy — or girl — jogs through the property, lighting nearly 200 torches along the perimeter of the oceanfront hotel. Along the way, he or she lifts a conch shell to blow a low, hypnotic croon four times, toward the north, south, east and west. This ritual, passed from early generations, lets the village know that all is well, and the message is carried on the four winds into the universe.
Seated on the beach, near a place where more than 20 green turtles have come to rest, we hear the seductive sound of the conch.
All is well, we think, deeply relaxed, in tune, with the whisper of the waves. We can almost hear the rocks singing.
If you go . . .
Expect sunshine 365 days of the year on the Big Island. The Fairmont Orchid, 23 miles from the Kona airport, is in the Mauna Lani Resort on the Kohala Coast. Besides the beach and cultural activities, the resort offers swimming pools, tennis, a renowned spa, superb dining, and golf. Rates start at $299.
Trekking along an ancient coastal footpath, we enter a wooded area and squeeze past overgrown mesquite branches that block our progress.
There's something so Indiana Jones about it, and the spirit of discovery swells as much in my breast as it does in the hearts of my children, who stay just two paces behind Uncle Kalani (known as uncle in the Hawaiian tradition of respect) lest they miss a word he has to say.
Kalani, a native Hawaiian, "Beachboy" and cultural adviser at the Fairmont Orchid hotel, is well-versed in Hawaiian culture and history.
As we hike, he tells us tales of his ancestors. He learned these stories from his elders, he explains, which is the Hawaiian way. He turns to my son and says, "You must listen. To us, children are exotic flowers and we tend them with teachings. All our legends, all our musical traditions, will help you in your life."
Enthralled, 11-year-old Nick just nods, and when Kalani turns to head toward our destination, the Puako Petroglyph Preserve, my exuberant child follows him, wide-eyed with wonder.
Suddenly, we reach a clearing of baked, crusty red lava that flows like an undulating sea of rock. Our small group, participants on a cultural hike organized by the hotel, stare in silence. The sacredness of the site is palpable, and even the youngest child among us resists the temptation to scamper across the etchings.
This preserve, one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs extant in Hawaii, boasts approximately 5,000 compelling carvings, some dating back to 1000 A.D. The Hawaiians had no written language before Western contact and petroglyphs, mysterious symbols engraved in the lava rock, are thought to be one way the ancient people passed messages to one another, preserved family histories, left legends for future generations and marked sacred spots. This expansive field portrays dogs, fishermen, turtles, royal Hawaiian families, sailing canoes, pregnant women, a mother with twins and more.
Kalani shows us how to walk carefully between them, and we follow him in eerie silence. He enjoys honing our mythical comprehension skills and teaching us about the symbols. Soon we see parallels between them, and offer our theories of interpretation.
On the way back, when we reach the beach trail, Kalani stops to face us. He smiles, nodding, a professor, pleased with our progress.
"You did well," he says. And he rewards us with a story of Pele, that mischievous goddess of the volcano, whom many believe keeps the spirit of the Big Island alive.
These are the sorts of experiences I want my kids to have on Hawaii. As a pre-teen, I lived here briefly in the '70s and it was the island's mysticism that moved me most of all.
I was aware of the beauty of black lava rocks and lavender-colored seas, but these seemed more a door to what burned beneath, a sort of intensity, a healing quality, that calls out to those who listen.
Ancient Hawaiians believed that the entire island, including the Kohala Coast and especially the land beneath the Fairmont Orchid, was deeply sacred.
Karen Chandler, a yoga instructor at the Fairmont Orchid, says that on her first visit to the island, she fell weeping to her knees in a meadow outside nearby Waimea, so touched was she by the gentleness of the energy around her. She knew then she would have to move here someday — something heard often from transplanted mainlanders.
Chandler encourages her students and other hotel guests to explore the landscape around the Orchid, from the coconut grove to the Plantation Estates, to seek out energy spots that speak to them.
"For the sacredness to be real, we have to feel it ourselves," says Chandler, adding that at Honokane Nui, a valley just past Pololu, "the rocks will sing to you, if you allow yourself to slow down enough to hear them."
One of the more fascinating things about Hawaii is Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, sometimes described as Hawaii's "drive-in volcano" because of the frequency and quiet manner of its eruptions. Each time it erupts, the island changes and evolves, essentially giving birth to itself.
When I first landed on the Kohala Coast years ago, I thought I had been transported to Mars, so surreal was the pervasive black lava that blanketed the ground, the only green spots dollops of emerald by the sea that looked like crocuses popping through stone from the air.
Encompassing 10 of the 15 climatic zones, from desert to glacier, the Big Island's textured topography makes it a luscious and inviting garden of earthly delights. Along the Kohala Coast, much of the allure stems from the five mountains that surround it, rising like watchdogs on guard.
Considered sacred by not only the Hawaiians of old, but also the modern day residents, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai, Kohala and Haleakala (Maui's tallest peak), define the area and contribute to its mystical ambiance.
You don't have to feel the Big Island's spiritual presence to enjoy an immersion in Hawaiian culture and history at the Fairmont Orchid. Culturally sensitive and environmentally committed, this Canadian-owned hotel group ensures that no two hotels are alike and that each one revels in its history.
They even brought in a kahuna, or Hawaiian holy person, to determine what to do with some petroglyphs that were found on the property. Nobody knew how these carved rocks should be positioned on the property, but Kaimiloa Danang, the kahuna, sensed a strong message from the petroglyphs. She felt they needed to face northeast — to the rising sun, all except one, a petroglyph representing a male.
This one, she felt needed to face south, toward Tahiti, the land from where many of the original Hawaiians are believed to have come. Native Hawaiians, raised in the ways of the sea and students of their heritage, work at the hotel as ambassadors of the Hawaiian culture. Based on the popular "Beach Boys of Waikiki" concept, these Hawaiians lend a hand in revealing the wonders of their nature-based traditions.
Their down-to-earth approach, far from being hokey or touristy, enlightens visitors who might have come to Hawaii believing it to be just another beach resort.
At the Fairmont Orchid, Beachboys, as well as Mele McPherson, the hotel's only Beachgirl, teach guests to surf, weave with coconut fronds, shore fish from an outrigger canoe, kayak, snorkel and lead turtle talks. Like Uncle Kalani, they take guests to see the petroglyphs, ancient Hawaiian fishponds and shelter caves, and tell stories of their ancestors.
Even the hotel's sunset ceremony follows a centuries-old tradition. Prior to sunset, a Beachboy — or girl — jogs through the property, lighting nearly 200 torches along the perimeter of the oceanfront hotel. Along the way, he or she lifts a conch shell to blow a low, hypnotic croon four times, toward the north, south, east and west. This ritual, passed from early generations, lets the village know that all is well, and the message is carried on the four winds into the universe.
Seated on the beach, near a place where more than 20 green turtles have come to rest, we hear the seductive sound of the conch.
All is well, we think, deeply relaxed, in tune, with the whisper of the waves. We can almost hear the rocks singing.
If you go . . .
Expect sunshine 365 days of the year on the Big Island. The Fairmont Orchid, 23 miles from the Kona airport, is in the Mauna Lani Resort on the Kohala Coast. Besides the beach and cultural activities, the resort offers swimming pools, tennis, a renowned spa, superb dining, and golf. Rates start at $299.
Volcanic eruptions delay rise in sea level
Powerful volcanic eruptions over the past century have slowed the rise in sea level by releasing fine particles that deflect sunlight, cooling the oceans and thus reducing their volume, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. But the effect is only temporary.
Using computer models and satellite data, researchers found that the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines dropped sea levels by about 5 millimeters, or 1/5 inch, within a year.
But after two years, the climate began to recover from Mount Pinatubo’s effects, adding 0.5-millimeter each year for the next decade to the rate of sea level rise, said lead author John A. Church, a senior research scientist with the Australia’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Center.
The findings may explain part of the higher rate of sea level increase since 1993 -- about 3 millimeters each year. The expected long-term rise was 1.8 millimeters per year.
“The cooling effect of eruptions on the atmosphere generally lasts for only two years,” Church said. “But large bodies of water can take up a decade to warm up again because of anomalies in the way sub-surface water circulates.”
Despite the powerful effect of volcanic eruptions on world climate, they are still not powerful enough to offset the effect of global warming caused by human burning of fossil fuels -- considered by many scientists to be the primary cause of sea level rise.
Church estimated that over the past 110 years, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo along with Indonesia’s Mount Agung in 1963 and Mexico’s El Chichon in 1982 have reduced sea level rise by about 7 millimeters -- only a fraction of the overall 180 millimeter increase in sea levels in the 20th century.
“Once a volcano’s aerosols evaporate, the pace of global warming will continue to accelerate,” said climate researcher James Hansen, the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
Using computer models and satellite data, researchers found that the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines dropped sea levels by about 5 millimeters, or 1/5 inch, within a year.
But after two years, the climate began to recover from Mount Pinatubo’s effects, adding 0.5-millimeter each year for the next decade to the rate of sea level rise, said lead author John A. Church, a senior research scientist with the Australia’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Center.
The findings may explain part of the higher rate of sea level increase since 1993 -- about 3 millimeters each year. The expected long-term rise was 1.8 millimeters per year.
“The cooling effect of eruptions on the atmosphere generally lasts for only two years,” Church said. “But large bodies of water can take up a decade to warm up again because of anomalies in the way sub-surface water circulates.”
Despite the powerful effect of volcanic eruptions on world climate, they are still not powerful enough to offset the effect of global warming caused by human burning of fossil fuels -- considered by many scientists to be the primary cause of sea level rise.
Church estimated that over the past 110 years, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo along with Indonesia’s Mount Agung in 1963 and Mexico’s El Chichon in 1982 have reduced sea level rise by about 7 millimeters -- only a fraction of the overall 180 millimeter increase in sea levels in the 20th century.
“Once a volcano’s aerosols evaporate, the pace of global warming will continue to accelerate,” said climate researcher James Hansen, the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Kilauea volcano rocks, not to be stacked up
Visitors to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park who build small rock stacks as a show of respect for Hawaiian deities or the power of Kilauea are doing nothing more than tampering with potential scientific evidence of long-ago eruptions and should stop, park rangers and volcano scientists said.
Kupuna Pele Hanoa, 82, said the misguided practice is akin to sacrilege, since the national park contains many sites considered sacred to Native Hawaiians.
"That's desecrating, because we don't want those rock pilings put up all over the place ... ," Hanoa said. "That's desecration of our culture."
Scientists warn that moving rocks around makes scientific research more difficult, and park rangers say the rock piles alter the natural setting, violating both federal law and the golden rule of national parks that visitors should "take only pictures and leave only footprints."
There are 2.5 million visitors to the Big Island park each year. The stacks of rocks are concentrated at Halema'uma'u Crater, the Southwest Rift Zone's 1971 flow and the 1982 lava flow, officials said.
Similar piles of three or more stones in graduated sizes can be seen at other scenic and historic sites throughout the state, and it's unclear how the practice started. It probably means different things to different visitors, but park ranger Mardie Lane said they trigger an obvious "copy cat" effect: Leave one stack standing for a while and more piles spring up around it.
That means the park must quickly assign staff to dismantle the rocks to prevent more from dotting the landscape.
A statement released yesterday by the U.S. Geological Survey, which runs the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory within the national park, notes that study of the location of specific types of rocks blasted out of Kilauea helped scientists to deduce that the volcano had a long history of explosive eruptions. But when rocks are moved, evidence of past eruptions is altered and "the construction of rock piles erases geologic history," the statement said.
In some cases, visitors are even prying rocks from lava flows to build the stacks, causing even greater damage.
Hanoa, who was born and reared in Ka'u, said visitors to the volcano have been making rock piles around the park for decades.
The park's committee of cultural advisers urged officials to do something about it, and Hanoa wants tour bus drivers to warn their passengers that stacking rocks is disrespectful because the piles don't belong there.
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is planning a campaign to educate visitors and tour operators about the importance of preserving the area's natural beauty, and plans are under way for an informational flier. Advisory signs will be posted where rock piles are most common, and temporary exhibits at the Kilauea Visitor Center and Jaggar Museum will discourage stacking.
"Visitors can help protect the park's dynamic landscape by leaving everything — even the rocks — in its rightful place," said Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando.
National park officials warned that federal law prohibits "possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, or disturbing from its natural state all mineral resources" in national parks.
The park also warns that those who insist on stacking rocks could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Kupuna Pele Hanoa, 82, said the misguided practice is akin to sacrilege, since the national park contains many sites considered sacred to Native Hawaiians.
"That's desecrating, because we don't want those rock pilings put up all over the place ... ," Hanoa said. "That's desecration of our culture."
Scientists warn that moving rocks around makes scientific research more difficult, and park rangers say the rock piles alter the natural setting, violating both federal law and the golden rule of national parks that visitors should "take only pictures and leave only footprints."
There are 2.5 million visitors to the Big Island park each year. The stacks of rocks are concentrated at Halema'uma'u Crater, the Southwest Rift Zone's 1971 flow and the 1982 lava flow, officials said.
Similar piles of three or more stones in graduated sizes can be seen at other scenic and historic sites throughout the state, and it's unclear how the practice started. It probably means different things to different visitors, but park ranger Mardie Lane said they trigger an obvious "copy cat" effect: Leave one stack standing for a while and more piles spring up around it.
That means the park must quickly assign staff to dismantle the rocks to prevent more from dotting the landscape.
A statement released yesterday by the U.S. Geological Survey, which runs the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory within the national park, notes that study of the location of specific types of rocks blasted out of Kilauea helped scientists to deduce that the volcano had a long history of explosive eruptions. But when rocks are moved, evidence of past eruptions is altered and "the construction of rock piles erases geologic history," the statement said.
In some cases, visitors are even prying rocks from lava flows to build the stacks, causing even greater damage.
Hanoa, who was born and reared in Ka'u, said visitors to the volcano have been making rock piles around the park for decades.
The park's committee of cultural advisers urged officials to do something about it, and Hanoa wants tour bus drivers to warn their passengers that stacking rocks is disrespectful because the piles don't belong there.
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is planning a campaign to educate visitors and tour operators about the importance of preserving the area's natural beauty, and plans are under way for an informational flier. Advisory signs will be posted where rock piles are most common, and temporary exhibits at the Kilauea Visitor Center and Jaggar Museum will discourage stacking.
"Visitors can help protect the park's dynamic landscape by leaving everything — even the rocks — in its rightful place," said Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando.
National park officials warned that federal law prohibits "possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, or disturbing from its natural state all mineral resources" in national parks.
The park also warns that those who insist on stacking rocks could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Experts to study volcano in Antarctica
Although most people probably associate volcanoes with intense heat, a New Mexico Tech student's passion for them is taking him to one of the coldest places on earth.
Kyle Jones, a geophysics major who will be a senior in the spring, said he plans to leave Nov. 25 to travel to Antarctica to help professors in the Earth and Environmental Science Department with research on the volcano Mount Erebus. He is scheduled to leave Antarctica on Jan. 5 to vacation in New Zealand for about 10 days.
The trip is set for Antarctica's summer, when weather is warmer with temperatures typically around 25 degrees below zero, said Tech Erebus Principal Investigator Philip Kyle.
Jones, 21, said he wants to take the trip because he loves volcanoes, especially Antarctic volcanoes.
"It's the reason I get up in the morning," he said.
Kyle, a professor of geochemistry, said Jones is the second undergraduate of 20 Tech students who have gone on Antarctic expeditions. Jones is going because of his passion for Erebus and his good job working with data on the volcano as a research assistant, he said.
Jones also helped develop a computer program for the study.
"So it's very appropriate for him to actually go into the field and actually see how everything works," Kyle said.
Tech operates the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory, which the National Science Foundation funds, to monitor Erebus' activity, seek to understand volcanic eruptions and look at Erebus' effect on the Antarctic environment, Kyle said.
Researchers use extremely sensitive infrasonic microphones to register sound of a pitch too low to hear from the volcano's eruptions. Jones said some have failed due to the harsh conditions, so he will work with Kyle and Associate Professor of Geochemistry Bill McIntosh to replace them and add more.
He also said he plans to help replace video-capture equipment with a digital system. The current facility records three videos in 24 hours. Researchers have to fast forward through them hoping to see an eruption, Jones said.
He said the digital system would save only that footage showing eruptions.
Kyle said Erebus, the world's southern-most active volcano, has the very rare characteristic of containing lava lakes, currently two. Researchers can see the process inside the volcano by using these lakes as windows to its interior, he said. They can apply knowledge of Erebus to similar volcanoes.
Tech scientists also test equipment in Antarctica because the conditions are the world's harshest, he said.
"If it can survive a winter in Antarctica, it can survive just about anything," he said.
Kyle said volcanoes in Antarctica are no different than volcanoes elsewhere around the world.
"Volcanoes are really just a surface expression of something going on deeper down," he said.
Erebus' heat is not enough to melt all the snow and glaciers on its sides and snow on parts of its crater, although its escaping steam forms ice towers and caves when it hits the cold air.
Jones said the eruptions Tech researchers see are gas bubbles rising to the surface and popping.
"With all of our sensors down there, we know when it does just about anything," he said.
Kyle said the biggest danger in the research is the small chance of being hit by molten rocks small eruptions throw out of the crater. This has never happened, he said.
Kyle also said the volcano's altitude of 12,500 feet above sea level could make some people sick.
Jones' association with Tech volcano research began in grade school when he heard Kyle give a presentation about Antarctica and Erebus at Alamogordo's IMAX Dome Theater.
Jones said he was captivated and spoke to Kyle afterward. The two kept in touch until Jones came to Tech.
"He was very enthusiastic, very interested," Kyle said. "And we always like to have enthusiastic students."
Professor of Geophysics Richard Aster created a job for Jones and became his adviser.
"He's doing very well, and he's learning the tools he needs to learn to be an independent researcher," Aster said.
He said Jones' work shows that undergraduates have ample opportunity for research at Tech.
Besides his upcoming trip, Jones manages the Erebus eruption database archive.
He wrote a computer program to show current eruptions, Aster said. Other organizations, including the National Science Foundation, downloaded the program.
Jones also helped pinpoint the location of Socorro's tremors last Saturday.
For his senior and his master's theses, Jones said, he hopes to locate the size and location of Erebus eruptions.
Kyle Jones, a geophysics major who will be a senior in the spring, said he plans to leave Nov. 25 to travel to Antarctica to help professors in the Earth and Environmental Science Department with research on the volcano Mount Erebus. He is scheduled to leave Antarctica on Jan. 5 to vacation in New Zealand for about 10 days.
The trip is set for Antarctica's summer, when weather is warmer with temperatures typically around 25 degrees below zero, said Tech Erebus Principal Investigator Philip Kyle.
Jones, 21, said he wants to take the trip because he loves volcanoes, especially Antarctic volcanoes.
"It's the reason I get up in the morning," he said.
Kyle, a professor of geochemistry, said Jones is the second undergraduate of 20 Tech students who have gone on Antarctic expeditions. Jones is going because of his passion for Erebus and his good job working with data on the volcano as a research assistant, he said.
Jones also helped develop a computer program for the study.
"So it's very appropriate for him to actually go into the field and actually see how everything works," Kyle said.
Tech operates the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory, which the National Science Foundation funds, to monitor Erebus' activity, seek to understand volcanic eruptions and look at Erebus' effect on the Antarctic environment, Kyle said.
Researchers use extremely sensitive infrasonic microphones to register sound of a pitch too low to hear from the volcano's eruptions. Jones said some have failed due to the harsh conditions, so he will work with Kyle and Associate Professor of Geochemistry Bill McIntosh to replace them and add more.
He also said he plans to help replace video-capture equipment with a digital system. The current facility records three videos in 24 hours. Researchers have to fast forward through them hoping to see an eruption, Jones said.
He said the digital system would save only that footage showing eruptions.
Kyle said Erebus, the world's southern-most active volcano, has the very rare characteristic of containing lava lakes, currently two. Researchers can see the process inside the volcano by using these lakes as windows to its interior, he said. They can apply knowledge of Erebus to similar volcanoes.
Tech scientists also test equipment in Antarctica because the conditions are the world's harshest, he said.
"If it can survive a winter in Antarctica, it can survive just about anything," he said.
Kyle said volcanoes in Antarctica are no different than volcanoes elsewhere around the world.
"Volcanoes are really just a surface expression of something going on deeper down," he said.
Erebus' heat is not enough to melt all the snow and glaciers on its sides and snow on parts of its crater, although its escaping steam forms ice towers and caves when it hits the cold air.
Jones said the eruptions Tech researchers see are gas bubbles rising to the surface and popping.
"With all of our sensors down there, we know when it does just about anything," he said.
Kyle said the biggest danger in the research is the small chance of being hit by molten rocks small eruptions throw out of the crater. This has never happened, he said.
Kyle also said the volcano's altitude of 12,500 feet above sea level could make some people sick.
Jones' association with Tech volcano research began in grade school when he heard Kyle give a presentation about Antarctica and Erebus at Alamogordo's IMAX Dome Theater.
Jones said he was captivated and spoke to Kyle afterward. The two kept in touch until Jones came to Tech.
"He was very enthusiastic, very interested," Kyle said. "And we always like to have enthusiastic students."
Professor of Geophysics Richard Aster created a job for Jones and became his adviser.
"He's doing very well, and he's learning the tools he needs to learn to be an independent researcher," Aster said.
He said Jones' work shows that undergraduates have ample opportunity for research at Tech.
Besides his upcoming trip, Jones manages the Erebus eruption database archive.
He wrote a computer program to show current eruptions, Aster said. Other organizations, including the National Science Foundation, downloaded the program.
Jones also helped pinpoint the location of Socorro's tremors last Saturday.
For his senior and his master's theses, Jones said, he hopes to locate the size and location of Erebus eruptions.
Volcanic eruptions affect global warning consequences
A key indicator of climate change - rising global sea levels - has been masked by a string of volcanic eruptions, Australian research has found.
If it had not been for the eruptions, says John Church, a CSIRO climate scientist, sea levels today would be six or seven millimetres higher.
Since the mid-1950s the seas have been rising by an average of 1.8 millimetres a year. Scientists have blamed global warming for both sea water's volume expanding and ice melting.
However, mysterious variations in the rate at which sea levels have been rising have created problems for those trying to explain how the climate responds to growing greenhouse gas pollution. In some years levels have even fallen, contradicting global warming predictions.
"I was trying to understand what caused the variability," Dr Church said. "Then I realised there were major volcanic eruptions just before all the minimums in the rate of sea level rises.
"This is the first time a link between volcanic eruptions and average sea levels has been found. There have been lots of studies of the impact of volcanos on the atmosphere but hardly any on the ocean."
From 1915 to 1963 the world was relatively free of major volcanic eruptions, he said.
Then, in 1963, Indonesia's Mount Agung exploded. It was followed in 1982 by Mexico's El Chichon and, in 1991, by Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
The three eruptions blasted sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere, 20 to 30 kilometres up. The aerosols acted as a mirror, reflecting sunlight and cooling the world by about 0.4 degrees for a few years.
As the oceans cooled they also contracted in volume. Dr Church said Mount Pinatubo's eruption lowered sea levels by five millimetres, briefly reversing the pattern triggered by global warming. His research found that, after shrinking for 12 to 18 months in the aftermath of a major volcanic eruption, the seas start warming and rising again. "However, their recovery takes more than a decade," he said.
Dr Church said that since late 1993, 18 months after the Pinatubo eruption, sea levels had risen by "close to three millimetres a year" - almost twice the average over the past 50 years.
"About half that higher rate," Dr Church estimated, "was the sea recovering from the volcanic eruption."
He said his research, published today in the journal Nature, highlighted the complexity of climate change.
He said he hoped the discovery would allow scientists to better predict and deal with future climate change.
His team's findings will also be presented at Greenhouse 2005, an international climate-change conference to be held in Melbourne from November 13 to 17.
If it had not been for the eruptions, says John Church, a CSIRO climate scientist, sea levels today would be six or seven millimetres higher.
Since the mid-1950s the seas have been rising by an average of 1.8 millimetres a year. Scientists have blamed global warming for both sea water's volume expanding and ice melting.
However, mysterious variations in the rate at which sea levels have been rising have created problems for those trying to explain how the climate responds to growing greenhouse gas pollution. In some years levels have even fallen, contradicting global warming predictions.
"I was trying to understand what caused the variability," Dr Church said. "Then I realised there were major volcanic eruptions just before all the minimums in the rate of sea level rises.
"This is the first time a link between volcanic eruptions and average sea levels has been found. There have been lots of studies of the impact of volcanos on the atmosphere but hardly any on the ocean."
From 1915 to 1963 the world was relatively free of major volcanic eruptions, he said.
Then, in 1963, Indonesia's Mount Agung exploded. It was followed in 1982 by Mexico's El Chichon and, in 1991, by Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
The three eruptions blasted sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere, 20 to 30 kilometres up. The aerosols acted as a mirror, reflecting sunlight and cooling the world by about 0.4 degrees for a few years.
As the oceans cooled they also contracted in volume. Dr Church said Mount Pinatubo's eruption lowered sea levels by five millimetres, briefly reversing the pattern triggered by global warming. His research found that, after shrinking for 12 to 18 months in the aftermath of a major volcanic eruption, the seas start warming and rising again. "However, their recovery takes more than a decade," he said.
Dr Church said that since late 1993, 18 months after the Pinatubo eruption, sea levels had risen by "close to three millimetres a year" - almost twice the average over the past 50 years.
"About half that higher rate," Dr Church estimated, "was the sea recovering from the volcanic eruption."
He said his research, published today in the journal Nature, highlighted the complexity of climate change.
He said he hoped the discovery would allow scientists to better predict and deal with future climate change.
His team's findings will also be presented at Greenhouse 2005, an international climate-change conference to be held in Melbourne from November 13 to 17.
Volcanic eruption of ash and dust covers everything!
A MAJOR ash fall-out in Kokopo town has caused many people to look for other means of obtaining food as volcanic dust swathes over food gardens and water tanks.Volcanic dust has been spewing out of the Tavurvur volcano for the past two weeks as a result of a new entry of magma composition beneath the Tavurvur volcano in East New Britain, according to experts.The chemical reaction has resulted in the production of more volcanic gases and dust.
Rabaul Volcano Observatory chief volcanologist Herman Patia said last week that the new magma composition, called basaltic magma, reacts with dacitic magma that is already present in the caldera, triggering eruptions of ash and dust. “Every time basaltic magma enters the caldera and reacts with the dacitic magma, a new product of volcanic ash and gases is produced from the chemical reaction.“
This chain reaction results in the production of volcanic gases that pressurises the volcano to continue erupting,” he said.Mr Patia said that without basaltic magma, the volcano will remain quiet.Since last week, a major volcanic ash fall-out was reported in Kokopo town, Ravat, Ngatur, Gunanba, Nangananga, Raluana and other neighbouring villages, covering buildings and food gardens.A resident of Bitabaur village said with the dust falling like rain, their gardens have been left untouched because all the leafy vegetables such as aibika and pumpkin have been covered by thick ash.Water tanks have also been covered with canvases to keep out the volcanic dust.
Mr Patia said the south-easterly winds had switched to north- westerly winds which had blown ash and volcanic dust to the Kokopo area and Burma Road villages such as Rakunai and Navunaram.“This is a transition period of wind direction and many areas of the province will be expecting an ash-fall out as the winds shift directions,” he said.
Rabaul Volcano Observatory chief volcanologist Herman Patia said last week that the new magma composition, called basaltic magma, reacts with dacitic magma that is already present in the caldera, triggering eruptions of ash and dust. “Every time basaltic magma enters the caldera and reacts with the dacitic magma, a new product of volcanic ash and gases is produced from the chemical reaction.“
This chain reaction results in the production of volcanic gases that pressurises the volcano to continue erupting,” he said.Mr Patia said that without basaltic magma, the volcano will remain quiet.Since last week, a major volcanic ash fall-out was reported in Kokopo town, Ravat, Ngatur, Gunanba, Nangananga, Raluana and other neighbouring villages, covering buildings and food gardens.A resident of Bitabaur village said with the dust falling like rain, their gardens have been left untouched because all the leafy vegetables such as aibika and pumpkin have been covered by thick ash.Water tanks have also been covered with canvases to keep out the volcanic dust.
Mr Patia said the south-easterly winds had switched to north- westerly winds which had blown ash and volcanic dust to the Kokopo area and Burma Road villages such as Rakunai and Navunaram.“This is a transition period of wind direction and many areas of the province will be expecting an ash-fall out as the winds shift directions,” he said.
Are volcano eruptions responsible for change in sea level?
WE CAN put away the life rafts for now. The near doubling in the rate of sea level rise during the 1990s was probably due in part to the delayed effects of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines - and not runaway melting of ice caps.
Volcanic eruptions have long been known to cause a global chill by filling the upper atmosphere with particles that block out some of the sun's radiation. Pinatubo's 1991 blast cooled the atmosphere for two years, but no one was sure whether similar cooling occurred in the oceans.
Now John Church of the CSIRO in Australia has combined observations of the oceans' heat content with climate simulations to calculate that ocean surface temperatures fell by up to 0.5 °C in the months after the eruption in 1991 (Nature, vol 438, p 74). Since cooling reduces the water's volume, he calculates that Pinatubo should have taken 5 millimetres off sea levels worldwide during this period.
Since then, the oceans have been regaining heat, but this warming happens more slowly that it does in the atmosphere. Church calculates that the Pinatubo rebound explains half of the surge in sea level rise measured by satellites between 1993 and 2000. During that period, sea levels rose by 3.2 millimetres a year, compared with an average of 1.8 millimetres since 1950.
Volcanic eruptions have long been known to cause a global chill by filling the upper atmosphere with particles that block out some of the sun's radiation. Pinatubo's 1991 blast cooled the atmosphere for two years, but no one was sure whether similar cooling occurred in the oceans.
Now John Church of the CSIRO in Australia has combined observations of the oceans' heat content with climate simulations to calculate that ocean surface temperatures fell by up to 0.5 °C in the months after the eruption in 1991 (Nature, vol 438, p 74). Since cooling reduces the water's volume, he calculates that Pinatubo should have taken 5 millimetres off sea levels worldwide during this period.
Since then, the oceans have been regaining heat, but this warming happens more slowly that it does in the atmosphere. Church calculates that the Pinatubo rebound explains half of the surge in sea level rise measured by satellites between 1993 and 2000. During that period, sea levels rose by 3.2 millimetres a year, compared with an average of 1.8 millimetres since 1950.
Mars is quite a sight...in November!
Glowing a pale orange in the nighttime sky, Mars has been increasingly easier to spot.
And the Cernan Earth and Space Center at Triton College, 2000 N. Fifth Ave., River Grove, is continuing to host telescope viewing sessions this weekend.
At the first session Oct. 22, instructor Daniel Troiani hosted a 20-minute introduction to the planet before heading outside.
Troiani show images of "W" clouds, which mark volcanos. He noted the cloud formations are similar to those seen from space around the Rocky Mountains.
He also showed images of Mars that featured "space trash," the remains of the previous NASA Mars exploration programs of Viking I and Pathfinder.
Something of interest to astronomers is a dust storm that is expanding toward the Mars Rover Spirit, one of two robots launched by NASA in the summer of 2003, Troiani explained.
Spirit and Opportunity have been exploring sites on opposite sides of Mars since January 2004. They completed their primary missions three months later and currently are in the third extension of their missions, according to information provided by NASA.
The approaching dust storm could put an end to Spirit's mission, Troiani explained.
The rover is poised on the edge of Gustave Canyon, which is as long as the distance from New York to Los Angeles, he said. With its current position on Mars, Spirit may be able to capture images of the approaching dust storm, which would be the first feature ever seen from the surface of the planet.
But that could put an end to Spirit, Troiani noted. Dust covering its panels would dramatically decrease the amount of sunlight absorbed to be transformed into energy to run programs.
Tracking a dust storm is fairly simple, according to Troiani.
"If something's missing (on the surface of Mars,) that's a dust storm," he explained.
By comparing images of the planet, one can spot the dust storms.
After the show, the audience gathered outside to look at Mars through a through a telescope.
Jack Hayden of Bensenville is intrigued by Mars
"I came here once before, and I liked it," he said.
"I've always liked the stars, astronomy," said Allice Hayden, Jack's wife. "It's one of my hobbies. I wanted to bring (Jack) here and show him, too. And, I brought my neighbor (Karen Haijainski)."
Also out for a look was Susan Mural of Midlothian.
"I came here to see Mars," she said, adding she also has attended previous Cernan Center programs.
Helping with the telescope viewing was Darren Drake , an instructor at Triton. He noted the telescope viewing program uses a combination of Triton equipment as well as telescopes brought by astronomers.
And the Cernan Earth and Space Center at Triton College, 2000 N. Fifth Ave., River Grove, is continuing to host telescope viewing sessions this weekend.
At the first session Oct. 22, instructor Daniel Troiani hosted a 20-minute introduction to the planet before heading outside.
Troiani show images of "W" clouds, which mark volcanos. He noted the cloud formations are similar to those seen from space around the Rocky Mountains.
He also showed images of Mars that featured "space trash," the remains of the previous NASA Mars exploration programs of Viking I and Pathfinder.
Something of interest to astronomers is a dust storm that is expanding toward the Mars Rover Spirit, one of two robots launched by NASA in the summer of 2003, Troiani explained.
Spirit and Opportunity have been exploring sites on opposite sides of Mars since January 2004. They completed their primary missions three months later and currently are in the third extension of their missions, according to information provided by NASA.
The approaching dust storm could put an end to Spirit's mission, Troiani explained.
The rover is poised on the edge of Gustave Canyon, which is as long as the distance from New York to Los Angeles, he said. With its current position on Mars, Spirit may be able to capture images of the approaching dust storm, which would be the first feature ever seen from the surface of the planet.
But that could put an end to Spirit, Troiani noted. Dust covering its panels would dramatically decrease the amount of sunlight absorbed to be transformed into energy to run programs.
Tracking a dust storm is fairly simple, according to Troiani.
"If something's missing (on the surface of Mars,) that's a dust storm," he explained.
By comparing images of the planet, one can spot the dust storms.
After the show, the audience gathered outside to look at Mars through a through a telescope.
Jack Hayden of Bensenville is intrigued by Mars
"I came here once before, and I liked it," he said.
"I've always liked the stars, astronomy," said Allice Hayden, Jack's wife. "It's one of my hobbies. I wanted to bring (Jack) here and show him, too. And, I brought my neighbor (Karen Haijainski)."
Also out for a look was Susan Mural of Midlothian.
"I came here to see Mars," she said, adding she also has attended previous Cernan Center programs.
Helping with the telescope viewing was Darren Drake , an instructor at Triton. He noted the telescope viewing program uses a combination of Triton equipment as well as telescopes brought by astronomers.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Fossilized footprints on volcanic soil discovered
Fossilised footprints proving humans witnessed the eruption of Rangitoto Island 600 years ago have been shifted into the public eye for an exhibition at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Museum spokesman John Early says the fossil provides direct evidence that people were living alongside Rangitoto while it was erupting.
The block of Rangitoto's volcanic ash bears marks of New Zealand's earliest Polynesian settlers living on neighbouring Motutapu Island around 600 years ago. An adult footprint can be seen next to a child's footprint, followed by several dog paw prints.
"Their descendants are probably still walking around the streets of Auckland today," says Early.
The fossil was uncovered more than 20 years ago, but it has never been seen by the public.
Descendants from Ngai Tai Kitamaki blessed their ancestors' legacy as it began its journey to the mainland and say they are proud the fossil will go on public display.
The fossilised layer of ash reveals more than just human footprints. Underneath where it was removed archaeologists have found abandoned stone tools and food scraps, revealing a snapshot of life when the eruption happened.
DOC Arcchaeologist Andy Dodd says the changing environment seemed to force a change in diet.
"Underneath the ash layer there is far more bird bone, while above the ash layer people seem to have shifted to marine resources," says Dodd.
Historians say early settlers took geological activity in their stride.
They probably would have seen the volcano erupting and left the site promptly, and it is believed they watched from boats.
But with at least four major ash showers, life post Rangitoto's eruptions would have been a little messy.
"The ash shower would have been damp and wet and probably not particularly pleasant but certainly people would have been capable of surviving," says Dodd.
The fossil footprints will go on display at Auckland's War Memorial Museum by the end of the year.
Museum spokesman John Early says the fossil provides direct evidence that people were living alongside Rangitoto while it was erupting.
The block of Rangitoto's volcanic ash bears marks of New Zealand's earliest Polynesian settlers living on neighbouring Motutapu Island around 600 years ago. An adult footprint can be seen next to a child's footprint, followed by several dog paw prints.
"Their descendants are probably still walking around the streets of Auckland today," says Early.
The fossil was uncovered more than 20 years ago, but it has never been seen by the public.
Descendants from Ngai Tai Kitamaki blessed their ancestors' legacy as it began its journey to the mainland and say they are proud the fossil will go on public display.
The fossilised layer of ash reveals more than just human footprints. Underneath where it was removed archaeologists have found abandoned stone tools and food scraps, revealing a snapshot of life when the eruption happened.
DOC Arcchaeologist Andy Dodd says the changing environment seemed to force a change in diet.
"Underneath the ash layer there is far more bird bone, while above the ash layer people seem to have shifted to marine resources," says Dodd.
Historians say early settlers took geological activity in their stride.
They probably would have seen the volcano erupting and left the site promptly, and it is believed they watched from boats.
But with at least four major ash showers, life post Rangitoto's eruptions would have been a little messy.
"The ash shower would have been damp and wet and probably not particularly pleasant but certainly people would have been capable of surviving," says Dodd.
The fossil footprints will go on display at Auckland's War Memorial Museum by the end of the year.
Yellowstone is due to erupt soon
For the past 17 million years, western North American has been moving toward the southwest at about an inch a year over a hotspot in the earth's crust like a sheet of steel moving over a cutting torch.
It started in southeastern Oregon and has produced a series of explosive caldera type eruptions that leave large bowl-like craters instead of building mountains.
University of Utah geologists Barbara Nash and Michael Perkins have identified at least 142 such eruptions in a nearly straight line from southeastern Oregon to Yellowstone National Park, forming the broad lava plain of the Eastern Snake River Plain.
A caldera is a bowl-shaped volcanic depression a mile or more in diameter. The most widely known caldera may be Oregon's Crater Lake in the Cascade Mountains.
The hotspot now sits under Yellowstone where it has produced some of the largest volcanic eruptions known, and a caldera 45 miles long and 30 miles across -- and it's bound to blow again.
The big question is when.
"I'm not holding my breath," Nash said in a telephone interview.
When it does blow, it will give plenty of warning in the form of increased seismic activity and small eruptions.
"It's not going to catch anybody by surprise," she said.
The largest volcanic eruption in "recent" times happened in April 1815 when Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, blew up. The eruption lasted several days and took off the top 4,000 feet of the 13,000 foot volcano.
The eruption left a caldera four miles across. A cloud of ash rose 28 miles into the stratosphere and spread around the world. The following year was known as the year without a summer. The total ash from the eruption would equal about 36 cubic miles of rock. By comparison the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980 produced about one-quarter cubic mile of rock in the form of ash.
The first of three Yellowstone eruptions spewed out about 600 cubic miles of ash and spread it from southern California to Iowa. The Huckleberry Ridge caldera erupted about 2.1 million years ago in western Yellowstone and eastern Idaho. The second eruption was about 1.3 million years ago. The Lava Creek eruption, the third and smallest, happened about 650,000 years ago.
Ash from Yellowstone's Huckleberry Ridge and Lava Creek, however, covered much of the western United States, from California to Iowa. Deposits 2 to 3 feet thick from two of these eruptions can be found in drill cores in the Great Basin.
The effects are difficult to predict, but judging from past events, another eruption would leave a foot or two of ash on Utah County, Nash said. It would be very dark here possibly for days or weeks, depending on wind patterns.
The ash would smother plants and make breathing difficult. It would interfere with mechanical things, cars and jetliners. And if it rained, the ash would become very heavy, enough to collapse roofs.
An eruption would be subcontinental in scale, affecting large sections of the country with serious ecological effects. It would almost certainly lower temperatures around the world.
It started in southeastern Oregon and has produced a series of explosive caldera type eruptions that leave large bowl-like craters instead of building mountains.
University of Utah geologists Barbara Nash and Michael Perkins have identified at least 142 such eruptions in a nearly straight line from southeastern Oregon to Yellowstone National Park, forming the broad lava plain of the Eastern Snake River Plain.
A caldera is a bowl-shaped volcanic depression a mile or more in diameter. The most widely known caldera may be Oregon's Crater Lake in the Cascade Mountains.
The hotspot now sits under Yellowstone where it has produced some of the largest volcanic eruptions known, and a caldera 45 miles long and 30 miles across -- and it's bound to blow again.
The big question is when.
"I'm not holding my breath," Nash said in a telephone interview.
When it does blow, it will give plenty of warning in the form of increased seismic activity and small eruptions.
"It's not going to catch anybody by surprise," she said.
The largest volcanic eruption in "recent" times happened in April 1815 when Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, blew up. The eruption lasted several days and took off the top 4,000 feet of the 13,000 foot volcano.
The eruption left a caldera four miles across. A cloud of ash rose 28 miles into the stratosphere and spread around the world. The following year was known as the year without a summer. The total ash from the eruption would equal about 36 cubic miles of rock. By comparison the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980 produced about one-quarter cubic mile of rock in the form of ash.
The first of three Yellowstone eruptions spewed out about 600 cubic miles of ash and spread it from southern California to Iowa. The Huckleberry Ridge caldera erupted about 2.1 million years ago in western Yellowstone and eastern Idaho. The second eruption was about 1.3 million years ago. The Lava Creek eruption, the third and smallest, happened about 650,000 years ago.
Ash from Yellowstone's Huckleberry Ridge and Lava Creek, however, covered much of the western United States, from California to Iowa. Deposits 2 to 3 feet thick from two of these eruptions can be found in drill cores in the Great Basin.
The effects are difficult to predict, but judging from past events, another eruption would leave a foot or two of ash on Utah County, Nash said. It would be very dark here possibly for days or weeks, depending on wind patterns.
The ash would smother plants and make breathing difficult. It would interfere with mechanical things, cars and jetliners. And if it rained, the ash would become very heavy, enough to collapse roofs.
An eruption would be subcontinental in scale, affecting large sections of the country with serious ecological effects. It would almost certainly lower temperatures around the world.
Volcanic frequency scale
Every year about 60 volcanoes erupt, but most of the activity is pretty weak. How do volcanologists measure how big an eruption is? There is not any single feature that determines the "bigness", but the following eruption magnitude scale - called the Volcanic Explosivity Index or VEI - is based on a number of things that can be observed during an eruption. According to this scale, really huge eruptions don't happen very often, luckily!
VEI
Description
Plume Height
Volume
Classification
How often
Example
0
non-explosive
< 100 m
1000s m3
Hawaiian
daily
Kilauea
1
gentle
100-1000 m
10,000s m3
Haw/Strombolian
daily
Stromboli
2
explosive
1-5 km
1,000,000s m3
Strom/Vulcanian
weekly
Galeras, 1992
3
severe
3-15 km
10,000,000s m3
Vulcanian
yearly
Ruiz, 1985
4
cataclysmic
10-25 km
100,000,000s m3
Vulc/Plinian
10's of years
Galunggung, 1982
5
paroxysmal
>25 km
1 km3
Plinian
100's of years
St. Helens, 1981
6
colossal
>25 km
10s km3
Plin/Ultra-Plinian
100's of years
Krakatau, 1883
7
super-colossal
>25 km
100s km3
Ultra-Plinian
1000's of years
Tambora, 1815
8
mega-colossal
>25 km
1,000s km3
Ultra-Plinian
10,000's of years
Yellowstone, 2 Ma
VEI
Description
Plume Height
Volume
Classification
How often
Example
0
non-explosive
< 100 m
1000s m3
Hawaiian
daily
Kilauea
1
gentle
100-1000 m
10,000s m3
Haw/Strombolian
daily
Stromboli
2
explosive
1-5 km
1,000,000s m3
Strom/Vulcanian
weekly
Galeras, 1992
3
severe
3-15 km
10,000,000s m3
Vulcanian
yearly
Ruiz, 1985
4
cataclysmic
10-25 km
100,000,000s m3
Vulc/Plinian
10's of years
Galunggung, 1982
5
paroxysmal
>25 km
1 km3
Plinian
100's of years
St. Helens, 1981
6
colossal
>25 km
10s km3
Plin/Ultra-Plinian
100's of years
Krakatau, 1883
7
super-colossal
>25 km
100s km3
Ultra-Plinian
1000's of years
Tambora, 1815
8
mega-colossal
>25 km
1,000s km3
Ultra-Plinian
10,000's of years
Yellowstone, 2 Ma
Tourists attracted to volcanic eruptions
Fiery lava flows have attracted hundreds of tourists to the largest of the Galapagos Islands, less than a week after a volcano began erupting, officials said Saturday.
The number of tourists to visit seahorse-shaped island Isabela has been restricted after roughly 200 people visited the island each day last week, Susanna Villagomez, an Isabela municipal official said.
The 1.6-kilometre-high Sierra Negra volcano began erupting Oct. 22 but the island's unique flora and fauna, including the famed Galapagos tortoises for which the archipelago is named, were unharmed.
Still, tourists have been eager to go close to Sierra Negra's crater.
"Every two hours, a group of a maximum of 32 tourists is sent out, taking all the necessary precautions," Villagomez said.
"The people want to go at night because the sight that Sierra Negra offers is impressive," she added.
Pablo Samaniega, a vulcanologist at Ecuador's Geophysics Institute said the eruption shows no signs of stopping and on average, these eruptions can last four weeks.
The last time Sierra Negra erupted was in 1979.
The Galapagos Islands, located 1,000 kilometres off Ecuador's Pacific coast, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979 for their exotic wildlife, such as marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. The islands' rich biodiversity inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The number of tourists to visit seahorse-shaped island Isabela has been restricted after roughly 200 people visited the island each day last week, Susanna Villagomez, an Isabela municipal official said.
The 1.6-kilometre-high Sierra Negra volcano began erupting Oct. 22 but the island's unique flora and fauna, including the famed Galapagos tortoises for which the archipelago is named, were unharmed.
Still, tourists have been eager to go close to Sierra Negra's crater.
"Every two hours, a group of a maximum of 32 tourists is sent out, taking all the necessary precautions," Villagomez said.
"The people want to go at night because the sight that Sierra Negra offers is impressive," she added.
Pablo Samaniega, a vulcanologist at Ecuador's Geophysics Institute said the eruption shows no signs of stopping and on average, these eruptions can last four weeks.
The last time Sierra Negra erupted was in 1979.
The Galapagos Islands, located 1,000 kilometres off Ecuador's Pacific coast, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979 for their exotic wildlife, such as marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. The islands' rich biodiversity inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
