The Galeras tragedy occurred when six scientists and three tourists were killed as a result of the January 1993 eruption of the Galeras stratovolcano in Colombia. Geologist Stanley Williams and six others on the volcano survived.
The Galeras tragedy occurred when six scientists and three tourists were killed as a result of the January 1993 eruption of the Galeras stratovolcano in Colombia. Geologist Stanley Williams and six others on the volcano survived.
The scientists were at Galeras to collect monitoring data about its levels of activity - including collecting some of the gases, and looking for tiny changes in the gravity field. They were attending a conference in Pasto organized by the United Nations to gather geologists to study Galeras in order to assess its potential threat to nearby population. Past research had determined that Galeras would probably erupt again in the future, possibly endangering Pasto's population of approximately 300,000 people and another 400,000 living in the vicinity of the volcano. [1] Shortly after 1 pm on 14 January 1993, there was an explosion in the summit crater without warning. At that time, there were about 12 people in or around the crater. Nine people were killed outright in the explosions. Six were volcanologists: Geoff Brown, from the U.K.; Igor Menyailov, a Russian; and Fernando Cuenco, Carlos Trujillo, Nestor Garcia and José Arlés Zapata from Colombia. [2] Other volcanologists who had been involved in the same conference, and were on other parts of the volcano at the time, saw the explosion from a distance and became involved in the rescue. Among those who helped to rescue the workshop leader, Stan Williams, and the other casualties were Marta Calvache, then director of the Galeras Volcano Observatory in Pasto; and Patty Mothes, an American volcanologist based at IG-EPN, Quito. [3]
At the time of the eruption, most predictions were made similarly to the one before the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens – that a volcano would erupt, but not specifying an exact time. C. Dan Miller of the United States Geological Survey remarked: [4]
We're able to do a much better job of monitoring the changes that occur at volcanoes as they wake up, but we are still quite a long ways from being able to forecast the time, the magnitude and the character of an eruption.
Since the disaster, research has improved scientists' ability to predict volcanic eruptions. Still, there is not a definite method of prediction. Though scientists were able to make accurate analysis by employing long-period earthquakes, short bursts of seismic energy, to forecast the 1990 eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska, these events are known to occur at volcanoes that do not erupt as well. In early October 2004, for example, long-period events took place at Mount St. Helens, only to precede insignificant events. [4] One lasting and tangible outcome of the tragedy, was a set of recommendations for the standards of safety equipment and clothing that should be required when working on active volcanoes; including hard hats and fire-proof coveralls. [5]
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles (83 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire.
A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra, rock and lava samples. One major focus of inquiry in recent times is the prediction of eruptions to alleviate the impact on surrounding populations and monitor natural hazards associated with volcanic activity. Geologists who research volcanic materials that make up the solid Earth are referred to as igneous petrologists.
Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about 129 km (80 mi) west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano composed of many layers of lava alternating with hardened volcanic ash and other pyroclastic rocks. Volcanic activity at Nevado del Ruiz began about two million years ago, since the Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene, with three major eruptive periods. The current volcanic cone formed during the present eruptive period, which began 150,000 years ago.
Dante's Peak is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitants fight to survive a volcanic eruption from a long dormant stratovolcano that has suddenly woken up. The film was released on February 7, 1997, under the production of Universal Pictures and Pacific Western Productions. It received negative reviews from critics but was an average success. It was the last film in which Charles Hallahan starred before his death nine months later in November 1997.
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On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. The eruption, which had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, was the most significant to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. It has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma causes near-instantaneous evaporation of water to steam, resulting in an explosion of steam, water, ash, rock, and volcanic bombs. At Mount St. Helens in Washington state, hundreds of steam explosions preceded the 1980 Plinian eruption of the volcano. A less intense geothermal event may result in a mud volcano.
David Alexander Johnston was an American United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcanologist who was killed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of Washington. A principal scientist on the USGS monitoring team, Johnston was killed in the eruption while manning an observation post six miles (10 km) away on the morning of May 18, 1980. He was the first to report the eruption, transmitting "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" before he was swept away by a lateral blast; despite a thorough search, Johnston's body was never found, but state highway workers discovered remnants of his USGS trailer in 1993.
Harry Glicken was an American volcanologist. He researched Mount St. Helens in the United States before and after its 1980 eruption, and was very distraught about the death of volcanologist David A. Johnston, who was Glicken's mentor and supervisor in Spring 1980 at Mount St. Helens. Glicken was initially assigned to the USGS observation post in the weeks leading up to the eruption but was called away the night before the eruption.
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