A harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma, the venting of volcanic gases from magma, or both in volcanoes, and with repetitive stick-slip or other impulsive activity in non-volcanic systems. It is a long-duration release of seismic energy, often containing distinct spectral lines. Volcanic tremor often precedes or accompanies a volcanic eruption. Being a long-duration continuous signal from a temporally extended source tremor contrasts distinctly with transient and often impulsive sources of seismic radiation typically associated with earthquakes and explosions.
Nonvolcanic, episodic tremor at plate boundaries (particularly in subduction zones) has been attributed to swarms of long-period earthquakes [1] and is distinguished by the term episodic tremor and slip (ETS) and may occur during slow earthquakes.
Iceberg impacts with the seafloor or other icebergs can also generate distinct iceberg harmonic tremor signals that propagate to large distances as ocean acoustic and solid Earth seismic wavefields. The source process of iceberg harmonic tremor has been attributed to highly repetitive quasi-periodic stick-slip at ice-seafloor or ice-ice contacts. [2]
The relation between long-period events and an imminent eruption was first observed by Bernard Chouet, a volcanologist who was working at the United States Geological Survey. [3] [4] [5]
The Ring of Fire is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
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, being the highest point of both. It is located about 130 km (81 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, during 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.
Katla is an active volcano in southern Iceland. This volcano has been very active historically with at least twenty documented major eruptions since 2920 BC. In its recent history though, Katla has been less active as the last major eruption occurred in 1918. These eruptions have had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of between 4 and 5 on a scale of 0 to 8. In comparison, the Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption had a VEI of 4. Larger VEI-5 eruptions are comparable to Mount St. Helens 1980 eruption. These eruptions have produced very large glacial outburst floods. Several smaller (minor) events measuring VEI-1 and below have occurred since.
Grímsvötn is an active volcano with a fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The central volcano is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side of the Vatnajökull ice cap. The subglacial caldera is at 64°25′N17°20′W, at an elevation of 1,725 m (5,659 ft). Beneath the caldera is the magma chamber of the Grímsvötn volcano.
Redoubt Volcano, or Mount Redoubt, is an active stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located at the head of the Chigmit Mountains subrange in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, the mountain is just west of Cook Inlet, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough about 110 miles (180 km) southwest of Anchorage. At 10,197 feet (3,108 m), in just over 5 miles (8.0 km) Mount Redoubt attains 9,150 feet (2,790 m) of prominence over its surrounding terrain. It is the highest summit in the Aleutian Range. In 1976, Redoubt Volcano was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
A volcano tectonic earthquake or volcano earthquake is caused by the movement of magma beneath the surface of the Earth. The movement results in pressure changes where the rock around the magma has a change in stress. At some point, this stress can cause the rock to break or move. This seismic activity is used by scientists to monitor volcanoes. The earthquakes may also be related to dike intrusion and/or occur as earthquake swarms. Usually they are characterised by high seismic frequency and lack the pattern of a main shock followed by a decaying aftershock distribution of fault related tectonic earthquakes.
The Cascadia subduction zone is a 960 km (600 mi) fault at a convergent plate boundary, about 100–200 km (70–100 mi) off the Pacific coast, that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is capable of producing 9.0+ magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that could reach 30 m (98 ft). The Oregon Department of Emergency Management estimates shaking would last 5–7 minutes along the coast, with strength and intensity decreasing further from the epicenter. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates move to the east and slide below the much larger mostly continental North American plate. The zone varies in width and lies offshore beginning near Cape Mendocino, Northern California, passing through Oregon and Washington, and terminating at about Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Prediction of volcanic activity, and volcanic eruption forecasting, is an interdisciplinary monitoring and research effort to predict the time and severity of a volcano's eruption. Of particular importance is the prediction of hazardous eruptions that could lead to catastrophic loss of life, property, and disruption of human activities.
Nazko Cone is a small potentially active basaltic cinder cone in central British Columbia, Canada, located 75 km west of Quesnel and 150 kilometers southwest of Prince George. It is considered the easternmost volcano in the Anahim Volcanic Belt. The small tree-covered cone rises 120 m above the Chilcotin-Nechako Plateau and rests on glacial till. It was formed in three episodes of activity, the first of which took place during the Pleistocene interglacial stage about 340,000 years ago. The second stage produced a large hyaloclastite scoria mound erupted beneath the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the Pleistocene. Its last eruption produced two small lava flows that traveled 1 km to the west, along with a blanket of volcanic ash that extends several km to the north and east of the cone.
A slow earthquake is a discontinuous, earthquake-like event that releases energy over a period of hours to months, rather than the seconds to minutes characteristic of a typical earthquake. First detected using long term strain measurements, most slow earthquakes now appear to be accompanied by fluid flow and related tremor, which can be detected and approximately located using seismometer data filtered appropriately. That is, they are quiet compared to a regular earthquake, but not "silent" as described in the past.
The Anahim hotspot is a hypothesized hotspot in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has been proposed as the candidate source for volcanism in the Anahim Volcanic Belt, a 300 kilometres long chain of volcanoes and other magmatic features that have undergone erosion. This chain extends from the community of Bella Bella in the west to near the small city of Quesnel in the east. While most volcanoes are created by geological activity at tectonic plate boundaries, the Anahim hotspot is located hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest plate boundary.
Episodic tremor and slip (ETS) is a seismological phenomenon observed in some subduction zones that is characterized by non-earthquake seismic rumbling, or tremor, and slow slip along the plate interface. Slow slip events are distinguished from earthquakes by their propagation speed and focus. In slow slip events, there is an apparent reversal of crustal motion, although the fault motion remains consistent with the direction of subduction. ETS events themselves are imperceptible to human beings and do not cause damage.
The Silverthrone Caldera is a potentially active caldera complex in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located over 350 kilometres (220 mi) northwest of the city of Vancouver and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Mount Waddington in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The caldera is one of the largest of the few calderas in western Canada, measuring about 30 kilometres (19 mi) long (north-south) and 20 kilometres (12 mi) wide (east-west). Mount Silverthrone, an eroded lava dome on the caldera's northern flank, which is 2,864 metres (9,396 ft) high, may be the highest volcano in Canada.
Bernard A. Chouet is a geophysicist who specializes in volcanic seismology. He discovered that volcanic eruptions could be predicted by observing the frequency of certain seismic waves that are generated by volcanoes.
A series of small volcanic earthquakes measuring less than 4.0 on the Richter magnitude scale took place in the sparsely populated Nazko area of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, from October 9, 2007, to June 12, 2008. They occurred just west of Nazko Cone, a small tree-covered cinder cone that last erupted about 7,200 years ago.
The Canadian Cascade Arc, also called the Canadian Cascades, is the Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc. Located entirely within the Canadian province of British Columbia, it extends from the Cascade Mountains in the south to the Coast Mountains in the north. Specifically, the southern end of the Canadian Cascades begin at the Canada–United States border. However, the specific boundaries of the northern end are not precisely known and the geology in this part of the volcanic arc is poorly understood. It is widely accepted by geologists that the Canadian Cascade Arc extends through the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. However, others have expressed concern that the volcanic arc possibly extends further north into the Kitimat Ranges, another subdivision of the Coast Mountains, and even as far north as Haida Gwaii.
The 2011–2012 El Hierro eruption occurred just off the island of El Hierro, the second smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. The island is also the youngest in the volcanic chain. The October 2011 – March 2012 eruption was underwater, with a fissure of vents located approximately 2 kilometres to the south of the fishing village of La Restinga on the southern coast of the island. Increased seismicity in June 2012 to the north-west of the vent did not result in another phase of eruptive activity. Until the 2021 La Palma eruption, which started on 19 September 2021, this was the last volcanic eruption in Spain.
This is a list of different types of earthquake.
On May 4, 2018, an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 6.9 struck Hawaii island in the Hawaii archipelago at around 12:33 p.m. local time. The earthquake's epicenter was near the south flank of Kīlauea, which has been the site of seismic and volcanic activity since late April of that year. According to the United States Geological Survey the quake was related to the new lava outbreaks at the volcano, and it resulted in the Hilina Slump moving about two feet. It was the largest earthquake to affect Hawaii since the 1975 earthquake, which affected the same region, killing two people and injuring another 28.
On 11 November 2018, a seismic event of unknown origin occurred about 24 kilometres (15 mi) off the coast of Mayotte, an overseas department and region of France in the Indian Ocean. It was recorded by seismograms globally, including in Kenya, Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and Hawaii, almost 18,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away. Despite this, no one felt it. The seismic waves lasted for over 20 minutes. Most earthquakes have P waves and S waves, which are later followed by long-period surface waves. The Mayotte event lacked P waves and S waves, but did cause a long-period surface wave travelling at 14,000 km/h (9,000 mph) around the globe. Additionally, the signal released by the earthquake resembled a clean sine wave, while most earthquake waves have multiple frequencies.