Volcano - Earthquake = Huge One to Watch

[Mayet]

Mt Merapi in Indonesia has been looking like its going to erupt big time for a few weeks now. Thousands have been evacuated from the area but it did not stop over 5000 dying when an earthquake hit last week with it's epicentre just 29 kilometres from the volcano. in the past 24 hours the smoke plumes from the volcano have over doubled in size.

Volcano is set to blow


May 31, 2006

JAKARTA: Mount Merapi yesterday belched heat clouds and sent trails of lava down its slopes, heightening fears of an eruption just days after a devastating earthquake nearby.



Merapi spewed out 10 heat clouds and 120 lava trails, some 2km long, Yogyakarta vulcanologist Tri Yani said. Plumes of smoke rose 900m into the air – nearly double the height of those seen yesterday. The volcano is just 29km from the epicentre of Saturday's devastating quake and the area remains on high alert for a possible eruption.

News

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ow_merapi1.jpg[/img]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Merapi,_Central_Java

MOUNT MERAPI - "Am I nervous?" asked Heru Suparwaka, watching the needle of the seismograph sketch a crazy route across the page, accompanied by a high-pitched whine.

"Of course I'm nervous." Mr Heru is part of a small team monitoring Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, from an observation post high on its slopes.

The area, on Indonesia's Java island, has been on red alert for weeks, since Merapi began spewing out lava and clouds of gas and hot ash.

But since last weekend's earthquake, its activity has intensified dramatically, sparking fears of an imminent deadly eruption.

The volcano lies 30 miles north of the epicentre of the quake, which claimed 5,427 lives, according to latest figures.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/st...ectID=10384373

JAKARTA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian researcher held that the Saturday morning deadly earthquake in Yogyakarta in the country has no ties with the activity of Merapi volcano, according to local media reports on Sunday.


When the 5.9 on the Richter scale earthquake took place, grid locked traffic paralyzed Yogyakarta streets as panicky residents, mainly from the coastal area of Bantul, fought for every inch of the road toward Kaliurang. There, to the north, stood Mt. Merapi, which has been spewing smoke and lava for weeks.

Many people wondered whether the devastating quake was related to the extremely high volcanic activity of Mt. Merapi, the Jakarta Post daily reported on Sunday.

However, a researcher at the National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping, Priyadi Kartono, said Merapi's stirrings had nothing to do with the earthquake despite its close proximity to the quake's epicenter, some 38 kilometers south of densely populated Yogyakarta. "Mount Merapi cannot generate a tectonic quake, but the quake can affect the activity inside the volcano," said Priyadi.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_4611098.htm
^^ bull it can't ..it did


http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_i...ia/merapi.html

Merapi is a stratovolcano with an active summit lava dome. It is located ~30 km immediately north of Yogyakarta, a city with a population of 500,000. Merapi has the unfortunate distinction of producing more nuee ardentes than any other volcano on Earth. The nuee ardentes result from collapse of the lava dome at the summit. Of the 67 historic eruptions 32 have had nuee ardentes associated with them. Eleven of these eruptions resulted in fatalities. Merapi is closely monitored by the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia. Shortly before this photograph was taken Merapi was generating up to 40 nuee ardentes per day.

http://www.volcanolive.com/merapi.html

[Tekboy]

I read somewhere the other day that Mt. St. Helens is cranking up (sending up smoke and steam) and getting ready for another possible big one. I believe it was in what passes for a local newspaper here.

[El_Squid]

The lava dome of Mt. St. Helens changed shape due to a "smallish" quake. Which one will go first, if at all?