IZ IT ME OR R U CRANKIN OUT THE DECENT SIZED QUAKES KICKIN?!
Quoting: UH 76909798 There has definitely been an increase. In larger quakes, but also in overall activity based on the number of pages of quakes per day. I notice Hawaii/Mayotte have both increased a bit too, makes me wonder what's brewing there.
Afternoon Team!
I found some updates on Mayotte Xx
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link to agu.confex.com (secure)]
The volcano has only been growing for less than a year and is already 820m tall. Popping rocks dredged on its flank suggest that the melt transferred rapidly from the upper mantle, without storage in intermediate reservoirs. Four main fluid plumes more than 2000 m-high emanate from the volcano summit, attesting to its intense activity.
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link to www.popularmechanics.com (secure)]
This past February, the French scientists began monitoring the area. They placed seismometers on the seafloor, over 2 miles (3.5 km) down, and used multibeam acoustic sensors to map the ocean floor. They pulled up rocks and examined them for any changes.
“They were popping as we brought them on board,” says Nathalie Feuillet, director of the Institute of Geophysics in Paris (IPGP) and leader of the expedition, in an interveiw with Science. That popping represented a clear sign that high-pressure gas was trapped within the black volcanic material.
The collective data, also using information pulled from Mayotte, reached one conclusion: There's a new underwater volcano.
And it's really big—but the ocean is bigger.
According to a press release from the French government, the new volcano "is located over 3,500 meters (2.1 miles) deep. Its current size is estimated at 800 m in height (around half a mile) with a base of 4 to 5 km (2.4 miles to 3.1) in diameter. The plume of volcanic fluids 2 km (1.2 miles) in height does not reach the surface of the water."
Mayotte itself, which according to GPS data has sunk by 5.1 inches (13 centimeters) and moved 3.9 inches (10 centimeters) east over the past year. Just that slight movement could indicate a magma chamber sinking. The island itself has experienced a string of earthquakes since last year.
It's a theory that makes sense, but scientists aren't willing to definitely say so yet. There are alternate ideas, like an unexpected tectonic shift. Visions of both birth and destruction can be read into the volcanic activity; it's theorized that islands like
Mayotte and Hawaii formed through similar patterns, but some also think that westward migration of the small earthquakes could trigger a tsunami.
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