VOLCANISM!

This picture is taken from the amazing volcanism blog, which is a lot more serious than volcano club. It has information on all the ongoing volcanic activity. As seen in this beautiful map (think I am joining the rest of my family with their map obsession) so pretty useful if you're going anywhere that has unstable plate tectonics.

Another pretty exciting feature is Saturday Volcano Art which has really beautiful volcano pictures, there's also a quote of the day. Basically its a lot better than volcano club so in way don't want to put the link up, but as a volcano enthusiast, it's my duty to share great volcano stuff.
http://volcanism.wordpress.com/
Maybe I should write to them, tell them I love them and they'll give me a job (the blog writers not the volcanoes).

Volcano of the Week #8 - Lakagígar

Lakagigar or Laki is Iceland's premier volcano, it's close to the the village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur and lots of other Icelandic places that I've never heard of. The mountain is called Laki, however as it is actually the fissure vents that have the volcanic activity so the volcano's name is Lakagígar (craters of Laki). Lakagígar's largest known eruption was on 8th June 1783, the entire eruption lasted until 7th February 1784. Though in this time the eruption downgraded from a massive Strombolian with a VEI of 6 to a gentle Hawaiian. The consequences of this eruption were huge and pretty much caused the French Revolution. The resulting problems termed The Mist Hardships killed off a quarter of Iceland's human population and half of the cattle and horses. 

It was not just Iceland that was affected by this natural disaster mainly due to the size of the eruption; Europe's entire industrial output of sulphur dioxide in 2006 was only a third of that from Lakagigar. The following year weather was extreme in Europe with hot, hazy summers and harsh winters (the New-England winter in 1784 was also notably cold). In Britain around 30,000 died from sulphur poisoning and around 8,000 from the cold which contained 28 days of unbroken frost. The frost had bad effects on harvests throughout Europe; leading to famine and, in France, political unrest which climaxed as the Revolution in 1789. France was not the country to suffer from Lakagigar-induced famine as Egypt lost around a sixth of its population to famine in 1784. 

Like the last Volcano of the Week I'll end with another great religious quote this time from Jón Steingrímsson's fire sermon given as the people of Kirkjubaejarklaustur were in church surrounded by lava flow

"This past week, and the two prior to it, more poison fell from the sky than words can describe: ash, volcanic hairs, rain full of sulfur and saltpeter, all of it mixed with sand. The snouts, nostrils, and feet of livestock grazing or walking on the grass turned bright yellow and raw. All water went tepid and light blue in color and gravel slides turned gray. All the earth's plants burned, withered and turned gray, one after another, as the fire increased and neared the settlements."

stuff and volcanoes

Firstly, an amazing website for all those of you who want some hard  facts. It has loads of information on every volcano on earth and its eruptions; kinda like a volcano facebook (or volcanobook)  comes in very handy for writing Volcano of the Week.
http://www.volcano.si.edu/

Secondly, the next couple of issues of volcano club magazine are in the pipeline, one is about fashion (and volcanoes) the other has a working title of 'Love, Lust and Lava'. Submissions will be gratefully received for either, I've already had some great ideas, whichever has the most material should be going to print in October.

Thirdly, hoping to go to this amazing looking exhibition soon and will write a full review. http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/modules/events/event.aspx?e=2&title=volcano_turner_to_warhol

Happy Volcanoes!

Volcano of the Week #7 - Avachinsky-Koryaksky

A confession- Avachinsky and Koryaksky are actually 2 different volcanoes (but as volcano-savvy readers, I'm sure you have already noticed this error)

Putin arriving at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

These volcanoes are in Russia, the far east of Russia where both survival and plate tectonics are less stable than the in metropolitan Moscow and St Petersburg; reminding us of the many sides to this vast country. It lies on the pacific ring of fire and the Kamchatka Peninsula contains around 30 active volcanoes including Avachinsky and Koryaksky. These two volcanoes are listed as Decade Volcanoes due to their proximity to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky; the main city of Kamchatka Krai. The city has a population of around 200,000, is Russia's largest submarine base and temperatures range from -30°C to 30°C. Avanchinsky is a stratovolcano that last erupted in 2001, a major eruption (VEI= 4) took plave in 1945 and is 2,741m high. Koryaksky last erupted more recently than its neighbour in 2009. It is also taller than Koryasky 3,456m but eruptions tend to be less violent.

Avanchinsky

Koryaksy

An eruption of Avachinsky was recorded in 1779 on Captain Cook's final voyage by John Ledyard

On the 15th it continued calm until noon when it clouded up and became very black and dark: the two mountains Peter and Paul were covered with the atmosphere near half way from their summits down, and at two o'clock we had again a small shock of an earthquake, and heard a hollow rumbling noise in the air, and the atmosphere continuing to condense, it became almost as dark as night, and the face of heaven looked very wild: we singled the stops of the sheet-anchor and eased the ship aloft at all the portentous appearances. Between three and four the mountain Paul exploded with a tremendous shock that convulsed everything around us: The report that attended the explosion was very loud at first, but gradually decreased until it subsided to a sound like that of grumbling distant thunder

The volcanoes here are referred to as Peter and Paul, the biblical nature of which is a reminder of how in this period unexplained events were thought of as in terms of God.

Volcotto

Volcotto is a little known dish that is essentially a risotto shaped like a volcano. There are three main components to the dish, a mushroom risotto, sweet potato purée and cherry tomato sauce. If you are thinking, like a masterchef judge, that these ingredients don't belong on the same plate, you'd be right, but it does look pretty fantastic. Although if this dish was on masterchef the more likely response would be- 'why the fuck are you making food that looks like a volcano this is ridiculous'. But if like me and Isaac you have too much time on your hands then here's how you can make the dish.



Mushroom Risotto
(it should be noted that a risotto is best made in one go, don't make half then realised you have to go and see Joanna Newsom and then come back and complete at midnight. Having said this, if you do get a chance see Joanna go, she's definitely worth ruining a risotto for)
-1 onion
-1 clove garlic
-mushrooms (around a punnet, portobello are probably best but any will do)
-risotto rice
-stock
-white wine, approx a glass
-thyme, pepper
Lightly fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, when they are soft add the mushrooms. Add the risotto rice and coat in the oil, add a couple of ladle fulls of stock and the pepper and thyme. As the stock gets absorbed add more, add the wine towards the end of the cooking time.

Sweet potato purée
Bake 2 sweet potatoes in foil for around 45 minuets. When cooked remove the skin and mash with olive oil and some cinnamon.

Cherry Tomato Sauce
Finely chop two cloves garlic and fry lightly in olive oil. Add halved cherry tomatoes, use about a punnet. Season with thyme, sugar and salt. Cover and cook until it's a sauce.

To assemble- shape your risotto in a big mound with a small caldera (making a magma chamber is not necessary). Spoon on the sweet potato purée in a lava like fashion, pour on the tomato sauce, this should be fairly runny so it will be harder to control. Finish with toasted pine nuts.



Chef and Visionary- Augusta Ward
Volcano Architect and Lava Art Director- Isaac Crompton

Volcano of the Week #6- Yellowstone Supervolcano

This is a pretty super volcano (I should really stop making volcano jokes), it's located in Wyoming in the first ever nation park Yellowstone. While the volcano is inactive it is responsible for some of the largest ever eruptions; three notable ones (all VEI=8) occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. The volcano also helped shape the beautiful landscape of the national park, there are volcaniclastic piles in Yukon, Canada; calderas in Idaho and volcanic fields in Nevada and Oregon created by the hotspot. Due to the age of the volcano and ever changing landscape it difficult to tell exactly when and how these volcanic feature where created. However it is known that the Yellowstone caldera formed during the eruption of the Henry's Fork Caldera which was in turn formed by the Island Park Caldera.

Today there is very little volcanic activity in the national park, the most recent lava flow was 70,00 years ago. The Park is however famed for its Old Faithful Geyser which is a result of the volcanic hotspot, the uneasy plate tectonics and ever mobile magma also produce many earthquakes. The caldera floor is moving constantly moving upwards and the and was rising at an unprecedented 7.6cm a year between 2004-2008. This volcano is not likely to erupt any time soon.

Volcano of the Week #5- Mount Sinabung

It's been awhile and this is more an eruption of the week but Volcano of the Week is a great feature. The Indonesian volcano Mount Sinabung erupted this Sunday, the most remarkable feature of this is that the Sumatran volcano had previously been dormant for approx 4000 years. Mount Sinabung is stratovolcano located in the Ring of Fire, it is 2,460m high. As the volcano is not extensively monitored (like the decade volcanoes) and it has been inactive for so long, little is known about the full and potential aftermath of the eruption. However there was sufficient time to evacuate residents from the area and into shelters. While like the Eyjafallajoekull eruption this is eruption is small in global and historical scales, it has caused a large amount of destruction the area. The evacuation of the area will probably last at least a week and crops will be ruined causing even more upheaval in a country which is already so poor. Just another reminder of natures strength and power.