Volcano of the Week #25 - Kilauea

I haven't done any blogging in a long time, because of the Olympics and moving to another country and stuff but mainly the Olympics- it's more important as it only happens every four years, I move all the time. As I haven't seen anything volcanic recently that I can write about I thought I'd do a volcano of the week. Kilauea is probably the most obvious volcano that's never featured, probably because I have so much trouble spelling it which is because I'm never allowed to play Hawaiian Scrabble. The volcano is one of the five shield volcanoes that make up Hawaii's big island and is characterised by continuous, slow eruptions - this one has been going on since 1983.

Compared to the other Hawaiian volcanoes Kilauea is fairly young being between 300,000 and 600,000 years old, the oldest Hawaiian volcano Kohala is over 1 million. The Hawaiian hotspot differs from other volcanoes as most volcanoes are caused by a meeting of plates creating a ridge in which the pressure of magma creates the volcano. The Hawaiian hotspot is right in the middle of a tectonic plate and is an incredibly hot patch of magma that seeps through a gap in the plate, the volcanoes that form here do so underwater and grow from the slow eruptions and cooling of magma. The only quiet period the volcano has had in recent  times was from 1934 to 1952 when the volcano didn't erupt at all, the first recorded eruption was in 1820, since then the volcano loads with a massive output, a bit like Prince (sorry I'm listening to a Prince documentary so forgive me if I go astray, hahahahaha).

Kilauea is the thought to be the body of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess not the Brazilian footballer although they are pretty similar. Pele the goddess was a bit of a bitch (I think the other one was quite nice), one legend is that there was a young couple Ohi'a and Lehua who were deeply in love and Ohi'a built them a home in the forest. One day Pele was walking nearby and saw Ohi'a and thought he looked pretty hot however Ohi'a rejected Pele's advances. Lehua brought out a meal to Ohi'a (I love the rigid gender roles in this story), Pele went really mental when she saw Lehua and Ohi'a together as they looked so happy. Pele returned to her goddess form and turned Ohi'a into an ugly tree, Lehua was so upset and begged Pele to either turn her into a tree or Ohi'a back into a man which Pele refused, however some other gods took pity on Lehua and turned her into a flower to go on the tree so they could be together forever. But Pele was probably right as the couple's love seemed to be based mainly on physical attractiveness so they probably would have got bored of each other and Ohi'a would spend all day at work while Lehua would be bored and stuck inside all the time - so at least they avoided all that. So basically Pele gets really angry which she expresses as lava output, this means she's been really angry since 1983, it was probably Thatcher's re-election and the introduction of the McNugget, who wouldn't be angry in that sort of world.

Volcano Live - it's a bit annoying.

Things are getting a bit difficult as now whenever I turn on the TV there seems to be something on about volcanoes, so if everyone else starts liking volcanoes I might have to stop (probably not really though). I hate it when this happens here are some other occasions where it has; Andy Murray, peplums, actually I can't think of any more but there are loads. Apparently this has been on  and is quite good. I would watch it now but as I speak there is some sun so should probably enjoy that outside. 

How football tournaments should be judged

Because my life has pretty much been taken over by the Euros (the football tournament not the currency) I haven't posted on here in a while but I have managed to find a way to combine them = YAY VOLCANOES AND FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS! Basically this is going to imagine if the teams still left in the competition were judged for their volcanoes not their footballing ability. Countries will then be given a VFI (Volcanic Footballing Index) and the higher index will win the round.

 


First up, Czech Republic v Portugal

Czech Republic, the only instance of volcanoes in the country (only mention in Wikipedia) is Trosky castle which is built on a volcanic plug, which are remnants of the magma chamber. The football team aren't too exciting either. VFI = 2/10
Portugal - the mainland has no active volcanoes but the islands of Azores and Madeira have many active and extinct volcanoes. Madeira also has amazing plant life partly due to the volcanic soil and it's where Christiano is from and he's pretty eruptive. VFI = 6/10
Portugal wins!

 




Tomorrow Greece v Germany
Greece has 6 volcanoes, which are all on the islands, the best is Santorini which possibly wiped out the Minoan civilisation. I think the unpredictability of the team also adds to their VFI and the fact they have the ability to upset THE WHOLE FOOTBALLING WORLD. VFI = 7/10
Germany only has one incident of volcanism, which is the West Eifel Volcanic Field, a 600 sq km area in the Rhineland containing small extinct stratovolcanoes, but it's not very impressive and hasn't erupted since the Holocene era. Germany also has quite an organised footballing style which is not very volcanic. VFI = 3/10
Greece wins!

 

Saturday Spain v France
Spain there are a couple of volcanic fields in the Pyrenees which like Germany's have been extinct for ages. The Canary Islands like Madiera are volcanic, the most notable volcano being Teide on Tenerife. But I don't call passing the ball very accurately a million times very volcanic so some minus points. VFI = 5/10
France again has a mainland volcanic field that has long been inactive. But France still has loads of overseas territories (which is a bit weird) and Gualdeloupe, Reunion and Martinique all have active volcanoes. The team are bit too structured to be volcanic. VFI = 5/10
Spain win on Penalties.

 


Sunday ENGLAND v Italy
England, now if we're looking at England as opposed to the UK then England are crap as Scotland and Wales has some volcanic landscape and like France the UK has some volcanic overseas territories but I can't include those. So all we've got is the Scafells (remnants of a supervolcano) and Wayne Rooney's eruption of hair. VFI = 1/10
Italy - Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli, Italy is pretty much the king of volcanoes and Balotelli could erupt at any moment. VFI = 9/10
Italy win, conclusively (sorry)


Semi Final 1, Greece v Italy
This will a be crazy game with lava flowing everywhere but in the end Italy are unbeatable.

Semi Final 2, Portugal v Spain
In this Iberian derby (I bet 20mill that a commentator will say that) Portugal just get ahead, goal from Christino. 

FINAL Italy v Portugal
Despite Mario Balotelli getting sent off Italy prove to be unbeatable and take the trophy home.

ITALY WIN! (This picture isn't in Italy)

Now I have to go and get changed into my Christano Ronaldo shirt which will definitely please my blog editor. Also it's a shame Russia are out as they would given Italy a run for their money.

Spacano

When I was in the shop Lush the other day I noticed a product called Volcano, obviously after I had sneezed repeatedly from the assault to my senses (I do love lush but it smells a lot). I would have bought the product but I didn't bother as I saw it was for feet and I don't like to care for my feet in anyway, as I see my hard and cracked skin as a mark of honour, also rubbing away the dead skin gets rid of the goodness. But it did remind me of the many volcanic spas around the world which look pretty fucking cool.

There is this luxury one in Costa Rica powered by the Arenal volcano

Or if you just fancy splashing about in mud there's the island of Vulcano in Italy. This picture reminds me of walking out to the sea at WSM at low tide, although I'm sure that mud has a more sewage-like quality than the purifying mud of volcanoes.

There is also a mud bath crater at the Sea of Azov which might just be my new fave place in the world, it's located just north of the Black Sea and linked by the Kerch straight, which can be seen in the top picture (Black Sea bottom, Sea of Azov top). It also separates Russia and Ukraine and is the worlds shallowest sea, average depth 7m. The Tamansky Peninsula, which is on the Russian side of the Kerch straight, google maps obviously shows this better, has around 25 mud volcanoes causing the lovely mud baths. I saw a great picture of people bathing here in the volcano book, which I haven't read yet as I've just read a book about the Manson Family which was FUCKING NUTS, I also read a book set by the black sea where someone worked in a bathing house- I'm mentioning that to prove people who live round the black sea like bathing. Hope you enjoyed that brief summary of everything I've read and haven't read in the past month.

Sadly I didn't quite manage to proof read before Greece-Czech Republic kick off, I'm not sure whether proof reading or watching sport is more important in my blog editor's (who also happens to be my mother) world. 

I'm in Print!

At the weekend I bought this book which is very exciting as it's about volcanoes, it's by the curator of the Volcano: From Turner to Warhol exhibition which was at Compton Verney last year and was very good. But I think the best thing about the book has to be that I'm referenced in it! Not to say that it isn't otherwise a great book but everyone likes to feel important (and what makes you feel more important than seeing your name in print?)

I haven't really started reading it yet as I'm still recovering from the Eurovision at the weekend at which there were no volcano references- Come on Italy and Iceland, pull your fingers out. I know Russia also has lots of volcanoes but their entry could not have been improved on in any way. Back to volcanoes as sadly this isn't a eurovision blog. Anyway when I've read the book I'm sure I will have lots more stuff to blog about, as it opens with a quote from The Volcano Lover, it's bound to be great. It's part of the Reaktion Earth Series, of which the series editor Daniel Allen says.

The Earth series traces the historical significance and cultural history of natural phenomena. Written by experts who are passionate about their subject, title in the series bring together science, art, literature, mythology, religion and popular culture, exploring and explaining the planet we inhabit in new and exciting ways. 

The book is also full of lovely pictures such as these.

 Bernhard Picart, Enceladus buried beneath Mount Etna

 Brynjolfur Thordarson, Hekla

 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, La Geria, Lanzarote

 Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus

 Joseph Wright of Derby, Eruption of Vesuvius

 JMW Turner, Naples: Vesuvius from Naples: Rome

 Karl Briullov, Last Day of Pompeii

 Dieter Roth, Surtsey 

Volcano of the Week #24 - Popocatepetl

I realise that this is actually the first volcano of the week that I've done all year making Popocateptl the volcano of the year! Yay congratz! lolz! etc... This is appropriate as Popocateptl has very much been the most active volcano of the year apart from maybe Etna (but @IAmMountEtna, so we've covered that base) unless I'm forgetting another big eruption this year. Which is likely as it's already May- Fuck where has this year gone- oh yeah I remember. Back to Popo (which is what Popocateptl lets you call him when you're friends, but he's not that great a friend- bit moody), the wiki entry is a bit short so I might just make some stuff up - that's just me covering my back in case someone tells me my information is incorrect.

Popo is around 70km southeast of Mexico City, part of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt and 5,426m tall. The volcano used to be covered in glaciers however these became extinct in 2001. The crater is a massive 400x600m, the volcano formed around 730,000 years ago. During the last 20 years or so Popo has become very active and since 1993 one can almost constantly see smoke rising from the crater. In April this year Popo had a pretty large eruption and covered a lot of the surrounding area in ash, in some places up to 7cm thick (reminds me of my old living room). And has continued to do this for about a month, putting the area on alert, an eruption is of particular concern due to the proximity to Mexico City. Thank to this site one of my new hobbies is watching volcanoes on webcams and here is Popo if you wanna check what it's up to.

There are a lot of cool legends about Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, which is a lady mountain north of Popo and I'm not just gendering volcanoes- they're in the stories. What Wikipedia is telling me is that there are three versions of the legend- however I'm sure there are many others. The first (which is a bit Romeo and Juliet) is that Popo went to war under the instruction of Izta's (to he was betrothed) father. As Izta's dad was unhappy about the union he told Izta that Popo had died in battle and Izta died of grief when Popo heard this he lay down beside Izta and killed himself. They were both covered in snow and then turned into mountains and Popo is the volcano because he's angry. In the next version, which is very like the Ruapehu, Tongariro, Taranki volcano story, Popo and Izta are engaged however Xinantecatl (Nevado del Toluca) wants to get it on with Izta. So Xina and Popo have a massive fight and Popo ends up throwing a massive stone and decapitating Xina.

The final one is that Izta was the daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City) and she loved Popo who was the leader of a tribe. One day Popo and tribe went off to battle and one day a warrior who hated Popo (who told him he wore crap shirts when he was on TV or something) sent a message to the Emperor that Popo had died in battle. Izta was very upset and became ill and died through sadness, when Popo came back the Emperor told him Izta had died. Popo carried Izta a long way and then made a funeral table, he then died of sadness watching over Izta, the gods were moved and turned them into mountains, the volcano stills smokes to let us know he is looking over Izta. 

Hopefully it'll less than 6 months before I do another volcano of the week as writing that was fun.

Nocano of the Week

I listened to the first part of this radio programme which is about the eruption of Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and thought that could be my volcano of the week as it was really interesting and makes you think about the people involved in these disasters in a very humane and touching way. But it turns out it's already been volcano of the week, it would seem a bit weird having a different volcano as volcano of the week (any suggestions welcome) and I want to post something as I haven't done so in a while but I can't think of anything else. Also my computer is so slow that using it is torturous so listen to the radio programme and here is a pretty picture of Soufriere Hills, I'll write a better post soon.