ELENA G. DÍEZ
@ElenaGDiez
Updated Tuesday, 21September2021-14: 40
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Live Eruption on La Palma, last minute live |
The volcano has emitted 20,000 tons tons of sulfur dioxide
Timeline Volcanic activity in the world: more than 70 active and six have erupted in 2021
Questions about the volcano What is going to happen now on La Palma?
Is this eruption going to make Teide active?
The Stromboli volcano, located in the Aeolian Islands, in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, serves as a worldwide terminology to describe
eruptions
characterized by
rhythmic explosive phases
(with periods of calm of varying length). In the
Cumbre Vieja volcano
on
La Palma
, something similar is happening. At 3:12 p.m. on Sunday the magma began to break through the crust in the form of lava, releasing gas. Questions about how the event originated and its subsequent development have the population in suspense. But,
in what way can it affect that the eruption is of the strombolian type?
"The volcanic buildings that are formed are usually more or less small.
This type of model is characterized by not being excessively explosive or presenting large lava flows,
" José Luis Barrera, a volcanologist from the Official College of Geologists, explains to EL MUNDO.
Building is called the accumulation of volcanic products
(fluid lavas,
lapillis
and ashes) by the succession of eruptive episodes. These have a conical shape, can have different heights and are located around a central orifice or eruptive mouth, which will function as an outlet conduit for the materials. The more that are created and the larger the size, the more powerful this output will have. "The cones that are formed are also medium or small," says the expert in telephone conversation.
This means that
the destructive capacity of the volcano is lower compared to other typologies such
as the
Vulcan
or the
Plinian
(also known as Vesuvius). The first is characterized by very violent explosions with a large amount of gases and very viscous lava, as is the case with Etna in Sicily; the second, known for burying the city of Pompeii, presents a very acid magma and a high degree of explosiveness that expels large volumes of gas in the form of a mushroom that can exceed 30 km in height.
"The volcanic activity with the least risk is the
Hawaiian one
, typical of these islands, since it only produces lava, without gases or explosions," says Barrera. Therefore, within this classification, the
Strombolian volcano
is not among the most aggressive on the planet, although it
does represent a considerable level of danger
. In addition, from the explosive point of view, the damage will not be much because the craters that have formed are not surrounded by buildings or houses, according to the volcanologist.
The
worrying phenomenon is located around the lava
, which has already begun to bury everything in its path.
"It
devastates fields of crops, banana trees, houses ...
We will see what happens when it reaches the sea. It could continue to destroy buildings on the coast," says the expert.
As they are sporadic eruptions, the emission of lava does not happen continuously.
It is a lava that is emitted at temperatures below 1000 ºC and therefore it is not too fluid, but it can travel more than 12 km without becoming solid and it presents a notable release of gases.
This intermittent nature of the La Palma volcano
can cause the eruption to spread over time
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
The Palm
science
La Palma volcano
Earthquakes
Stories El Paraíso, the 'ground zero' of the volcano: "We have lost everything, everything ..."
VolcanologyCumbre Vieja, the huge volcano that has put La Palma on high alert
ScienceThe volcano has eight eruptive mouths and the lava advances at 700 m / h
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