Eruptions Newsletter #5 for April 11, 2025

Activity News

Spurr, Alaska

The unrest at Spurr in Alaska continues. The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported that “seismicity remains elevated with occasional small, shallow volcanic earthquakes detected beneath the volcano.” This is par for the course at a volcano that likely has new magma rising up into the upper parts of the system. However, AVO does still think an eruption isn’t imminent (as in days to weeks) because they would expect to see earthquakes, ground deformation, changing summit lake conditions, and fumarolic activity to all support the idea that magma is close to the surface.

This being said, it is always a good idea to be prepared. NPR had an article on April 10 about how people are preparing their pets for a potential eruption at Spurr. Dogs need eye, feet, fur and breathing protection when there is ash falling or on the ground. You can apparently purchase all of these items for dogs so when you do need to take them outside, they will be safe. (Of course, I can’t imagine how this would work with cats.)

Kanlaon, Philippines

Kanla0n in the Philippines made the rounds on social media this week thanks to a video of an explosion captured on the PHIVOLCS webcam. Although the blast looks dramatic, it is relatively small as explosive eruptions go. The ash plume reached ~4,000 meters — that’s ~13,000 feet — but that height is small fry considering that a true Plinian eruption needs to hit a minimum of ~30 kilometers (almost 100,000 feet). The alert status at Kanlaon still sits at Level 3 (of 5).

Gede-Pangrango, Indonesia

I’m always curious when a volcano that I have never heard of becomes restless. Gede-Pangrango is on the northwest tip of the island of Java in Indonesia and has no known Holocene (last ~11,000 years) eruptions according to the Global Volcanic Program database. However, earthquakes and tremor have been occurring at Gede over the last few weeks and the unrest is enough to cause authorities to close off the area to tourists and climbers.

Now, don’t get confused. There is another volcano called Gede in the general vicinity (NW Java) as well. This is why accurate reporting on unrest is so important because although they have close to the same name, they are not the same. Gede (not restless) has no known Holocene eruptions but Gede-Pangrango (restless) did last erupt in 1957, producing a small VEI 2 eruption.

Gede-Pangrango has an astonishing 40,000,000 people living within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the volcano. Looking at its known history dating back to the mid 18th century, it has numerous VEI 2 and 3 events, which hopefully means any new activity will follow that pattern of small explosions and lava flows.

Kīlauea, Hawai’i

Guess what? Kīlauea had another summit eruptive episode. That’s 17 since the activity at the summit renewed. It lasted pretty close to the length of the last few eruptive episode (in this case, ~35.5 hours) with lava flows and fountaining. The Hawaiian volcano just keeps chugging away. Check out the picture of an USGS geologist sampling lava from Episode 17 above!

Unrelated to this current activity is a bit of research from the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea. There was an early phase of explosive eruptions early during that event and the ash fell mainly in the ocean. Turns out the ash fed a massive phytoplankton bloom! That shows just now interconnected something like a volcanic eruption and micro-organism productivity can be on our planet.

Volcano Word of the Week

So, I will highlight volcano research in the newsletter, but sometimes it is hard. Papers take time to read and digest — and during the semester, time can be tight. So, right now I will use this space for a Volcano Word of the Week. Do you have a suggestion? Leave a comment!

This week’s word is, well, magma.

Sounds like a basic one, right? We can think of magma a few ways. First, as a substance, it is molten rock. It might not be 100% liquid (most magma is liquid and crystals). When that molten rock is underground (generally speaking) we call in magma, but when it erupts onto the surface it might be lava (oozing) or volcanic tephra (fragments like ash).

What is “molten rock”? Unlike water, molten rock is made of lots of different elements. Some of the elements like silicon, aluminum and oxygen will bond to form chains in magma. These chains give magma its high viscosity (stickiness). As magma cools, different minerals form that have different chemical compositions, so the composition of the remaining liquid after a crystal forms will also change. This is the process of fractional crystallization (or differentiation).

Most magma on Earth today ranges from ~1400ºC to ~650ºC (~2500-1200ºF), with basalt lava (with low silica content between ~47-52 weight percent) at the high end and rhyolite (with high silica content over 73 weight percent) at the low end. The difference in temperature and composition means that rhyolite magma is roughly one billion times more viscous (stickier) than basalt!

Odds & Ends

If you missed it, the Global Volcanism Program has a new explainer about the supposed “Ring of Fire”. Now, I have opinions on that terminology, but the GVP does a great job of showing how active volcanoes are along the edges of the Pacific Ocean. This does not mean it is one, continuous feature. Instead, it is just an example of tectonics on a large scale. Between 50-70% of all volcanic eruptions on Earth since the middle of the 20th century happened along the margins of the Pacific. However, stop to think just how much of the planet the edge of that ocean represents! Check out the GVP post for all the wonderful details.

Also, let’s talk about bad science communication! I mentioned the NPR article about prepping pets for an eruption. It is mostly a cute article about doggles and caring for animals in a disaster. Here is the headline:

Now, consider how the Daily Mail reported on this NPR article:

Ho boy. If you ever needed an example of responsible (NPR) versus irresponsible (Daily Mail) journalism, you got it here. Heck, they aren’t even “gas masks”, they are dust masks. Like you get at the hardware store, but for dogs.

This is why we definitely can’t have nice things.

Sounds of the Week

Those of you who might know me know that I love Pulp. In the whole great Blur-Oasis war of the late 1990s, I was clearly on team Pulp. They are decidedly more “English” than the others, but Jarvis Cocker is the most charismatic (in a super weird way) of all their frontmen.

Anyway, Pulp hadn’t released an album since 2001. That now changes! They will have a new album (More) in June and I am flippin’ thrilled. In honor of this momentous occasion, here is the new song plus 4 of my favorite Pulp songs.

Here it is. The first new Pulp in over a decade. It has a dancy vibe, almost a synth pop thing going on. You can tell they have been hanging out with James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) in preparation for their double bill in the Hollywood Bowl later this year. Yet, it is still obviously Pulp.

The thing about Jarvis Cocker is his ability to remain relatable. Damon Albarn, the Gallaghers, they became massive stars and they come across as such. Jarvis, personally and lyrically, just doesn’t. Maybe he’s just too weird (or too old) for that to happen. Anyway, his lyrics have always been the most biting (“come on in now, wipe your feet on my dreams”? Jeez). “Like a Friend” is clearly seething, cynical but sympathetic and it builds like a runaway train.

This was the last official Pulp song before “Spike Island”. Produced by James Murphy before he declared he didn’t like producing other people’s songs, it is clearly a modernization of the Pulp sound. It falls squarely into the Cocker self-deprecating (in a fun way?) songs (“I felt so ashamed/that I did it twice”), but somehow it become a massive club anthem (well, the club of my mind). Admittedly, it has a little bit of a throwaway b-side vibe, but I love it to pieces.

Classic, imperial period Pulp. I had no idea what w’s and wizz were when I first heard the song in 1996, but I do remember blasting in from the cassette deck in my car stuck in traffic driving around Boston.

Pulp is a little odd in the sense that they have a discography that I have never listened to. They were sort of a different band prior to His N’ Hers and in my sampling of the early Pulp (they’re been a band since the 1970s!), I just couldn’t get into it. However, ever since His N’ Hers, they have been remarkable.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Feel free to send me a note or follow me on Bluesky (@erikklemetti.bsky.social).