New Zealand active volcano shaken by small quake, triggering mud flow alert

Seismic/Volcanic News: New Zealand
Oct 4, 2006
WELLINGTON, New Zealand A small earthquake inside the Mount Ruapehu volcano in New Zealand triggered a landslide alert, though no slide or flood of water from the crater lake occurred, scientists said Thursday.
Scientists said they were trying to determine whether the alert was set off by a small eruption generating a wave that rippled across the lake after the quake.
A huge mud and water flow from the central North Island volcano's crater lake killed 151 people in 1953.
"What triggered this off last night was a small volcanic earthquake of magnitude 3 ... the size that generates an eruption at Ruapehu," senior vulcanologist Brad Scott said.
"So we may or may not have had a small eruption that's thrown out a bit of lake water, that triggered off the system," he told National Radio.
Geological agency GNS Science would try to fly an airplane over Mt. Ruapehu on Thursday in a bid to determine what happened, said duty vulcanologist Steve Sherburn.

VOLCANOES
INDONESIA - The Indonesian government has given its backing to a plan to dump millions of tons of untreated muddy water into the Porong river, near Surabaya city. Muddy water is already being pumped, and a pipeline is being built to take it directly to the coast. The environment ministry admits the plan will destroy marine life in the area. Environmental groups say it could take 30 years to repair the damage. The plan is a last ditch attempt to stave off disaster, four months after mud started spurting out of a crack in the earth. The mud spill has flooded more than 400 hectares (990 acres) of land. It has also forced more than 10,000 people from their homes, and submerged several villages. As the clock ticks down to the start of the rainy season, measures to contain the mud are getting ever more desperate. A series of dams built to limit the spread of the sludge has burst several times, flooding eight villages and closing the main highway into the city. With the crack in the earth now pumping out nearly 130,000 cubic metres of mud a day, the government says it has no option but to channel the sludge into the sea.

MT. ETNA has resumed its volcanic activity with lava flows from the south-east crater. The lava is clearly visible from the summit of the volcano, and has reached Valle del Bove, a deserted zone far from any towns, where there is no danger to any people. Over the past few hours, the instruments of the National Institute of Geology and Volcanic Studies have revealed an increase in volcanic tremors. Since September Mt Etna has been experiencing intermittent volcanic activity, and this is the fourth time since then that a lava flow has been produced. Mt Etna Webcam.