Eruption Alert for Alaska Volcano
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 27, 8:20 PM EDT
*Eruption Alert for Alaska Volcano*
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Vents on Alaska's Fourpeaked Mountain have
been spewing volcanic gases and experts at the Alaska Volcano
Observatory say an eruption is possible.
Peter Cervelli, a geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey and the
observatory, said it is hard to predict if or when an eruption will
occur but "nothing is imminent."
According to the observatory's Web page, an explosive eruption could
occur in the coming days to weeks. Volcanic activity could be ash plumes
exceeding 33,000 feet above sea level, with lava flows, or it could be
nothing.
Even a small eruption can cause floods, debris and mud flows, so the
area on remote Cape Douglas is considered hazardous, according to the
observatory.
Fourpeaked Mountain is about 80 miles northwest of Kodiak and 220 miles
southwest of Anchorage across Cook Inlet.
The observatory is installing seismometers around the mountain, a Web
camera and instruments that measure how the ground is moving, Cervelli
said. The mountain had not been monitored by instruments.
Observatory staff who flew over Fourpeaked over the weekend reported
linear vents running north from the summit. Many were emitting steam and
vapors. Near the vents, a glacier was slumping and pieces had sloughed
into the vents, Cervelli said.
Staff members detected sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and carbon
dioxide coming from the vents. Volcanic gases could be smelled far away
from the summit.
Ash emission Sept. 17, the abundant volcanic gases, the presence of new
vents at the summit and the disruption and floods occurring at and below
glaciers suggest new magma at shallow levels beneath the volcano,
according to the observatory.
Fourpeaked Volcano is not known to have erupted in the last 10,000
years. However, geological investigations have been limited and ice
covers much of the area, the observatory said.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a consortium that includes USGS, the
University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute and the state
Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.
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On the Net:
Alaska Volcano Observatory: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/