Week 5- Volcanoes

To my surprise, there is a very active volcano in Colima, Mexico. Colima volcano, also known as "Volcan de Fuego",  is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones.  Despite its' name, only a fraction of the volcano is located in the state of Colima, majority of it lies over the border in the neighboring state of Jalisco, toward the western end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990's. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago. Eruptions have occurred in 1991, 1998-1999, and from 2001 to present day. Largest eruption occurred on May 25th, 2005. An ash cloud rose to more than 3 kilometers over the volcano, and a satellite monitor showed that the cloud spread for more than 100 kilometers west of the volcano.

There have been many incidents of eruptions from this volcano. Sadly, on November 5, 2014, the volcano erupted again! An ash column was sent 5 km into the air, covering towns as far as 25 km away in ash. However, no evacuation took place. On July 10 2015, there was another eruption. The most recent volcanic eruption occured a little over a moth ago, on January 15th 2017. The eruption spewed volcanic ash 4m into the air.

The volcano is currently being monitored by the Colima Volcano Observatory at the University of Colima, Mexico. A team interprets, analyzes, and communicates everything that happens. Last year, a webcam was installed close to the volcano so they can see the activity in real time.

Here are some pictures:

 
 


References:

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/colima/news.html

http://www.webcamsdemexico.com/webcam-volcan-de-colima.html

Week 3 Post: Earthquakes

Seismic activity in Mexico has been very active. Seismic waves are a form of elastic energy that has been stored under faults. When the fault breaks, these waves are released and radiate outwards in all directions (Keller, DeVechio, Natural Hazards).  The motion that these waves develop are commonly what we perceive as an earthquake. 

Mexico has had:

2 earthquakes in the past 24 hours

15 earthquakes in the past 7 days

66 earthquakes in the past month

1533 earthquakes in the last year 

Wow! 

 

With such vulnerability to natural dissaters, Mexico has been forced to to prepare and take precautions in order to protect its citizens. 

To be able to respond rapidly to disasters, Mexico recently launched a new US $315 million catastrophe bond, called MultiCat Mexico 2012. This is a flexible financial tool that provides quick insurance against earthquakes and catastrophes. 

MultiCat Mexico 2012 was the third catastrophe bond that Mexico issued, and the second one under the World Bank Multicat Program. Thanks to Mexic's solid reputation in that catastrophe bond market and a growing investor base, this new bond achieved very competitive terms. 

Once a disaster hits and Mexico has the money to respond, the next step is to use it effectively. The country has been focusing on building and improving a transparent and effective system to allocate resources for reconstruction and emergency response. 

Mexico has made progress on prevention and risk reduction, which includes safe building codes and works on roads to improve resiliency when confronted with a potential catastrophe, but clearly there is still work ahead. 

Sources:

http://earthquaketrack.com/p/mexico/recent

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/11/20/strategy-to-prevent-and-manage-disaster-risks-Mexico

Mexico on the Plate Tectonic Map

In this week's chapter, we were introduced to plate tectonics and the internal structure of Earth.

The term tectonics, refers to large-scale geologic processes that deform Earth's lithosphere, producing landforms such as ocean basins, continents, and mountains (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

The lithosphere is broken into larger pieces called tectonic plates (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

Mexico is located on one of Earth's subduction zones. The ocean floor of the Cocos Plate is forcing its' way down "subducting" beneath the edge of the North American Plate.

    

The North American Plate is classified as convergent (subduction) boundary. Convergent boundaries occur where plates move toward each other (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). In this case,  Mexico's convergent plate is oceanic-continental. The higher-density plate subducts into the mantle beneath the leading edge of the continental plate (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

Subduction zones are prone to large earthquakes since the two-plates grind up against each other. , the lower plates pulls the upper plate down with it, building up stress. When the stress builds to the breaking point, the upper plate breaks free and springs back into place. This then results in earthquakes and even at times tsunamis. Subduction zones also often have a chain of volcanoes, called a volcanic arch. A volcanic arch is produced when the oceanic crust of the subducting plate reaches a high enough temperature and pressure to go through a process called metamorphism, releasing water which triggers melting of the mantle (tectonics.caltech.edu) Other natural hazards can include volcanic eruptions, flooding, mass wasting, and subsidence.