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Earth Sciences: Year In Review 1996
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Five shocks occurred with magnitudes of 7.9: on Dec. 3, 1995, in the Kuril Islands; on Feb. 17, 1996, in Indonesia; on June 10 in the Andreanof Islands off the coast of Alaska; on June 11 near the Philippine island of Samar; and on June 17 in the Flores Sea near Indonesia. Although the quake in the Andreanofs caused a tsunami that was registered in Hawaii, Crescent City, Calif., and Port Angeles, Wash., only the earthquake of February 17 caused fatalities and appreciable damage. It left 108 dead, 423 injured, and 58 missing and destroyed or seriously damaged more than 5,000 homes, some owing to a tsunami.
It is not always the most powerful earthquakes that are the most destructive. The most devastating earthquake of 1996 occurred on February 3, in Yunnan province, China, where at least 251 people were killed and more than 4,000 were injured. It was estimated that 329,000 homes were destroyed throughout northwestern Yunnan and that one million people were left homeless. The magnitude of the shock was 6.6. Another shock on Oct. 6, 1995, in southern Sumatra, magnitude 6.7, killed 84, injured more than 1,800, damaged more than 17,000 homes, and left 65,000 homeless.
Two smaller earthquakes, of magnitude 5.9 each, caused fatalities. The first, on March 28 in Ecuador, killed at least 19 and injured 58; the second occurred on May 3 in western Nei mongol, China, and left 18 dead and 300 injured. A total of 15 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater occurred. February was exceptionally active, experiencing eight shocks with magnitudes between 6.0 and 6.9 and four of magnitude 7.0 or higher.
The most notable volcanic activity was the continuing series of eruptions of the Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat in the West Indies, which began on July 18, 1995. It was the first volcanic activity that was recorded on the island since it was visited by Columbus in 1493. The volcano began by producing clouds of ash that slowly increased in duration. New vents opened on July 18 and July 30. Low-level activity continued until an ash explosion formed a third vent on August 20, when some 5,000 people were evacuated. On August 27 there was a magma eruption, producing a lava flow and an ash cloud that coated the nearby city of Plymouth and blotted out the light for 25 minutes. On the next day ejecta were hurled as far as three kilometres (two miles) from the summit. This time 6,000 residents took refuge at the northern end of this the island, which is only 13 km (8 mi) in length. Twice afterward the situation became ominous to the degree that three other evacuations took place, in November 1995, April 1996, and September 1996.
While seismic activity and other indicators have been effective in predicting eruptions in many instances, additional methods are needed. During the year a geochemist, Tobias Fischer, at Arizona State University found one that appeared to have great promise. Volcanologists had determined that the mechanics of volcanism result in a predictable chain of events. The molten magma gives off a volatile mix of gases, containing carbon, hydrochloric acid, and sulfur dioxide. These escape under great pressure, forcing out rainwater in the form of steam. When the tubes or fissures become clogged owing to the accretion of minerals or by cooling of the surface rock, pressure builds within them until it is released with explosive force. In June 1992 Fischer began monitoring the content of the gases escaping from the active Galeras volcano in Colombia. He found definite changes in gas temperature and the percentages of the various chemicals before an eruption. In the week prior to the latest large event, the temperature of the surface rock dropped from 750° to just over 400° C, and the amount of the very soluble hydrogen chloride dropped to one-thirtieth of the mixture, while that of the insoluble carbon dioxide remained unchanged.
Fischer reasoned that water was not expelled because the channels were blocked and the water consequently seeped into the rocks, dissolving the salt. This increase in salt indicated blocked tubes, which in turn indicated a pressure buildup and an imminent eruption.
According to the long-accepted theory of isostasy, mountains float on the denser mantle, similar to icebergs in the ocean. The mass of the mountain below the surface of the ground, extending downward as much as 60 km (37 mi), is greater than that of the visible portion. This is apparently not so for the Sierra Nevada mountains, however, according to Stephen Parks and his team, who began working on the Southern Sierra Continental Dynamics project in 1992. Using extensive seismic refraction surveys, they determined the thickness to the mantle beneath the mountains to be only about five kilometres (three miles). Furthermore, electrical resistivity surveys showed that there were areas of partially molten rock beneath the crust. This indicated to the investigators that the mountain roots were being melted and were less than half the size they had been 15 million-20 million years ago. Thus, in theory, the Sierra Nevada chain, which contains Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous U.S., should be sinking rather than rising. Further research efforts would be designed to map the magma, date deep cores, and attempt to determine whether the Sierras were higher in the past.
Another study of geodynamics produced rather startling results. The most widely accepted theory of plate tectonics supposes that the plates float on the mantle or at least move independently of it. Recently, however, researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and the University of São Paulo, Brazil, found a fossil plume buried deep in the mantle beneath Paraná flood basalt that has remained stationary with respect to the South American plate, which thus demonstrates that a portion of the mantle is moving with the plate and that the mantle and the continent have been coupled since the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean about 130 million years ago.
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