VolcanoAdventures: Our professional team of volcanologists and photographers offers unique travel opportunities: volcano expeditions, photo tours, and relaxed walking & study tours.
The Volcano Adventure Guide: Excellent information and background for anyone wishing to visit active volcanoes safely and enjoyably. The book presents guidelines to visiting 42 different volcanoes around the world.
The 1635 m high stratovolcano fo Gamkonora is the highest peak on Halmahera.
It has had shifting shifting eruption centers that have produced an elongated series of summit craters along a N-S trending rift. Young-looking lava flows originate near the cones of Gunung Alon and Popolojo, south of Gamkonora.
Since its first recorded eruption in the 16th century, Gamkonora has typically produced small-to-moderate explosive eruptions. Its largest historical eruption, in 1673, was accompanied by tsunamis that inundated villages and killed many people.
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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution
PVMBG reported that observers at the Gamkonora observation post in Gamsungi (6 km NW), West Halmahera, reported that during 1 August-3 November diffuse white plumes rose up to 70 m above the crater rim. ...more
RSAM values fluctuated; an increase was detected in October coincident with a period of increased tremor. The Alert Level was lowered to 2 (on a scale of 1-4) on 1 July. Residents and tourists were asked not to venture near the crater within a radius of 1.5 km. (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report 4-10 November 2015) [less]
Increased earthquake activity has triggered an eruption alert by VSI, who raised the volcano's status to 3 ("Siaga", "warning") out of 4 this morning. Indonesian volcanologists reported that the degassing plume from the summit crater of the volcano has turned dark, which suggests the presence of ash (probably phreatic in origin) since 25 May. ...more
The seismicity has shown significant changes with the appearance of harmonic tremor, low-frequency "tornillo" type-earthquakes (known from Galeras volcano in Colombia to often precede explosions). Volcanic-tectonic quakes (VA-type) related to rock fracturing have increased a lot, suggesting that magma at depth is intruding into new dykes. No ash plumes have been detected on satellite images. The last activity of Gamkonora goes back to January, when it produced some small phreatic explosions. [less]
The alert level of Gamkonora volcano on the island of Halmahera, Indonesia, was raised to 3 (eruption warning) on 13 June, following an increase in seismic activity and steaming. ...more
The Indonesian Volcanological Survey recommends a safety zone of 3 km radius around the volcano. [less]
After last week's intense ash eruptions generating plumes 2-3 km high, Gamkonora volcano has quieted down over the past days. Since July 13, seismicity has decreased sharply and no new larger ash eruptions have occurred since then.The Indonesian Volcanological Survey has lowered the alert level and many villagers who had been evacuated from the slopes of the volcano have returned home.
Blue flames of burning sulfur: Ijen volcano in East Java has one of the most impressive sulfur deposits on earth. They are so hot that the sulfur often ignites - a mysterious display at night caught on camera.
Earthquake News: News in this category include: latest and archived earthquake lists & maps, reports, largest recent earthquakes, quakes near volcanoes, significant quakes etc - news and articles about earthquakes world-wide.
Top 20 quakes in 2016: Several magnitude 7 quakes occurred in 2016 (but none above M8): Papua New Guinea, NZ, Ecuador, Solomon Islands, Sumatra, Chile, Alaska and others - nearly all major earthquakes were located near active subduction zones.
See the top 20 list of largest quakes in 2016 with this map.
VolcanoAdventures.com: Tom Pfeiffer's new tour company since 2015: a professional team of volcanologists and photographers offers unique travel opportunities: volcano expeditions, photo tours, and relaxed walking & study tours.
