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Iceland, Reunion, Sicily ... when the volcanoes wake up at the same time

2021-04-26T05:22:54.259Z


In Saint-Vincent, where the situation is catastrophic, but also in Iceland and Reunion, where volcanic tourism is organized, the lava sem


In the Caribbean, the paradise island of Saint-Vincent has become a hell covered with a thick layer of dust.

For the past two weeks, she has lived to the rhythm of the explosions of the Soufrière volcano.

Twenty thousand people had to be evacuated from the "red zone", with the help, in particular, of cruise ships and catamarans chartered in emergency.

The one and only road has been stormed by residents who fled north, while the president of this tiny state is now calling on the international community for help.

Surprisingly, the day of the first eruption in the Caribbean, 13,000 km away on Reunion Island, the Piton de la Fournaise also woke up, without causing any damage. Shortly before, in Iceland, volcanic fissures opened up on Mount Fagradalsfjall and continue to spew rivers of molten stone. As for Etna, in Sicily, in activity since mid-February, it has experienced a dozen explosions since.

But what could have made these telluric forces come out of their sleep almost at the same time? “There is no connection between these very distant eruptions. It's a coincidence ”, assures Aline Peltier, physicist at the Institut du globe in Paris and director of the Piton de la Fournaise observatory. Each of these fire and molten stone giants presents different periodicities. In Reunion, the volcano causes fire to burst forth two to three times a year; for Saint-Vincent, the last eruption dated back to 1979; as for their Icelandic cousin, he had been sleeping for 800 years! "Geologically very short time since it takes 10,000 to 50,000 years before considering that a volcano is dead", relativizes Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff, teacher at Paris-Saclay.

"As these are emblematic volcanoes and we have fabulous images, we notice it, but this is not the first coincidence", slips, mischievous, the vulcanologist.

In 1902, the Soufriere volcano in Saint-Vincent had exploded in fiery clouds, two days before the Montagne pelée in Martinique.

Two major disasters unrelated.

"It is not because a volcano in the Caribbean is erupting that its neighbor will follow it", insists Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff.

Reassuring for the French West Indies a stone's throw away.

Two dead hikers in Reunion

La Soufrière still rumbles and spits out, with each explosion, thousands of tons of ashes which fall back in rain. “We're talking about a gray volcano,” says Aline Peltier. This volcano is at the junction of two tectonic plates, the magma is more viscous there, it needs more pressure to get out and explodes. On the contrary, the Piton de la Fournaise is a red volcano with lava flows, the magma, less dense, requires less pressure to exit. “However, the Reunionese mountain is not without danger, insists the specialist. This Thursday, April 22, two young hikers who left to admire the lava flow were found dead, possibly due to inhalations of toxic gases.

In addition, the volcano receives 200,000 visitors per year.

However, sometimes, we are only able to predict the eruption twenty minutes in advance.

This time, its observatory noted since March 13 earthquakes, a concentration of CO2 in the ground or a swelling of the Piton indicating that the magma is rising to the surface.

But it was only on D-Day, less than three hours before the ascent, that the last signals enabled the alert to be triggered and the walkers to escape from the slopes of this volcano, "the best followed in the world", notes Aline Peltier.

VIDEO.

The island of Saint-Vincent under a thick layer of ash

For Saint-Vincent, a mass of viscous lava has been flowing from the summit since December. “The Icelandic eruption was overdue for over a year,” specifies Jacques Marie Bardintzeff. Seismologists began recording the first signals fourteen months ago. Since the eruption began on March 19, tourists have flocked to the area near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, which is relatively quiet and easily accessible. About 45,000 people attended and even couples came to say “yes” to each other in this sumptuous landscape.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-04-26

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