In the past week, Earth has shaken with more than 50 earthquakes and nearly 20 volcanic eruptions. In Iran, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake caused extensive damage and loss of life on May 28. And in Hawaii, lava
In the past week, Earth has shaken with more than 50 earthquakes and nearly 20 volcanic eruptions. In Iran, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake caused extensive damage and loss of life on May 28. And in Hawaii, lava from Kilauea picked up intensity and reached the sea on the night of May 30 for the first time in a year. Nature's forces are at work all around us.
One of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, has recently picked up its activity. Fresh, hot lava has reached the ocean for the first time in a year (at right). Photo courtesy of USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
A strong earthquake struck the Mazandaran-Qazvin provinces about 70 kilometers north of Tehran at 5:08 p.m. local time on May 28, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake killed at least 35 people and injured more than 400 as it ripped through the mountainous region near the Caspian Sea.
The initial magnitude-6.3 quake and its more than 100 aftershocks rocked the foundations of much of the infrastructure of northern Iran, damaging nearly 3,900 buildings, according to the Tehran Times. Many of the casualties from the quake actually stemmed from major landslides and rockfalls along the mountain road linking Tehran to the Caspian Sea city of Chalus. Giant boulders crashed down from the mountains and covered the road, crushing cars and people as they tumbled. Additionally, nine people (including a provincial governor) who had been surveying the damage died in a helicopter crash in the mountains.
Some of the world's most active fault lines run under Iran, so earthquakes are not uncommon. Last December, more than 25,000 people died in a devastating magnitude-6.6 quake in Bam, in southeastern Iran.
Kilauea reaches the
Kilauea Volcano on the big island of Hawaii is one of the most active on Earth, beginning its current eruption in 1983 and picking up its pace over recent months. In a beautiful display, hot lava cascaded into the Pacific Ocean on May 30, marking the first time in a year that lava reached the ocean.
"This current flow started slowly," says Donald Swanson with the U.S. Geological Survey. The "banana flow," as it is called (because it flows through a stand of banana trees) exited a lava tube high on the volcano several months ago. In May, the lava began flowing downhill toward the sea.
Scientists are out daily to monitor and study Kilauea's eruption. Tourists are coming in droves as well to witness the only place on Earth where hot lava is cascading in fingerlike prongs into the ocean and creating new coastline. Photo courtesy of USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
At the oceanfront, the fingerlike flow is about 500 meters wide. 