Cite this Report
November 2003 visit finds evidence of very recent eruption
In a recent publication, Rubin and van der Zander (2005) discuss radiometric methods for dating lavas as one means to establish eruption chronologies. Some of their techniques were applied to samples of fresh lava (erupted September-October 2003) found on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 10°44'N (Voight and others, 2004). This location lies ~ 1,900 km WNW of the Galápagos Islands. During a November 2003 biological sampling visit to the EPR at 10°44'N, divers in the submersible Alvin expected to be revisiting an established hydrothermal vent field. Instead, they found indicia all of which were consistent with a recent eruption, notably fresh lava, bacterial mats, and diffuse snow- blower vents issuing from lava collapses. The team acted immediately after the cruise by sending the lava samples to the University of Hawai`I for dating. Researchers there determined that an eruption had occurred within 1 to 2 months prior to the site visit. A hydrophone array (designated N-EPR) nominally monitored this part of the EPR since 1996, but not in real time. Unfortunately, the system failed to record data during the 2002-2004 interval due to a hardware problem.
Ages for lavas erupted within the past 1.5-2 years were determined with the 210Po-210Pb dating method (Rubin and others, 1994). To use this method, analyses should begin as soon as possible after samples are collected from suspected eruption locales. Radioactive disequilibrium is largest, and temporal resolution of the method is highest, immediately following eruption. According to Rubin and van der Zander (2005, p. 28) "Polonium is volatile at magmatic temperatures and degasses from magmas when they erupt. This creates an initial 210Po (half-life = 138.4 day) deficit relative to grand parental 210Pb in freshly erupted magmas. This deficit is subsequently erased with time via radioactive ingrowth toward secular equilibrium."
References. Rubin, K.H., Macdougall, J.D., and Perfit, M.R., 1994, 210Po-210Pb dating of recent volcanic eruptions on the seafloor: Nature, v. 368, p. 841-844.
Rubin, K., and van der Zander, I., 2005, Obtaining high-resolution chronologies of submarine lava eruptions: Better dating through radiochemistry: Ridge 2000 Events, v. 3 (Spring 2005), p. 28-30.
Voight, J. R., Zierenberg, R.A., McClain, J., and the Science Party: Batson, P., Beers, K., Daly, M., Dushman, B., Gollner, S., Govenar, B., Haney, T.A., Hourdez, S., Liow, L.H., Parker, C., Von Damm, K., Zekley, J., and Zelnio, K.A., 2004, FIELD cruise to the northern EPR: Discoveries made during biological investigations from 8°37'N to 12°48'N: Ridge 2000 Events, v. 2(1), p. 22-24.
Information Contacts: Ken Rubin, Department of Geology and Geophysics, SOEST, University of Hawai`I, 1680 East West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Northern EPR at 10.7°N.
Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.
Cite this Report
November 2003 visit finds evidence of very recent eruption
In a recent publication, Rubin and van der Zander (2005) discuss radiometric methods for dating lavas as one means to establish eruption chronologies. Some of their techniques were applied to samples of fresh lava (erupted September-October 2003) found on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 10°44'N (Voight and others, 2004). This location lies ~ 1,900 km WNW of the Galápagos Islands. During a November 2003 biological sampling visit to the EPR at 10°44'N, divers in the submersible Alvin expected to be revisiting an established hydrothermal vent field. Instead, they found indicia all of which were consistent with a recent eruption, notably fresh lava, bacterial mats, and diffuse snow- blower vents issuing from lava collapses. The team acted immediately after the cruise by sending the lava samples to the University of Hawai`I for dating. Researchers there determined that an eruption had occurred within 1 to 2 months prior to the site visit. A hydrophone array (designated N-EPR) nominally monitored this part of the EPR since 1996, but not in real time. Unfortunately, the system failed to record data during the 2002-2004 interval due to a hardware problem.
Ages for lavas erupted within the past 1.5-2 years were determined with the 210Po-210Pb dating method (Rubin and others, 1994). To use this method, analyses should begin as soon as possible after samples are collected from suspected eruption locales. Radioactive disequilibrium is largest, and temporal resolution of the method is highest, immediately following eruption. According to Rubin and van der Zander (2005, p. 28) "Polonium is volatile at magmatic temperatures and degasses from magmas when they erupt. This creates an initial 210Po (half-life = 138.4 day) deficit relative to grand parental 210Pb in freshly erupted magmas. This deficit is subsequently erased with time via radioactive ingrowth toward secular equilibrium."
References. Rubin, K.H., Macdougall, J.D., and Perfit, M.R., 1994, 210Po-210Pb dating of recent volcanic eruptions on the seafloor: Nature, v. 368, p. 841-844.
Rubin, K., and van der Zander, I., 2005, Obtaining high-resolution chronologies of submarine lava eruptions: Better dating through radiochemistry: Ridge 2000 Events, v. 3 (Spring 2005), p. 28-30.
Voight, J. R., Zierenberg, R.A., McClain, J., and the Science Party: Batson, P., Beers, K., Daly, M., Dushman, B., Gollner, S., Govenar, B., Haney, T.A., Hourdez, S., Liow, L.H., Parker, C., Von Damm, K., Zekley, J., and Zelnio, K.A., 2004, FIELD cruise to the northern EPR: Discoveries made during biological investigations from 8°37'N to 12°48'N: Ridge 2000 Events, v. 2(1), p. 22-24.
Information Contacts: Ken Rubin, Department of Geology and Geophysics, SOEST, University of Hawai`I, 1680 East West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Northern EPR at 10.7°N.
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There is data available for 1 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.
2003 May 31 (?) ± 30 days - 2003 Oct 15 ± 21 days Confirmed Eruption VEI: 0
| Episode 1 | Eruption | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2003 May 31 (?) ± 30 days - 2003 Oct 15 ± 21 days | Evidence from Observations: Reported | |||||||||||||||||||
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List of 2 Events for Episode 1
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There is no Deformation History data available for Northern EPR at 10.7°N.
There is no Emissions History data available for Northern EPR at 10.7°N.
Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.
There are no samples for Northern EPR at 10.7°N in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.
| Copernicus Browser | The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions. |
| MIROVA | Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity. |
| MODVOLC Thermal Alerts | Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales. |
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WOVOdat
Single Volcano View Temporal Evolution of Unrest Side by Side Volcanoes |
WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments. |
| Volcanic Hazard Maps | The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter. |
| IRIS seismic stations/networks | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Northern EPR at 10.7°N. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice. |
| UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations | Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Northern EPR at 10.7°N. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player. |
| DECADE Data | The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere. |
| Large Eruptions of Northern EPR at 10.7°N | Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA). |
| EarthChem | EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS). |
A temperature probe from the submersible vehicle Alvin collects data at a low-temperature hydrothermal vent located in a collapse structure in the East Pacific Rise area. The maximum temperatures reached only 9.5°C. This lava flow was erupted within only a few weeks to a few months of this November 2003 expedition. The flow was covered by bacterial mats, had large amounts of bacterial floc issuing from diffuse vents, and was sparsely populated by small animals.
