Word: snow
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...team,” says David L. Krause, an EMT who will serve as the expedition’s medic. “Serious injuries will have to be evaluated carefully...Obviously, that’s a huge challenge in the middle of, say, a fifty-degree snow slope in a blizzard. So equally obviously, good judgment and careful decisions will have to be the order of the day, as preventive medicine...
...double eruption produced none of the spectacular lava displays that characterize such perennially active volcanoes as Hawaii's Kilauea. Instead, the superheated magma within Nevado del Ruiz began to melt the thick blanket of snow and ice that caps the top 2,000 ft. of the peak. Filthy water started to flow down the sides of the mountain. The trickle swiftly turned into a torrent of viscous mud, stones, ashes and debris with a crest of 15 ft. to 50 ft. The liquid avalanche, known as a lahar, was soon hurtling down the steep slopes at speeds...
...upper part of the ... river on the slopes of the snowcapped volcano . . . accompanied by a series of slight quakes. Suddenly, out of the canyon wherein the Lagunilla River flows, an enormous and strange torrent of thick mud became dislodged at tremendous velocity. It dragged with it great blocks of snow, debris, trees and sand." According to Gmez's chronicle, the mudslide destroyed the town of Ambalema some 20 miles southeast of Armero, killing 1,000 people. The 1845 eruption also deposited some 250 million tons of lime on the plains surrounding Armero. The debris eventually decomposed into rich topsoil...
...that was so evidently seen and heard . . . gave off three muffled cannon rounds like a bombardment, so loud that they could be heard for more than 30 leagues around the base. In the region there were two rivers, the Guali and the La-gunilla . . . both were flooded with melted snow. It didn't really seem like water, but masses of ash and soil, with such a pestilent odor of sulfur that it couldn't be tolerated even from afar...
...geologists examine a number of clues. Mild seismic activity in the area, rumblings or the emission of ash and gases are all harbingers of greater things to come. Changes in the snowcaps that cover tall volcanoes may also indicate trouble. In Iceland, for example, the sight of a sagging, snow-covered mountaintop, which indicates that hot magma is pushing upward and melting the ice cap, warns knowledgeable residents to head for safety. More sophisticated techniques include tiltmeters or laser ranging devices to detect deformations in the volcano cone, also caused by magma oozing upward. Seismometers are used to measure harmonic...