Word: volcanoe
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Said Herd, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Nevado del Ruiz volcano: "The Colombians were sincerely trying to respond to the hazard." Agreed Luis Eduardo Jaramillo, an INGEOMINAS spokesman: "We warned the people living in the area that something could happen. We gave them instructions about what to do if it blew up." Yet in their report the Italians criticized the Colombian precautions as "absolutely inadequate...
...week's end the rescue squads working heroically in the shadow of the volcano were giving fear little thought. All their efforts were bent on saving the living. Only now and then did they have time to think of the thousands of dead who lay beneath their feet. Giving in fully to the release of grief was a luxury that Colombia could not yet afford. --By George Russell. Reported by Bernard Diederich/Armero and Tom Quinn and Gavin Scott/Bogot...
That vivid eyewitness account could be a description of last week's furious eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia. Yet it was written by a Spanish monk, Father Pedro Simon, who observed on March 12, 1595, the 17,716-ft. volcano's previous major convulsion. The similarities between the two events point up both the always present menace of an active volcano and its lethal unpredictability. Although scientists were convinced that Nevado del Ruiz was due for a major burst, they could not pinpoint the time with sufficient accuracy to allow large-scale evacuation of the surrounding towns...
...South American plate, which is moving westward. As the oceanic plate dives deeper into a region of high temperature and pressure some 60 miles to 125 miles below the earth's surface, rock in the area begins to soften and form magma, molten rock. Says Robert Christiansen, a volcano specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, Calif.: "This is one area in which our knowledge is the least advanced...
...they are more buoyant than surrounding rock, the diapirs percolate upward, like bubbles rising through honey, melting more rock as they go. Eventually they accumulate in pockets called magma chambers, located two miles to 15 miles underground. If the magma is very liquid and gases can escape gradually, a volcano may lie fallow for long periods of time...