Eruption on Mount Klyuchevskoi.

Mount Klyuchevskoi, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, began erupting for the first time since October 2012 on the evening of Monday 26 August 2013, and continuing overnight. The volcano, which is the highest in Eurasia, produced small explosive eruptions through the night, throwing incandescent ash 200-300 m above the cone, visible from the village of Kozirevsk, according to the Skanex Research and Development Center. The volcano is in a remote location, and not an immediate threat to any human population, though a major eruption may cause disruption to aircraft and the tourist industry. There is also a danger that significant warming on the volcano may lead to ice and snow melting, with the danger of lahars (mud and debris flow caused by flash flooding mixed with volcanic material).

Mount Klyuchevskoi. Volkstat.

The Kamchatka Peninsula lies on the eastern edge of the Okhotsk Plate, close to its margin with the Pacific and North American Plates. The Pacific Plate is being subducted along the margin, and as it does so it passes under the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and as it does so is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate as magma and fueling the volcanoes of southern Kamchatka.

The approximate location of Mount Klyuchevskoi. Google Maps.

See also Eruption on Mount Karymsky, Eruptions on Mount Shiveluch, New eruption on Mount Shiveluch, Eruption on Mount Shiveluch and Eruption on Mount Kizimen.

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Earthquakes off the Lancashire coast.

Slightly before 6.40 am British Summertime (slightly before 5.40 am GMT) on Sunday 25 August 2013, a Magnitude 2.4 Earthquake at a depth of 5 km occurred beneath the Irish Sea, roughly 25 km off the Lancashire Coast, according to the British Geological Survey. This was followed by a second quake slightly before 11.00 am British Summertime (slightly before 10.00 am GMT), this time with a Magnitude of 3.2 at a depth of 8 km, and roughly 1 km to the southwest of the original tremor. These are quite large events for the UK, although unlikely to cause any problems this far offshore. Both quakes were felt in the Fleetwood and Barrow-in-Furness areas.

The approximate locations of the 25 August 2013 Irish Sea Earthquakes. Google Maps.

Earthquakes become more common as you travel north and west in Great Britain, with the west coast of Scotland being the most quake-prone part of the island and the northwest of Wales and England being more prone  to quakes than the rest of the countries.

The precise cause of Earthquakes in the UK can be hard to determine; the country is not close to any obvious single cause of such activity such as a plate margin, but is subject to tectonic pressures from several different sources, with most quakes probably being the result of the interplay between these forces.

Britain is being pushed to the east by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean and to the north by the impact of Africa into Europe from the south. It is also affected by lesser areas of tectonic spreading beneath the North Sea, Rhine Valley and Bay of Biscay. Finally the country is subject to glacial rebound; until about 10 000 years ago much of the north of the country was covered by a thick layer of glacial ice (this is believed to have been thickest on the west coast of Scotland), pushing the rocks of the British lithosphere down into the underlying mantle. This ice is now gone, and the rocks are springing (slowly) back into their original position, causing the occasional Earthquake in the process.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. If you felt either of these quakes, or were in the area but did not (which is also useful information) then you can report it to the British Geological Survey here (first quake) or here (second quake).

See also Magnitude 1.3 Earthquake of the Isle of the Isle of Arran, Magnitude 2.1 Earthquake in Cheshire, England, Magnitude 1.2 Earthquake in the Peak District, Derbyshire, Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake off the Lleyn Peninsula, North Wales and Earthquake in Shropshire.

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Widespread flooding as Typhoon Trami hits Fujian Province, China.

Typhoon Trami made landfall in close to  Fuqing Bay in Fujian Province, southeast China, at around 2.40 am on Thursday 22 August 2013, brining with it severe rains affecting much of Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces. Eleven counties experienced over 100 mm of rain overnight, with 338.2 mm reported on Pingtan Island. At least a thirty people were injured and one is still missing following a tidal bore on the river Qiantang (a tidal bore is not necessarily caused by a tide, but by a large volume of water suddenly entering an enclosed area such as a river mouth or bay).

People caught by the tidal bore on the Qiantang River at Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. Sina.

Tropical storms are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

Tidal bore breaking over a waterfront at Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. Sina.

The low pressure above tropical storms causes water to rise there by ~1 cm for every millibar drop in pressure, leading to a storm surge that can overwhelm low-lying coastal areas, while at the same time the heat leads to high levels of evaporation from the sea - and subsequently high levels of rainfall. This can cause additional flooding on land, as well as landslides, which are are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

See also Over a million rail passengers trapped by landslides in China, Typhoon Utor hits south China, At least one person dead as Typhoon Utor sweeps across Luzon Island, Typhoon Soulik kills five people in south China and Typhoon Soulik kills one in Taiwan, heads for mainland China.

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Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake in northern Tanzania.

A Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km took place slightly before 8.15 pm local time (slightly before 5.15 pm GMT on Thursday 22 August 2013, on the western shore of Lake Manyara in northern Tanzania, according to the United States Geological Survey. There are no reports of any damage or casualties arising from this quake, though it is likely that it was felt locally.

The approximate location of the 22 August 2013 Lake Manyara Earthquake. Google Maps.

Lake Albert is on the eastern side of the Great Rift Valley, which is slowly splitting the African Plate in two allow a line from the Red Sea through Ethiopia, and which includes the great lakes and volcanoes of east-central Africa. This has the potential to open into a new ocean over the next few tens of millions of years, splitting Africa into two new, smaller, continents; Nubia to the west and Somalia to the east. This rifting is not a smooth process, but rather comes in stops and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, causing Earthquakes in the process.

See also Magnitude 4.7 Earthquake in southern Manica Province, Mozambique, Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake under Lake Albert in central Africa, Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake beneath Lake Albert, Magnitude 4.2 Earthquake in Mozambique and Earthquake shakes Lake Turkana in Kenya.

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A Pliosaur from the Jurassic Coast of Dorset.

The Pliosaurs were Mesozoic marine reptiles that arose in the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic and persisted till the Late Cretaceous. They were related to modern lizards and snakes, but were fully aquatic, the largest species reaching 15 m in length. All species seem to have been strict carnivores, and at least one species gave birth to live young. Plesiosaurs are thought to have been fully aquatic from their first appearance; they are thought to have evolved from Nothosaurs, a group of semi-aquatic marine Reptiles. The term Sauropterygians is used to include the Nothosaurs and the Pliosuars, plus the Pachypleurosaurs; Lizard-like aquatic Reptiles. The Sauropterygians are considered to be the sister group of the Squamates - Snakes and Lizards.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 31 May 2013, a team of scientists led by Roger Benson of the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Oxford describe a new species of Pliosaur from the Late Jurassic of the Dorset coast in southern England.

The new species is named Pliosaurus kevani, after Kevan Sheehan of Osmington Mills in Dorset, who collected the specimen in pieces from fallen blocks on the foreshore at Osmington over a period of eight years. The assembled specimen is a nearly complete skull 1995 mm in length and 730 mm across, the cranium comprising 57% of the skull length, and the snout the remainder.

Cranium of Pliosaurus kevani in dorsal view, photograph (A) and line drawing (B). Dark grey tone represents broken bone surface, mid grey represents matrix, and light grey represents tooth or artificial restoration. Abbreviations: bat, basal tuber; en, external naris; exoc-opis, exoccipital opisthotic; fr, frontal; jug, jugal; lac, ‘lacrimal’; mx, maxilla; pal, palatine; par parietal; pmx, premaxilla; po, postorbital; pofr, postfrontal; prfr, prefrontal; pt, pterygoid; rug, rugose eminence; soc (l), left portion of supraoccipital; soc (r), right portion of supraoccipital; sq, squamosal. 

Scale bar equals 500 mm. 

Benson et al. (2013).



Cranium of Pliosaurus kevani in ventral view. In line drawing (B) dark grey tone represents broken bone 

surface, mid grey represents matrix, and light grey represents tooth or artificial restoration. Abbreviations: bat, basal tuber; cfps, cultriform process of 

the parasphenoid; ecto, ectopterygoid; exoc-opis, exoccipital-opisthotic; in, internal naris; jug, jugal; mx, maxilla; mx19, 19th maxillary alveolus; occ, 

occipital condyle; pal, palatine; pal-pt, palatine-pterygoid contact; palf, palatal fenestra; par, parietal; pmx, premaxilla; ps, parasphenoid; pt, pterygoid; 

soc (l), left portion of supraoccipital; sof, suborbital fenestra; sq, squamosal; vom, vomer; vom-pt, vomer pterygoid contact. Scale bar equals 500 mm. 

Benson et al. (2013).

Pliosaurus kevani is a Late Jurassic Pliosaur dated to the Rasenia cymodoce biozone of the Lower Kimmeridgian, making it between 155.7 and 150.8 million years old. It is large for a Pliosaur of this age, though fragmentary material from specimens thought to be of similar size has been found previously. Pliosaurs appear to have grown in size steadily from the appearance of the group until the Early Cretaceous, with later Cretaceous members of the group growing slightly smaller again. The largest Early Cretaceous Pliosaurs exceeded 2360 mm in skull length, with some fragmentary material from animals estimated to be far larger.

Reconstruction of the skull of Pliosaurus kevani in right lateral (A), dorsal (B), and ventral (C) views. Abbreviations: ang, angular; art, articular; den, dentary; en, external naris; exoc-opis, exoccipital-opisthotic; in, internal naris; jug, jugal; fr, frontal; lac, ‘lacrimal’; mx, maxilla; occ, occipital condyle; pal, palatine; palp, palpebral; par, parietal; pifor, pineal foramen; pmx, premaxilla; po, postorbital; pofr, postfrontal; prfr, prefrontal; proo, prootic; ps, parasphenoid; pt, pterygoid; sa, surangular; soc, supraoccipital; sq, squamosal; vom, vomer. Total skull length is approximately 2 meters. Benson et al. (2013).

The location where Pliosaurus kevani was recovered. Scale bar is 500 m. Benson et al. (2013).

See also New species of Placodont from the Middle Triassic of the Netherlands, A Plesiosaur from the Early Jurassic of Portugal, An Early Jurassic Pliosaur from Normandy, A Pregnant Plesiosaur and The Weymouth Pliosaur.

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Oil spill feared after ship sinks of South African coast.

An operation to recover oil from a ship which sank of the coast of Richards Bay, KwaZulu Natal, on Monday 19 August 2013, is due to begin today (Thursday 22 August). The VS Smart, a 230 m Greek-registered bulk cargo carrier, left the port with a cargo of 147,650 tonnes of coal at 2.10 pm local time (12.10 pm GMT), when it encountered a 10 m swell, which apparently smashed the vessel against the seafloor, breaking it in half. All 23 crew members were airlifted to safety, and there is no sign that the fuel tanks on board the vessel, which hold around 1500 tonnes of heavy fuel plus an unknown quantity of diesel, have been breached, however the ship is close to the Mhlathuze Sanctuary Wildlife Reserve, which is considered to be an important breeding ground for a number of commercially important Fish species as well as home to over 20 000 waterbirds,  causing concerns for the South African Department of Environmental Affairs.

The stricken VS Smart off the coast of Richards Bay. Zululand Observer.

The salvage operation will involve the Durban-based Subtech Group and Rotterdam-based Smit Salvage, and will involve pumping the oil from the vessel to a flat bottomed barge. The salvage teams have warned that further poor weather conditions, which are forecast, could interrupt the operation.

The approximate location of the VS Smart. Google Maps.

See also Oil spill and numerous casualties as passenger ferry sinks near Cebu Harbour, Oil leaking from stranded ship on beach in Western Cape Province, South Africa, Stricken tanker spills fuel oil in Ternate port, North Maluku Islands, Nigerian sailor survives two days in sunken oil service vessel and Collision leads to oil spill on swollen Mississippi.

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Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake off the Adriatic Coast of Italy.

A Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake at a depth of 10.1 km took place off the Adriatic Coast of Italy, roughly 10 km from the Monte Conero promontory, at about 8.45 am local time (about 6.45 am GMT) on Thursday 22 August 2013, according to the United States Geological Survey. There are not reports of any damage or injuries arising from this quake, but people on the Italian coast are reporting feeling several seconds of intense shaking.

The approximate location of the 22 August 2013 Adriatic Earthquake. Google Maps.

Italy is in an unusual tectonic setting, with the west of the country lying on the Eurasian Plate, but the east of the country lying on the Adriatic Plate, a microplate which broke away from North Africa some time in the past and which is now wedged into the southern margin of Europe, underlying eastern Italy, the Adriatic Sea and the west of the Balkan Peninsula. This, combined with the northward movement of the African Plate into Italy from the south, leads to uplift in the Apennine Mountains that run the length of the country, and makes Italy extremely prone to Earthquakes. 

Historically Italy has suffered a number of devastating Earthquakes that lead to large numbers of casualties, though in recent decades the country has made serious attempts to prevent this, with better warning systems and tighter building regulations, though the large number of historic buildings in Italy, which cannot easily be replaced (and any attempt to do so would be unlikely to succeed due to their high cultural value), meaning that the country is unlikely to be completely risk free any time soon.

This has been complicated by an ongoing series of corruption scandals in the Italian construction industry, and, alarmingly, the decision by a court in October 2012 to gaol six leading Earth scientists for failure to predict a quake. It is unclear how this will affect Italy's future ability to deal with geohazards, as it is likely that scientists will refuse to participate in programs that might result in prosecutions. 

See also Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake on eastern Sicily, Magnitude 3.9 Earthquake in Tuscany, Magnitude 3.7 Earthquake in the Tyrol, Austria, Earthquake in northern Italy and Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake in northwest Italy.

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