AS TECTONIC PLATES PULL APART, VOLCANOES WILL AWAKEN

February 26, 2010 -ATLANTIC OCEAN - Perhaps there is no better place to see this growing tectonic plate agitation and accelerating state of geological change than in the forces tearing at Iceland, the Eastern African Rift and in the Atlantic Ocean near the Tristan da Cunha which lies near the MAR boundary. According to geologists, the Atlantic Ocean began to form when the African and South American plates were thrust apart about 120 million years ago. Ocean floor spreading continues at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where relatively shallow rising magma erupts into basalt lava forming low ridges on the ocean floor, pushing Africa north-eastwards and South America north-westwards at a current rate of about 2cm a year. Tristan da Cunha is not on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge but is a surface expression of a deep-seated hot spot some 400 km east of the ridge (see map right). Hot spots (The Hawaiian Islands are another example) such as these receive magma from deep in the earth’s mantle. A swarm of earthquakes occurred beneath Tristan da Cunha during the nights of 28 and 29 July 2004. The main swarm lasted about 8 hours and occurred 30 km below the volcano. The Tristan volcano is about 2060 meters high. We believe we are seeing early signs of a potential volcanic awakening of the Tristan volcanic hotspot on the seismograph below as the sea floor spread. -

Febraury 26, 2011 - HONOLULU – A small earthquake hit Hawaii on Thursday, with a jolt felt across Honolulu. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 3.6 temblor struck at 2:12 p.m., about 12 miles deep in the Kaiwi Channel, between the islands of Oahu and Molokai. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. No tsunami was generated. The quake that lasted for several seconds shook homes and people throughout Oahu, from high-rise buildings in downtown Honolulu to the tourist district of Waikiki. People about 160 miles away on Maui reported feeling the quake, the USGS said. “Let’s face it, if this was on the Big Island, they would’ve continued on with their day,” said Victor Sardina, geophysicist with the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. “They get these every day.” However, quakes around Oahu are less common with about two annually, he said. Oahu is the most densely populated island with nearly 1 million residents and tens of thousands of tourists. The island is also home to several military bases including Pearl Harbor, Schofield Barracks and Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The cause of the quake is unknown. Sardina said it may have been caused by a fracture in the ocean floor or internal movement. -Yahoo News

February 26, 2011 – We are entering a period of massive geological upheaval and the dexterity of the lithosphere will continue to be compromised by the increase in volcanism, fault fractures, glacial pressures subsidence, and as tectonic plate movements continue to test the tensile strength of the planet’s crust. Lithospheric deformation is already occurring in India, New Zealand and the Pacific, Upper Michigan and in South America with the new instability arising from the forces perturbing the Cocos, Caribbean and the Nazca plate. We point to the new fault earthquakes in countries like Haiti discovered after the 7.0 earthquake in 2010 and after the 7.1 Canterbury quake of 2010 and the most recent 6.3 Christchurch quake which struck in February of 2011. Now our attention turns to tears and landslips that have erupted in Boliva and Peru, both of which countries are near the ever-agitated Nazca plate.

PERU: The sudden appearance early in the morning of an enormous crack, measuring 100 meters wide and three kilometers long, caused confusion among residents of the Huacullani district in the Chucuito province, department of Puno. The exact cause of the crack in the earth still unknown. Peru’s geophysical institute ruled out the occurrence of an earthquake in the region, but what is clear is that the ground opened up and large blocks of earth can be observed scattered throughout the area. The event, recorded Wednesday morning, caused the collapse of one house located in the rural community of Llorohoco. Four people managed to escape, but the youngest in the family, five-year-old Jean Carlos Vilcanqui Acero, is missing. Geological engineers from the regional committee for civil defense have arrived in the area to investigate the phenomenon and determine its causes, said Javier Pampamallco, Puno’s civil defense chief. –Living In Peru

Boliva: Massive cracks in the ground appeared. A total of 21 homes with more than 34 families were damaged in Urb Los Alamos and La Florida, La Paz area of Alpacoma, where there was a landslip of 20 hectares, due to recent rains which have soaked the field and revived the ancient fault that caused the landslide in 2002. -Pensaecrita