New Eruption May Be Brewing at El Hierro Volcano

By Becky Oskin, Staff Writer   |   December 27, 2013 02:08pm ET

El Hierro island Credit: NASA Earth Observatory View full size image

Two years after a new underwater volcano appeared offshore of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, earthquake swarms and a sudden change in height suggest a new eruption is brewing near the island's villages, officials announced today (Dec. 27).
After the announcement, one of the largest temblors ever recorded at the volcanic island, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake, struck offshore of El Hierro at 12:46 p.m. ET (5:46 p.m. local time) today, the National Geographic Institute reported. Residents on the island reported strong shaking, and the quake was felt throughout the Canary Islands, according to news reports. The earthquake's epicenter was 9 miles (15 kilometers) deep.
Before the earthquake struck early this afternoon, the island's volcano monitoring agency, Pelvolca, had raised the volcanic eruption risk for El Hierro to "yellow." This warning means that activity is increasing at the volcano, but no eruption is imminent. A similar burst of activity prompted a yellow warning in June 2012, but the volcano soon quieted down.

Read More Here

Related articles

• New eruption may be brewing at El Hierro volcano in Canary Islands
• New Eruption May Be Brewing at El Hierro Volcano
• New eruption may be brewing at El Hierro volcano
• New Eruption May Be Brewing at Volcano in Canary Islands
• El Hierro Volcano eruption (Canary Islands) : Part 60 – December 1 until December 25, 2013

Over 300 earthquakes have struck the Gulf of Valencia over the past month, officials suspects an offshore gas storage facility

Spain sees link between quakes and offshore gas storage plant

A platform, part of the Castor Project, located in the Ebro Delta off the coast of Alcanar, stands at sea on October 2, 2013 (AFP, Lluis Gene)

Map

(AFP)

Madrid — Spain's government said Thursday that a wave of small earthquakes that have rattled the country's eastern coast could be caused by a large offshore gas storage plant.
Over 300 earthquakes have struck the Gulf of Valencia, a zone not normally known for seismic activity, over the past month, according to Spain's National Geographic Institute. The quakes have not caused any damage but have frightened residents.
The strongest, a 4.2 magnitude earthquake, hit in the early hours of Tuesday.
Two earthquakes measuring 4.1 struck the region late on Wednesday.
Environmentalists blame the earthquakes on the injection of gas into a giant underground gas storage facility located in the Gulf of Valencia but the government has up to now said there was no confirmed link.
The Castor storage plant aims to store gas in a depleted oil reservoir 1.7 kilometres (1.05 miles) under the Mediterranean Sea and send it via a pipeline to Spain's national grid.
"There seems to be a correlation, a direct relationship between the gas injection in the underground storage facility which is 22 kilometres from the coast and the microearthquakes that have occurred," Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said in an interview with radio Cadena Cope.
Spanish firm Escal UGS which owns and operated the Castor storage plant stopped injecting gas into the underground reservoir on June 16.

Read More Here

Related articles

• Spain links quakes to offshore gas
• Gas project blamed for Spain's quakes
• UPDATE 1-Small earthquake hits Spain near gas storage project
• Spain says offshore gas work may be causing quakes
• Minister admits tremors could be connected to offshore gas plant
• Work halted on giant gas storage plant after minor earthquakes