Montserrat Volcano Shoots Ash 5 Miles Up

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-sa/2007/jan/08/010803728.html

The volcano that destroyed Montserrat's capital in 1997 shot a cloud of ash more than five miles into the sky on Monday, and one of the island's chief scientists said the blast was "a warning call."

The government has advised about 50 families on the northwestern side of the volcano's base that their homes were at risk from flows of blistering gas and debris if the dome collapses. Gov. Deborah Barnes Jones said she would sign an evacuation order Monday making it illegal for people to remain in the area.

The blast, accompanied by increased seismic rumbling, released gases and steam from inside a lava dome that has grown rapidly over the last week, said Dr. Vicky Hards, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

"I think it was a warning call ... of what it can do," Hards said.

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[soothsayer]

1. So maybe the NY incident is an outgassing of methane from

the Hudson submarine canyon thought to hold lots and lots of methane. Maybe a pre-earthquake thingy?

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Methane is oderless

The smell found in natural gas is artificial, added as a safety measure at the central distribution point to make it possible to detect gas leaks.

[soothsayer]

3. true, but in CA the methane pre-quake gasses smell sulphuric

so mebbe it's what they mix with in the earth beforehand? Also, methane out of COWS sure isn't odorless, lol

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. In NYC, they are smelling the methane-gas smell, not sulphur

That would seem to indicate a natural gas pipe-line break somewhere, as the smell is pretty distinctive and not something found in nature (for exactly this reason.)

Also, methane isn't the only gas in cow farts. According to the Wikipedia article on flatulence (what an amazing resource is the Wikipedia!):

mainly results from low molecular weight fatty acids such as butyric acid (rancid butter smell) and reduced sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) and carbonyl sulfide that are the result of protein breakdown. The incidence of odoriferous compounds in flatus increases from herbivores, such as cattle, through omnivores to carnivorous species, such as cats.

Since few humans are total herbivores, I dare say your farts (and mine) smell far worse than those of a cow. :rofl:

But methane itself is still odorless.

[soothsayer]

5. I think they're smelling rotten eggs, which is sulphur