Quote(s)

“Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science.” - Girl Genius, by Kaja & Phil Foglio

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

Perspective, it's all about perspective ...

08 August 2012

Ash in the land of Lord of the Rings

Mount Tongariro, a volcano in New Zealand's Tongariro National Park in the central part of the North Island, erupted on Monday for the first time in about 100 years.  Part of the movie "Lord of the Rings" was filmed in the area around this volcano.  (I don't know which parts.) 

 (Photo from TV NZ One news)


An ash layer around two inches thick settled on the surrounding area.  There are many active steam vents now.  There has been little seismic activity.  Geologist don't know if there will be more eruptions soon.

New Zealand is seismically active.  The islands have frequent earthquakes.  There are 27 volcanoes on the North Island (some are dormant), and there's an area known as the Aukland Volcanic Field that underlies much of the metropolitan area of Aukland.  It consists of many small dormant volcanoes.

Volcanoes have given me nightmares since I was little.  I'm not fond of earthquakes, either.  (Only been in a few, none bad.)

I still want to go to New Zealand someday ... probably Aukland.  The volcanoes are dormant and that area has many fewer earthquakes than other parts of the country.   


7 comments:

V C Larson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
V C Larson said...

Recurrent volcano dreams? I suffer from tornados! Let's hope one of Earth's super-volcanoes doesn't erupt in our lifetime.

Kat said...

I get the tornados, too. As I get older those are more common than the volcano ones.

I so do not want to witness a super-volcano eruption! I hope Yellowstone steams quietly for many more centuries.

Phyllis Blickensderfer said...

Nope, won't trade our tornadoes for volcanoes or earthquakes (though there have been some small ones a few counties away.) My daughter enjoyed a vacation in Yellowstone this summer - very good choice when it came to weather!

V C Larson said...

Kat, you'll like this:

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2012/aug/09/deluxe-meteor-shower/

Kat said...

Thanks, Vic, I didn't realize it was time for the Perseids already. And surprisingly the forecast is for clear skies tomorrow night! The local tradition is for clouds whenever anything astronomically interesting happens. Now if I can just stay awake past 1 AM...

Kat said...

Hi, Phyllis. I'm not sure I could enjoy Yellowstone. Walking around on top of steaming volcano doesn't appeal to me! But I'm glad your daughter had a good time.