Once dormant Red Sea volcano, Jabal at-Tair, explodes

by bryan kennedy on Oct. 01st, 2007
in Earth Structure and Processes

comments

Jabal al-Tair: Before eruption
Courtesy NASA.Jabal at-Tair, a small island formed entirely by a volcano was thought to be dormant until yesterday. But following several days of small earthquakes it erupted last night, September 30th at 7pm spewing lava and ash into the air at great heights.

Sadly it appears that several soldiers based on the island have died in the eruption although the number of people hurt is not immediately clear.

Why are there volcanoes in the Red Sea?

The volcanism that created the island is the result of two continental plates, Africa and Arabia, rifting apart from each other with the Arabian Plate (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and more) moving away to the northeast. While this rifting is pretty old, beginning about 540 million years ago, the Red Sea only started to form about 55 million years ago. The Red Sea is widening at a rate of about .6 inches a year which accounts for the volcanic activity that we see there now.

Your Comments, Thoughts, Questions, Ideas

Anonymous says:

Why do u think god made volcanoes

posted on Sat, 10/20/2007 - 12:01pm

Anonymous says:

Anonymous - I suggest you google "volcano destroys church".

posted on Sat, 11/03/2007 - 6:35pm

Anonymous says:

Volcanoes enrich the soil greatly. Volcanic ash is frequently sold as fertilizer and used for various industrial purposes, such as lightweight concrete.

posted on Sun, 11/25/2007 - 6:32pm

Anonymous says:

Volcanos are amazing, and misunderstood. The soil around volcanos are rich with nutrients, a natural fertilizer, which can grow healthy crops. That question about "god creating volcanos", pff! Scientificly, volcanos are the case of when two/ more tetonic plates collide with one anouther, both plates bend upwards to form a point, mountians/ volcanos are the result of that. Now for the "god creating volcanos" question, if you believe in god, you might eat this up. God made volcanos to plentish the soil that has lost its use. Therefore, God is either doing you a favor/ punishing you for your sins. I go with the scientific theory, "God" doesn't exist.

posted on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 4:31pm

Anonymous says:

I agree with all the points about how volcanoes are created by plate shifts (and also from 'hotspots' under the Earth's crust - don't forgot that). The one thing I find amusing is the fan of science states 'God doesn't exist'. That might be your opinion, but that is definitely not scientific. Science, as you know, is a very narrow discipline in the sense that it can only tell us about the natural world. Many scientists become reductionists and think 'Since science can only tell me about the natural world, the natural world is all there is...and God must not exist'. Of course, that's nonsense. That would be like trying to explain a murder case only using chemistry or physics, and ignoring motive. Or trying to teach music only using mathematical concepts.

Why are we on earth? What happened before the Big Bang? What happens when I die? Why does man have a sense of right and wrong? All of these things require some supernatural thinking. Taking an open view of the world, you would use science as appropriate, and then realize that science can't answer everything and you decide on those issues as appropriate as well. Unfortunatley for some, science has become a dogmatic religion...

Site Navigation