Volcanic Eruption about to happen in Saudi Arabia?

Volcanic Eruption about to happen in Saudi Arabia?

freeinternetpress.com

Rumblings from the direction of extinct volcanoes in Al-Ais, which was hit by a series of tremors over the last couple of weeks, sent villagers in the area into a state of near panic in the early hours of Thursday.
“Most of the local people spent the night in a state of extreme anxiety when a thunder-like rumble was heard,” one worried resident told Arab News Thursday.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
xrdarabia.org

Well this has got my attention! Some strange reports coming out of Saudi Arabia that something volcanic may be about to kick off not far from one of the holy cities, Medina.

Ive now seen a couple of reports suggesting that the Saudi authorities are reporting earthquake swarms near Medina which are indicative of the movement of magma. Further more, they have been as specific to say that something has pushed magma from a depth of 8km down to just 4km down.

The reports are very sketchy and at first it would be tempting to dismiss them but the Saudi peninsula does like in a geologically active part of the world. Both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are spreading centres and just last year we had a fairly spectacular eruption in the Red Sea off Yemen. Furthermore, the area around Medina is home to a volcanic field of cinder cones and lava fields which are believed to have been active in fairly recent times (1810 possibly).

Be interesting to see if this turns out to be anything. Watch this space!



freeinternetpress.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I do not know, there are no earthquakes in Saudi Arabia for last two weeks - at least according to this:
www.iris.edu...
And this
earthquake.usgs.gov...
So - while it is possible, i would not worry that much. Of course i do not live in the area, and for someone who does i would advise contact local authorities and not feed on media which is usually over-blowing stuff.

reply to post by ROBL240


I also found another source, stating the volcanic trembles.

Here's the Source

Also there was a 6.7 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand? I know its really far away from Saudi, but the 2 occurances seem to be right around the same day.

Here's the New Zealand Source.


[edit on 16-5-2009 by JWash]

[edit on 16-5-2009 by JWash]

Concern still continues to grow about the possibility of a volcanic eruption in western Saudi Arabia. Local residents are reporting phenomena such as local wells suddenly drying up, birds disappearing and a very strong smell of rotten eggs as well as an increasing tempo to the earthquakes being felt in the area, some of which are strong enough to be felt over 100km away.

Some villages in the area have already been evacuated. There is some confusion as to the exact location of the activity as some reports suggest Harrat Khaybar and others I have seen suggest the nearby Harrat Lunayyir volcanic field.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I have found the Usgs does not put EQ's of many other countries on the map for some reason.

first here is an eq that happened

Summary:
Magnitude mb 4.5
Region WESTERN SAUDI ARABIA

Date time 2009-05-17 at 19:50:06.3 UTC
Location 25.27 N ; 37.56 E
Depth 2 km
Distances 140 km NW Yanbu (pop 200,161 ; local time 22:50 2009-05-17)
40 km NE Umm lajj (pop 33,874 ; local time 22:50 2009-05-17)
More seismicity information (Moment tensors, phases pickings, etc.)

2nd here is a site of Europes and Mediterrain area quakes mapping
www.emsc-csem.org...

You will find there are lots of quakes that happen.

here is a Canada site - showing lots of quakes that the Usgs does not map

earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca...

In other words there are lots more quakes that happen that the usgs does not put on, nor does the other site.

Huh, well that's interesting, I did not know that Saudi Arabia had active volcanoes.

Does anybody know when was the last time it erupted? The damage?

With our intensifying environment, becoming more violent and un-predictable every year, anything could happen.

~Keeper

Magnitude 4.6 - WESTERN SAUDI ARABIA

earthquake.usgs.gov...

The whole area is still Geologically active, only many of the Volcanoes arent well documented because they either lie in areas of Hostility, innaccessible areas or the Volcanic structures have been weathered away by Saharan Winds.
The whole Saudi Penninsula along with India is covered in vast area's of Volcanic deposits that are the result of massive Hawaiian-type eruptions, not a Mt Vesuvius/Mt St Helens type euption but rather the runny-lava that spreads outwards over tens (historically hundreds) of miles.
This area was last active around 60 AD, however there was a recent eruption in the southern Red Sea which disrupted shipping for a brief time.

Well the great rift valley of Africa extends north to form the red sea and eventually into what is the dead sea... a stretch of over 1500 miles (I believe) that is geologically active and still expanding both length and widthwise so this does not surprise me.

I was looking at this

hisz.rsoe.hu...

Looks like some bad earth quakes around mecca and medina and a new volcano (or new volcanic activity) near Riyadh
And a earth quake 5.5 near medina

Again another Earthquake earlier this afternoon registering 5.6, in the Saudi Arabian area where the swarm is continuing. Quake was measured againat a shallow depth of only 10km.

www.arabnews.com...

Huge cracks appearing in the ground with gas emissions and currently large-scale evacuations underway.

Thats right, Keep sucking the earths natural lubricants out and then worry about the "plates" shifting and grinding while it tries to relub it's self the only way it can.
Dont forget to change the water flow and build huge dams causing extra weight to shift them yet some more, etc..etc..

UPDATE - SAUDI ARABIA

It is now becoming increasingly aparrent that the Saudi authorities are taking the possibility of a volcanic eruption in western Saudi very seriously. It now transpires that the entire population of the areas largest town, Al Ais, some 26,000 people have now been evacuated. All the main roads into the town from Madinah, Yanbu and Umluj have been closed and are being guarded by the Saudi military.

Civil Defence teams have been placed on high alert and the Royal Saudi Air Force has flown specialist equipment and a further 120 Civil defence officers into the area in case of a major emergency.

Latest reports today suggest seismic activity has declined slightly and there have been no further reports of gas emissions, although an overflight by SGS scientists has observed two large cracks in the ground near the epicente of the eartquakes at Harrat al Shaqah, one measures 3km long, the other is some 700m in length.

This is surely some amazing news....

The war of Ezekiel 38 is held off by a massive earthquake and volcanic eruptions that save Israel. Israel's enemies are about to get their hands on Nuclear weapons....

Get prayed up!

Another source

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, May 23 (Reuters) - Recent seismic activity in a volcanic region in Saudi Arabia does not present nearby oil refineries with any danger, officials said on Saturday.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the northwestern al-Ais region after a series of tremors hit the volcanic area over the past few weeks, culminating with a 5.4 Richter scale tremor on Tuesday, few hours after a 4.8 tremor.

Not one we have been expecting this..... let's see what happens. It might be like Yellowstone and just subside. But like a previous poster I often wonder what the consequence is with shifting resources from one area to another (oil).