volcano tourism

On 2011-12-16 08:02:53 -0600, Jack Campin said:

I was looking up White Island in New Zealand - you get to it
via a 30-mile boat trip and walk straight into a crater full of
steaming fumaroles and boiling mudpools. The greatest effort
required is climbing up the landing stage.
No Lava, but the Wangerei volcanic area on the North Island has lots
of fumeroles and mud pots.

I grew up in New Zealand and I've been to most of the volcanic spots -
Whangarei isn't one of them, its last volcanic activity was 40,000
years ago. (There is no such place as "Wangerei").

Pardon. Waimangu Volcanic Area. I was going from memory. Just
checked the fridge magnet.

[...]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin


--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-12-16 08:30:15 -0600, Giovanni Drogo said:
[...]
The real risk area (near Naples) is Vesuvius, which is in the middle of
a very populated (and "built") area, and it is known for explosive
pyroclastic activities (the famous Pompeii eruption), and for which
there is regular monitoring and even evacuation plans.

I bought a book on Vesuvius and in it there was a map that showed all
the historical paths of destruction -- and none of them went northwest
to Naples. The mostly went due west such as to Torre del Greco or
toward the south. Yet, I've watched documentaries that caution about
the population center of Naples, that do not mention the historical
paths of descruction. Are you a local, and could elaborate on this
seeming discrepency?

[...]

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-12-16 02:22:43 -0600, Giovanni Drogo said:

On Thu, 15 Dec 2011, Dan Stephenson wrote:

Campi Flegrei near Naples looks like the best bet to me. Other
nominations?

I looked and looked and could not find that place!

"Campi Flegrei" (i.e. more or less "fiery fields") indicates an area
immediately NW of Naples,

wikipedia is your friend, from a search for "Campi Flegrei" I got to
the italian page, and clicking on English you can get this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegraean_Fields

Oh, duhh! lol

Back in 2002 when I went looking for it, I had no luck. I think I
stopped at the right train stop but I didn't see anything likely and I
couldn't pronounce it well enough to the locals for them to know what
in the world I was talking about!

Next time!



The last eruption was Monte Nuovo ("the new mountain") in 1538. For the
rest the only activity, rather mild, is at the Solfatara of Pozzuoli
(and of course there is slow sismic activity).

Well still there is all the historical connection with the place.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

Campi Flegrei is on a similar scale to the big New Zealand volcanic
hot spot, and will probably go off with a mega-eruption sooner.
I believe Campi Flegrei are on a lesser scale than anything in New
Zealand or Iceland, and quieter, and not high on the risk scale
(although I realized this morning on the INGV site there were
ignimbrite ('fire rain') events some 300,000 years ago

39,000 years ago. 200 cubic kilometres of magma.

Boom! no more Neanderthals.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1006094057.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegraean_Fields

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

On Fri, 16 Dec 2011, Dan Stephenson wrote:

I bought a book on Vesuvius and in it there was a map that showed all
the historical paths of destruction -- and none of them went northwest
to Naples.

Are you a local, and could elaborate on this seeming discrepency?

I'm not local since I am at least 800 km north (and one floor above our
local seismologists), and have been there only twice in my life.

But irrespective of the (historical) pyroclastic paths not pointing
directly on Naples, you should consider that the urbanized (and densely
inhabited) area is much larger than the municipal area of Naples
(including often even abusive constructions in the regional park area
around the volcano).

Compare e.g. the different risk areas on this page
http://www.vesuvionline.net/vesuvioemergenza.htm

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:

800km north of Naples? Is Italy really that long? I'm impressed.

joking ?

I just made up the figure by heart. Milan-Rome by rail used to be 632
km, so I added a bit and got 800 km.

You can play around with google maps, I get 1386 km from Vipiteno (which
you might know as Sterzing to Reggio di Calabria ... excluding the
islands)

20.12.2011 13:09, Giovanni Drogo kirjoitti:
On Mon, 19 Dec 2011, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:

800km north of Naples? Is Italy really that long? I'm impressed.

joking ?

I just made up the figure by heart. Milan-Rome by rail used to be 632
km, so I added a bit and got 800 km.

You can play around with google maps, I get 1386 km from Vipiteno (which
you might know as Sterzing to Reggio di Calabria ... excluding the islands)

800 km north from Naples brings you to Austria some 30 km south from
Linz. The border at E45 in Tirol is roughly 710 km away from Naples in
direction 342.4 degrees (NNW)

On Tue, 20 Dec 2011, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:

Maybe Giovanni was thinking in road distances.

Actually rail distances.
But road ones are easier to check on google maps.

20.12.2011 21:41, Wolfgang Schwanke kirjoitti:
Giovanni wrote in
news:alpine.LSU.2.00.1112201207370.17603@cbfrvqba. ynzoengr.vans.vg:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:

800km north of Naples? Is Italy really that long? I'm impressed.

joking ?

Not really. Italy looks long on a map, but not that long.

You can play around with google maps, I get 1386 km from Vipiteno (which
you might know as Sterzing to Reggio di Calabria ... excluding the
islands)

That is more than I expected. OTOH, they say if you rotate Norway
around its southern tip, what is now its northern tip would end up in
Sicily.

This seems to be a bit if exaggeration. At least when the mainland
Norway is concerned. The lengthiest line inside the mainland Norway
spans around 1800 km. From the southernmost Norway you get to Rome. The
northernmost Svalbard is around 2500 km away from the southernmost
Norway and from that point on you can easily reach Sicily.

On 12/12/2011 02:20 PM, Jack Campin wrote:
Where in Europe or nearby can you walk into accessible mildly
volcanic activity?

I was looking up White Island in New Zealand - you get to it
via a 30-mile boat trip and walk straight into a crater full of
steaming fumaroles and boiling mudpools. The greatest effort
required is climbing up the landing stage.

So what is there comparable in Europe or thereabouts? Iceland
has lots but it's more expensive to get to and travel around
than New Zealand, with next to zero public transport to get you
anywhere interesting.

Mount Nemrut near Tatvan in Turkey (not the Nemrut with the
statue heads, the eastern one) is very easy to get to by PT
but there isn't a lot of activity - just a hot crater lake
(unless the Van earthquake presages an eruption).

Etna seems to do nothing interesting between major eruptions.

Stromboli looks like a hell of a slog to reach (boat trip and
a serious long scramble).

Mull would have been great but I missed it by 60 million years.

Campi Flegrei near Naples looks like the best bet to me. Other
nominations?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

Etna is erupting very nicely right now, very pretty with the snowy
background .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bhblWZMNo8
The flights to Catania are the problem.