Mount Kanlaon in Central Philippines Erupts, Sending Ash Miles into the Sky

Mount Kanlaon in Central Philippines Erupts, Sending Ash Miles into the Sky

It’s been a while since I’ve done a report on volcanic activity, but there have been some interesting developments in the world of geology that I thought I would share.

To begin with, the Kanlaon Volcano in the central Philippines erupted on Tuesday, sending a massive ash plume approximately 2.5 miles into the sky. The eruption has caused significant disruptions, including school closures, evacuations, and health warnings for residents in affected areas.

While no injuries were immediately reported, volcanic ash blanketed nearby villages and significantly reduced visibility, complicating transport and raising health concerns.

Authorities raised the alert level, warning of the potential for further hazardous volcanic activity. Officials ordered evacuations for those living within a 6-kilometer radius (nearly 4-mile) of the volcano’s crater as emergency shelters began filling.

A time-lapse video posted to X by the country’s seismological agency showed the huge plume of ash bursting from the volcano.

An explosive eruption is currently occurring at the summit vent of Kanlaon Volcano that began at 5:51 AM today, 8 April 2025. The eruption is producing a voluminous bent plume approximately 4,000 meters tall that is drifting southwest. Pyroclastic density currents or PDCs… pic.twitter.com/eFXChTMuIE

— PHIVOLCS-DOST (@phivolcs_dost) April 7, 2025

Meanwhile, in this country, Mount Spurr (located about 80 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska) continues to show signs of volcanic unrest this month. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) has maintained the volcano’s alert level at “Advisory” and its aviation color code at “Yellow,” indicating ongoing elevated seismic activity.

Alaska’s Mount Spurr volcano continues to show signs of unrest, and that has led to an alert level increase in the city of Anchorage as fears of an impending eruption grow.

According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), numerous small, shallow earthquakes continue to rumble under the volcano. An AVO flight over the volcano on Friday observed continued steaming from the summit, as well as gas emissions.

“AVO continues monitoring activity at Mount Spurr for signals indicating that the volcano is moving closer to an eruption,” the AVO said in an update on its website. “Based on previous eruptions, changes from current activity in the earthquakes, ground deformation, summit lake conditions, and fumarolic activity would be expected if magma began to move closer to the surface.”

Volcano in Alaska will ‘likely’ erupt in the coming weeks or months: scientists https://t.co/ZSXv5ZsY7k pic.twitter.com/0XZJQGcG4G

— New York Post (@nypost) March 12, 2025

I have an eye on Iceland as well, as a long-dormant fault line appears to be active again. Earlier this month, another volcanic eruption occurred on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula near the Sundhnúkur crater row, marking the eighth eruption in this area since December 2023.

The eruption prompted another evacuation of the town of Grindavík and nearby attractions, including the Blue Lagoon spa and the Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant.

The volcano is close to the fishing town of Grindavik and the famous Blue Lagoon spa. A small number of people refused to evacuate the town, local media reported.

Grindavik resident Asrun Kristinsdottir told the BBC she fled after hearing emergency sirens early in the morning.

Living near the volcano for most of her life meant she always had bags packed and ready to go. But she said this time was different because of “constant” quakes as she was preparing to leave.

The protective barriers around Grindavik have been breached, as a new eruptive fissure opened a few hundred meters inside, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) reported.

#Iceland #Reykjanes
The magma flow that formed during the eruption last week is a reminder of the threat to wich the Reykjavík area could be posed. A recent example shows that magma flows can erupt with an eruption dozens of km from the main volcano.https://t.co/ysFhNsjTlD

— FragenüberFragen (@FragenuberF) April 8, 2025

Finally, to wrap up this report, I wanted to mention the major earthquake that recently struck central Myanmar, specifically in the Sagaing Region near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.

This was caused by strike-slip faulting along the Sagaing Fault, a major tectonic boundary in the region. The quake was one of the most devastating in Myanmar’s history, with widespread destruction and significant impacts felt in neighboring countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, and China.

The shallow but powerful 7.7 shaker caused more than 3,000 deaths and the collapse of a tower being constructed in Thailand.

Even though the south-east Asian nation is a high risk region for earthquakes, neighbouring Thailand and China – which were also affected by the quake – are not.

The Thai capital, Bangkok, sits more than 1,000km (621 miles) from the epicentre of Friday’s earthquake – and yet an unfinished high-rise building in the city was felled by it.

Here we will explain what caused this earthquake, and how it was able to have such a powerful effect so far away.

Thailand’s Mineral Resources Office has warned residents in Mae Hong Son after six sinkholes, 2 to 30 meters wide, appeared in Ban Mae Surin village following the recent M7.7 Myanmar earthquake.

Locals are urged to avoid the area as the sinkholes continue to expand. pic.twitter.com/3mnVvKeuPk

— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) April 8, 2025

Personally, I am looking forward to reading about how all of this seismic, plate-tectonic-driven activity is caused by humanity.

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