Report on Zubair Group (Yemen) — 4 January-10 January 2012
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 4 January-10 January 2012
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2012. Report on Zubair Group (Yemen) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 4 January-10 January 2012. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Zubair Group
Yemen
15.05°N, 42.18°E; summit elev. 191 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
A satellite image acquired on 7 January showed the newly-formed island in the northern part of the Zubair Group. The island had grown to about 530 x 710 m, and a gas-and-steam plume containing ash rose from a distinct cone.
Geological Summary. The 5-km-long Jebel Zubair Island is the largest of a group of small islands and submerged shoals that rise from a shallow platform in the Red Sea rift. The platform and eruptive vents forming the islands and shoals are oriented NNW-SSE, parallel to the rift. An early explosive phase was followed by a brief period of marine erosion, then by renewed explosive activity accompanied by the extrusion of basaltic pahoehoe lava flows. This latest phase of activity occurred on the morphologically youngest islands of Zubair, Centre Peak, Saba, and Haycock. Historical explosive activity was reported from Saddle Island in the 19th century. Spatter cones and pyroclastic cones were erupted along fissures that form the low spine of Zubair Island. Eruptions that began in late 2011 built two new islands, increasing the total number in the group to 12.
Source: NASA Earth Observatory