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scientist are trying to constitute what make an unusualspike in earthquakes at the Mount Adams volcanoin Washington country by installing multiple temporary seismal monitoring stations at the site .
In September , six small-scale earthquakes were recorded at the " high menace " volcano . unremarkably , it only experiences one earthquake every two to three old age , grant to the U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS ) Cascades Volcano Observatory ( CVO ) .
Mount Adams experienced a significant increase in earthquakes in September, with six hitting the volcano in one month — far higher than the normal rate of one every two to three years.
" We are now working to pull together more data to assess if this is really something unusual or just a vent talking to us a moment more than it ordinarily does,“Jon Major , the CVO scientist - in - complaint , told Live Science in an electronic mail .
" Our vent chatter all the meter , " he enunciate , total that the nearby Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier often see 10 to 20 earthquakes per month . " Some vent , like St. Helens , Rainier , and Mount Hood undergo episodes of increased temblor frequence where we see bursts of many earthquakes , which may last for day to hebdomad , " he tell . " That is all part and parcel of background activity at our Cascades volcano . So what we are seeing at Mount Adams is very far from strange for the Cascades — but different for Mount Adams . "
At 12,277 pes ( 3,742 meters ) gamey and 18 naut mi ( 29 kilometers ) widely , Mount Adamsis the magnanimous active volcano in Washington , exceed Mount Rainier — the state ’s highest peak — by volume .
Maps showing the current seismic network at Mount Adams, and the planned temporary stations being installed.
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The increase in earthquake action , including anothermagnitude 0.9 temblor on Sunday ( Oct. 6 ) , does not signal an eruption will take place . The earthquakes were very humble , range from magnitudes 0.9 to 2 . " Had one been stick out at or near Mount Adams one would not have felt these earthquakes , " Major said . The volcano last erupted around 4,000 years ago , but this relatively long period does n’t mean that an eruption is due , he lend . " Every volcano has its own personality and they do not erupt on any particular cycles , " he said . " Some may erupt and then be active intermittently for decades or centuries , then go back to a state of dormancy for centuries to millennia . "
Mount Adams mostly grow gushing irruption , characterise by easy - moving lava menstruate rather than destructive , volatile eruptions . The peak has a big section of fluid and weakened rock . If an eruption were to occur , the chief danger would come from lahar , or muddied flows of rock , ash tree and ice rink " that surge downstream like rapidly flow concrete,“USGS spokesperson wrote in a statement .
Major said that generally " volcano will broadcast moderately forte " if they are build toward an eruption , triggering draw of quake that increase in size and frequency . The late mild earthquake flurry does n’t fit that formula .
The ground around the volcano will also turn as magma push up — something that can be find out with GPS and satellite monitoring — and the volcano set out to release gases . " These are the main things we watch for to give us a sense of whether or not a volcano may be building toward an eruption , " Major said . " We fully expect to see these types of changes at any of our volcanoes should they begin moving toward extravasation . "
At present , Mount Adams only has one lasting seismal monitoring station around 7 miles ( 11 kilometer ) southwest of the summit . There are plans to install more permanent stations at the site next summertime , Major said .
" At this point , we simply do not have enough data to say much of anything , " he added . " After the newfangled [ temporary ] stations we install have had a luck to collect data point for a while , we ’ll be in a much good position to value the potential effort and signification of this seismic activity and then determine if any further action is needed . "
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David Pyle , a volcanologist at the University of Oxford in the U.K. , said the late seism could be triggered by a " whole stove of processes , " include the rocks creaking due to home stresses and strain .
" At Mount Adams the little bunch of detected events is out of the ordinary , throw how quiet the volcano has been for the past 40 old age , " he state Live Science in an electronic mail . " This is no causal agent for alarm , and it is too former to diagnose the cause , but the ' sentinel seismometer ' [ the permanent station ] has done its chore , and the team monitoring the volcano will now be able to keep a snug centre on the subsurface , using the array of ground- and satellite - base instruments to which they have admission . "
