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Environment Expert Explains Bubbling Mud Pool At Mount Liamuiga

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BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 7th May 2021) – “What we’re seeing there is not connected to the core. It is what we call the fumaroles.”

So said environment specialist from the Ministry of Environment Dr. Eric Browne when on Wednesday 5th May 2021 he appeared on a new show called ‘Under The Umbrella’ (streamed on Youtube) put on by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) while addressing a local widely circulated video showing bubbling mud pool at the mountainous range of Mount Liamuiga-the volcano on St.Kitts- which made rounds on social media during the holiday period of Monday 3rd May 2021 (Labour Day).

The footage ,which spans some 1 minute and 47 seconds (1:47) was recorded via cellphone by a hiker, created an alarm for some citizens and residents concerning possible volcanic activity.
“Bah dis here scary bad enuh” and “Just when you thought you was safe” were some of the comments by the cellphone user.

“That pool that persons have seen in the video, that has been there and it’s older than any one of us. I cannot give you exact date but the last eruption that we had is evident by the  rock flow, the lava flow that is evident if you go down to Black Rocks , and if you go from Black Rocks  and you walk all the way up to the mountain side , you’re going to see all these rocks along the surface. That is the evidence of the last flow, and we’re talking about not decades ago [but] centuries ago. From since our volcano has been dormant and there has not been any activities since to give any signal to say there is some volcanic activity that is happening,” Dr. Browne commented having been quizzed by NEMA’s National Disaster Coordinator Abdias Samuel.

According to him (Dr. Browne): “A fumarole is an area associated with a volcano where you have activity where heat is going in an area and it causes a liquid area or moist area to show either steam coming up  or you’re going to see it boiling as you there [in the video]. What happen is this: The only thing that is coming from down below is heat.”

He continued: “There is no lava, no magma, no material that is coming up. Heat is being transferred from down below and you heat travels through material so materials are conductors so what you have is these rocks that are down below they are heated. So what you find is that on top of the rock you have all this material-mud- you have sulphur, or you have even the debris from the  last eruption on top there; organic material from trees, the vegetation that is around. All of this is mushed there together so what you find is when the rain falls and soaks in the soil, you then get this mud that is formed. This mud is sitting on the rock so the heated rocks acts as a hot plate. As a hot plate whatever is on gets heated; it starts boiling because there is liquid so it starts boiling and because there is a rock formation… in this area so it forms something like a little pot you have  and whatever is trapped within that it just boils.”

“If enough rain falls that water could full and it may boil over. It does not mean that there is volcanic activity that is happening,” he added.
 
In highlighting indicators that would signal a volcanic eruption is imminent, Dr. Browne said: “Studies have shown that volcanoes tend to when it comes alive or when it wakes up, it tends to give you sign…So you’re gonna feel tremors because this material is material moving under pressure when there is an eruption so it’s moving material above soon course you’re going to get that shaking, that tremor …it’s gonna come with noise so you’re gonna to hear the rumbling.  Now persons time and time again will get some tremors but you notice whenever they give you a tremor, that they will pinpoint the epicenter in the sea. The reason for that is because what you’re having is plate tectonics. The plates that they are on are moving …the heating and cooling of the earth’s surface cause these plates to move,; some move over the other,  some go under and  when that happens is friction so it gets those tremors happening .”
He went on to say: “Not with the volcano. With the volcano, you’re going to know it’s the volcano, you’re going to hear the noise coming from the volcano, you’re going to feel the movement coming from there.”

Dr. Browne praised the warning system in place in the Caribbean region.

“The volcanoes in the Caribbean, including ours are being monitored and we have the seismic centre in Barbados. They are monitoring everybody so they will know what is happening and they can pinpoint ‘Hey St.Kitts something is happening up by you’. They might even know before us based on what the readings are showing. They can measure minute vibrations that we might miss. We have a good early warning system in the Caribbean that would alert us and we are confident in that early warning system.” 

Samuel chimed in saying: “What was evident to us as the National Disaster Coordinator  and being a part of CDEMA, we also have collaboration with UWI summit research centre in St.Augustine Trinidad whereby our monitoring sensors  that are here throughout St.Kitts and also on Nevis, they actually feed- as you said- the seismic centre in Trinidad and Tobago. That is why they were able to monitor what was happening in St.Vincent and the Grenadines. They begun to prepare for this eruption in St.Vincent and the Grenadines since 2019. That was the first time they got this swarm of earthquakes…small, long which indicated- as you- said material was moving because of that friction and that’s when they started to prepare and educate the general public that something was imminent and eventually today Dr. Browne we have seen what has occurred a violent eruption at La Soufrière in St.Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Dr. Browne pointed out that he recognised the fear linked to the video “as lack of knowledge by our people, especially the younger generation who do not do as much exploring or even if they do go exploring, they are not mindful of what really is around them so when the see a video of a boiling pool it is quite dramatic coupled with that is what is happening in St. Vincent that have everybody all [nervous]…”

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