Just wondering. A little over a year ago there was that 6.2 earthquake
in Puerto Aysen that caused a landslide and resultant deadly tsunami
in the harbor, and there had been ongoing swarms of earthquakes for a
while before that and afterwards that were said to be due to an
upwelling of magma several miles under Aysen Fjord that would
eventually form a volcano there. There was a quake reported in the
local paper on 3/30/08 that was felt in both Puerto Aysen and Chaiten,
in Mercall II to III range.

Chaiten is not really close to Puerto Aysen, but it's not that far
away, either. They are both in the northern section of Region XI. It
is said that the volcano hasn't erupted for several thousand years;
now that it has erupted, I wonder what effect that might have on the
situation at Aysen, if any.

Barb
----------
��Ah, yes, these modern infidels appeal to their reason; but who can
look at those millions of worlds and not feel that there may well be
wonderful universes above us where reason is utterly unreasonable?�

�No,� said the other priest; �reason is always reasonable, even in the
last limbo, in the lost borderland of things. I know that people
charge the Church with lowering reason, but it is just the other way.
Alone on earth, the Church makes reason really supreme. Alone on
earth, the Church affirms that God himself is bound by reason.�

The other priest raised his austere face to the spangled sky and said:

�Yet who knows if in that infinite universe � ?�

�Only infinite physically,� said the little priest, turning sharply in
his seat, �not infinite in the sense of escaping from the laws of
truth...Reason and justice grip the remotest and the loneliest star.
Look at those stars. Don�t they look as if they were single diamonds
and sapphires? Well, you can imagine any mad botany or geology you
please. Think of forests of adamant with leaves of brilliants. Think
the moon is a blue moon, a single elephantine sapphire. But don�t
fancy that all that frantic astronomy would make the smallest
difference to the reason and justice of conduct. On plains of opal,
under cliffs cut out of pearl, you would still find a notice-board,
�Thou shalt not steal.��

-- G. K. Chesterton, "The Blue Cross"

Gracias, Flavio.

Just wanted to pass along two images related to Chaiten Volcano. The
first documents what happens when a thunderstorm meets an ash column:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1133384.ece . I don't
know anything about the photographer, but he or she is clearly
demented, as they got very close to an erupting volcano and also on a
high point during an electrical storm. However, I'm grateful to them
for capturing this rare moment of violent beauty.
(snip)

"The sea appeared to have shrunk into itself, as if pushed back by the
tremors of the earth...the banks had widened, and many sea creatures
were beached on the sand. In the other direction gaped a horrible
black cloud torn by sudden bursts of fire in snake-like flashes,
revealing elongated flames similar to lightning but larger. And then
came the ashes..."
-- Pliny the Younger, 79 AD, Pompeii

Oxidation of volcanic gases is exothermic, accompanied by

Oops -- I noticed Edward's thread linking to the storm/volcano
pictures only *after* I'd sent the link above. Sorry!

No sorry needed. In spite of filters and killfile, all the nut-ball stuff
on the group makes
things easy to miss. Quite the spectacular show.