Karen Fontijn

This week's @thecontinent.org is on 🔥🌋

Bulletin of Volcanology

🌋 New study from 'Bulletin of Volcanology': ~50 km dyke intrusions, 300+ M4+ quakes and major ground deformation caused infrastructure damage, underscoring Ethiopia’s seismic–volcanic risk. Highlights the need for stronger monitoring, early-warning systems. @iavcei.bsky.social bit.ly/4roTvYu

Following the #HayliGubbi eruption, our paper on the Erta Ale dike of Jun-Jul is finally out. InSAR, optical data and seismicity showed the temporal evolution of the intrusion and the interaction of magmatic sources, including a sill inflation in Hayli Gubbi. @earth-science.bsky.social #geoscience

Event Response Reports - COMET 25th November 2025: COMET Event Response Report 2.4 – Erta Ale/Hayli Gubbi Purpose/Caveats: This event response report was produced to assist situational awarenessand rapid response efforts. It repres...

Our preliminary analysis of the satellite observations of the #hayligubbi #eruption is now available online: comet.nerc.ac.uk/event-respon.... Details of the eruption onset, SO2 emissions and precursory deformation.

The #HayliGubbi eruption came after a period of unrest that started in June-July 2025 with a large dike intrusion in the southern sector of the Erta Ale rift. Our InSAR study will be out soon but you can have a summary at the link below. @earth-science.bsky.social #geoscience

Hayli Gubbi - some of my photos from the Hayli Gubbi tephra sampling expedition on 24 Nov 2025 from around 10 km north of Hayli Gubbi @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @alarosa.bsky.social @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social @volckaren.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @alarosa.bsky.social

Activity at Hayli Gubbi began in July when there was an eruption at Erte Ale. Magma propagated 30 km south passing under Hayli Gubbi. Since then, there has been a small plume, quasi-continuous SO2 emissions and uplift. Details in @uk-comet.bsky.social event response report: tinyurl.com/y3nfdfj8

Toch even een kleine correctie: dit is de eerste gedocumenteerde uitbarsting van deze vulkaan in Ethiopië. We weten niet wanneer de vorige uitbarsting was omdat deze vulkaan amper bestudeerd werd, en we de geschiedenis ervan dus niet kennen. Het zou me verbazen als het echt 12,000 jaar geleden was.

The #HayliGubbi #eruption in Afar, Ethiopia, is the first documented eruption at this poorly known volcano.

Was it entirely unexpected?
Difficult to say - Berhe Goitom and colleagues already reported some seismicity in 2011-2012 so perhaps there was already some geophysical unrest for a while:

Here's the GVP page of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia: volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?.... Plume from the eruption can be seen in this Aqua/MODIS image cross the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. #eruption #volcano

Afar volcanism is known for its dyke intrusions and lava lake at Erta Ale, but here is an example of what looks like a pretty sizeable explosive eruption at a previously barely studied volcano, Hayli Gubbi 🌋🌋

We are advertising for a 3-year "Senior Research Associate in Volcanic Petrology and Stratigraphy". Part of a Leverhulme-funded interdisciplinary research grant "Volcanic Histories", focused on research in the Eastern Caribbean.

Closing: October 15th
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

The hidden effects of academic excellence: workaholism in Academia Years have passed since I started my academic career, and I have come to realise that, in a cademia, excellence appears to come with a price tag . Stress and pressure have become commonplace for acade...

In academia, excellence appears to come with a price tag. Stresses often normalise certain behaviours such as workaholism. In this week's blog, Katherine Villavicencio writes about the effects of workaholism in academic life, and suggests us: forget the price tag! blogs.egu.eu/divisions/gd...

Scientific response to the 2024–2025 dyke intrusions in the Fentale-Dofen Region, Ethiopia: geophysical monitoring, surface manifestations, and hazard mapping - Bulletin of Volcanology In continental rifts, tectonic deformation, magmatic processes, and earthquakes interact dynamically reflecting the crust’s complex response to extensional stress and evolving subsurface and surface c...

If you are interested in the Fentale diking episode then have a read of Prof. Elias Lewi's new paper in Bull. Volc. link.springer.com/article/10.1... @alarosa.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social

Aloha folks! I am on the IAVCEI advisory board and welcome comments you’d like me to anonymously pass along to the executive committee about your #IAVCEI2025 experience (both positive and negative). Having concrete feedback is one of the best ways to ensure each experience is better than the last.

IAVCEI2025schedule

@iavcei.bsky.social made a spreadsheet of tomorrows talks #iavcei2025 - docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Throughout histoty there have been people who have believed that that this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side - using reason and humanitu to guide us... today, poeple who hold these beliefs and valuws are called humanists.' Alice Roberts Scientist amd humanist

Happy #WorldHumanistDay! Here's one our favourite little definitions of humanism by our Vice President @profaliceroberts.bsky.social

On Italy’s Republic Day, Etna isn’t holding back 🌋🇮🇹 Activity started with mild Strombolian explosions that quickly intensified. A small lava flow made its way down the Valle del Bove. A particularly remarkable event just occurred: part of the Southeast Crater collapsed, triggering a PDC

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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’

Rest in peace Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

#MSH45 | May 19 | AM
Dawn breaks over the smoldering volcano, a hulk of its former self.

Yesterday morning, a 9,677-foot peak known as the "Fuji of America"—graceful, snowcapped, symmetrical.

Today, a shattered crater and seared wasteland for miles north, west, and east.

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events Geology of Paris-Roubaix - When did the Hell of the North break loose?

No Paris-Roubaix without a geology story!

Marjolein Naudé explains in this clip how the Hell of the North froze over and made the muddy, dusty mess we all love so much!

And read more in our blog: www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology...

youtu.be/R00JSTLw-f0?...

Interested in #volcano #geology? Check out our chapter on Volcano Stratigraphy and Mapping for the upcoming 3rd edition of the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes! 🌋🌋🌋
eartharxiv.org/repository/v... 👇🏽

eruption at south end of Sundhnukar now !

#volcanism #icealnd #geosciences
from www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjKk...

"We are in grave, grave danger of forgetting"

Rethinking Research Assessment: Debiasing Committee Composition and Deliberative Processes | DORA This is part of DORA’s toolkit of resources to support academic institutions that are improving their policies and practices. Find the other resources in the toolkit here. Debiasing Committee Composit...

On this International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we plug our “Debiasing Committee Composition and Deliberative Processes”, a 1-pager w/strategies for diversifying perspectives & reducing biases for hiring, promotion, tenure, and funding decisions.
sfdora.org/resource/ret...

Map of earthquake sequence from https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000pdu6/moment-tensor

Moment tensor solution of earthquake from https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000pdu6/moment-tensor

M6.0 just now in Ethiopia, highest magnitude #earthquake in the swarm up until this point in time. The moment tensor only shows 12% double couple, which commonly means that the earthquake is not caused by rupture on a single flat fault plane (or it could just be poorly determined). 🌋🧪⚒️

The seismic swarm in Greece gets more complicated New data reveal unexpected volcano-tectonic interactions

🧪⚒️

The seismic swarm in Greece continues - and GPS stations on Santorini show that the island itself is deforming, signaling likely movement of magma deep in the crust. In our latest post, we explore a new detailed seismic catalog and come up with a possible interpretation.

Read more:

Satellite imagery from @planet.com shows increased steaming in the summit caldera of Fentale volcano (Ethiopia) in the last week. Emissions appear confined to topographic lows - perhaps a meteorological effect (temperature inversion?). @davidmpyle.bsky.social @volckaren.bsky.social 🧪

Thanks Simon! Observations on the ground confirm increased/new degassing, at least on the edifice.