Hawaii's Kilauea volcano nears year-long eruption: USGS

by AFP Staff Writers
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) Dec 6, 2025

Fresh lava fountains spewed in spectacular fashion from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Saturday, US vulcanologists said, marking nearly a year since one of the world's most active volcanoes began erupting.

"Sustained lava fountains approximately 50-100 feet (15-30 meters) in height are currently erupting from the north vent," the US Geological Services Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement, adding that "fountain heights are increasing rapidly."

The latest episode in the ongoing eruption -- the 38th such surge of molten rock and gases from deep underground -- began at 8:45 am local time (1845 GMT), USGS said.

Such activity has been intermittent since an eruption began on December 23, 2024, USGS said, and typically continues for "a day or less."

All the eruptive activity is "confined to Halema'uma'u crater within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park," the service said, and local airports are not expected to be affected by volcanic gas or ash.

Officials are on watch for high levels of volcanic gas and a phenomenon called "Pele's hair," in which strands of volcanic glass "often produced by lava fountaining activity" are "carried well over 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the vent."

Hot glassy volcanic fragments "can fall on the ground within 1-2 miles (1-3 kilometers) of the eruptive vents."

Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly.

It is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is much smaller than neighboring Mauna Loa, but is far more active and regularly wows helicopter-riding tourists who come to see its red-hot shows.

7.0 quake shakes remote area straddling Alaska, Canada
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) Dec 7, 2025 - A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Saturday shook a mountainous, sparsely populated area straddling the border of the US state of Alaska and Canada's Yukon territory, seismologists said.

The temblor at 2041 GMT was followed by more than 30 aftershocks ranging from magnitude 5.1 to 3.3 over the next three hours, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicenter was about 155 miles (248 kilometers) west of Whitehorse, the capital of Canada's Yukon, and 230 miles northwest of Alaska's capital Juneau.

In Yakutat, Alaska, near the epicenter, police chief Theo Capes told AFP there were no injuries or damages reported from the quake that "lasted surprisingly long, 15 to 20 seconds."

There was no threat of a tsunami, according to the US Tsunami Warning System.

Volcanic eruptions may have brought Black Death to Europe
Paris, France (AFP) Dec 5, 2025 - Previously unknown volcanic eruptions may have kicked off an unlikely series of events that brought the Black Death -- the most devastating pandemic in human history -- to the shores of mediaeval Europe, new research has revealed.

The outbreak of bubonic plague known as the Black Death killed tens of millions and wiped out up to 60 percent of the population in parts of Europe during the mid-14th century.

How it came to Europe -- and why it spread so quickly on such a massive scale -- have long been debated by historians and scientists.

Now two researchers studying tree rings have suggested that a volcanic eruption may have been the first domino to fall.

By analysing the tree rings from the Pyrenees mountain range in Spain, the pair established that southern Europe had unusually cold and wet summers from 1345 to 1347.

Comparing climate data with written accounts from the time, the researchers demonstrated that temperatures likely dropped because there was less sunlight following one or more volcanic eruptions in 1345.

The change in climate ruined harvests, leading to failed crops and the beginnings of famine.

Fortunately -- or so it seemed -- "powerful Italian city states had established long-distance trade routes across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, allowing them to activate a highly efficient system to prevent starvation," said Martin Bauch, a historian at Germany's Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe.

"But ultimately, these would inadvertently lead to a far bigger catastrophe," he said in a statement.

- Deadly stowaways -

The city states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa had ships bring grain from the Mongols of the Golden Horde in central Asia, which is where the plague is thought to have first emerged.

Previous research has suggested that these grain ships brought along unwelcome passengers: rats carrying fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.

Between 25 and 50 million people are estimated to have died over the next six years.

While the story encompasses natural, demographic, economic and political events in the area, it was ultimately the previously unidentified volcanic eruption that paved the way for one of history's greatest disasters, the researchers argued.

"Although the coincidence of factors that contributed to the Black Death seems rare, the probability of zoonotic diseases emerging under climate change and translating into pandemics is likely to increase in a globalised world," study co-author Ulf Buentgen of Cambridge University in the UK said in a statement.

"This is especially relevant given our recent experiences with Covid-19."

The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday.