Week 5 Volcanoes

While considered moderate for seismic activity, the Dominican Republic does not have any significant volcanic hazards. The Dominican Republic is known to have 0 Holocene volcanoes which are volcanoes that have been active in the last 11,700 years. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic does have 3 Pleistocene volcanoes which are volcanoes that were once active in the Pleistocene Epoch or between 25 million and 11,700 years ago. These volcanoes include Dos Hermanos, San Juan, and Valle Nuevo. 






It is significant to note that the Dominican Republic is located not too far east of the Pacific Ring of Fire. According to National Geographic, The Pacific Ring of Fire accounts for about 90% of all earthquakes and 75% of active volcanos found on Earth. This occurs because of the interactions between the Pacific plate and the less-dense surrounding plates. The Dominican Republic is found between the "R" and the "E" on the middle-right side of the map below. 



Although quite a distance from the Dominican Republic being 1,159 km away, submarine volcano Kick-em Jenny is just 8 km north of Grenada. According to UWI (University of the West Indies), Kick-em Jenny is the most frequently active volcano in the Eastern Caribbean with 14 recored eruptions since 1939. Eruptions of this volcano can result in steam and ash-laden plumes above sea level. Many islands in the Eastern Caribbean were formed from submarine eruptions. Below is an image representing the Kick-em Jenny summit region.




 

The U.S. Embassy in the Dominican republic does provide disaster preparedness information on hazards such as hurricanes, rainstorms, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis but does not have much information regarding volcanic activity specifically. On the other hand, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) does have teams located in the Caribbean monitoring information management, which includes volcanic hazards. This includes information on evacuations, property and environmental damage and more. 







Sources:
https://volcano.si.edu/volcanolist_countries.cfm?country=Dominican%20Republic
https://earthquakes.volcanodiscovery.com/
https://uwiseismic.com/volcanoes/kick-em-jenny/#:~:text=Kick%2D'em%2DJenny%2C,the%20Lesser%20Antilles%20island%20arc.
https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/ring-fire
https://easterncaribbean.un.org/en/111067-multi-threat-environment-caribbean-needs-be-prepared-more-just-storms

Comments

  1. Ana GGFebruary 26, 2023 at 1:12 PM

    That was a very interesting volcanic reflection; thank you for your work!

    ReplyDelete

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