Sorsogon Province Must Spearhead Investigation of its Twin Volcanic Ranges, as Sorsogon Bay Could Have Been Formed by Volcanic Eruptions and Is a Catastrophic Tragedy About to Happen

Second of an Occasional Series about “Sorsogon’s ‘Sayangtists’ and the Environment”

By Lolo Bobby M. Reyes of Sorsogon City and West Covina, California

 

T he newly-coined word “Sayangtist” was defined in Part I of this series, as may be accessed by clicking this hyperlink, Geothermal-plant Proponents Must First Conduct Research on Bulusan Volcano’s “Second Lake” Before Even Doing Environmental-impact Studies

 

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/geothermal-plant-proponents-must-first-conduct-research-on-bulusan-volcano-s-second-lake-before-even-doing-environmental-impact-studies

Sorsogon’s provincial-government officials must spearhead the investigation of their province’s geologic processes, especially its twin volcanic ranges, as Sorsogon Bay could have been formed by volcanic eruptions at least 30-million years ago. As found true in all corners of the world, there are “baby volcanoes” that are growing in any volcanic range. As the National Geographic Magazine ( NatGeo, January 2012 issue) describes the Afar Volcanic Range in Ethiopia, “the Afar’s timeless visage hides its true nature. Below the surface, Earth’s rocky rind is ripping apart, and underground chambers of magma are fueling 12 active volcanoes as well as steaming geysers, boiling cauldrons, and a fiery lake of lava.”

In the NatGeo’s April 2011 article about the Congo’s Lake Kivu Basin, the volcanic range in it has a “lake full of deadly gases, lava-spewing cones and fissures, and active volcanoes, (including baby volcanoes). All were created by titanic forces pulling apart the East African Rift Zone.”

 

H ere are the reasons advanced why there is such a need for short-, medium- and long-term scientific studies, including geophysical research by drilling into the Earth’s crust – if not up to its mantle. The studies are like items in a conveyor belt in an assembly line that can be accelerated or delayed depending on the circumstances and funding availability. A long-term project can be hastened to become a short-term goal if warranted.

1.0 There are scant data about the Volcanic Ranges of Bulusan and Pocdol (VRB&P), as explained in Part I of this series. State-of-the-art volcanic observatories and seismic-monitoring stations are needed in both volcanic ranges. Sorsogon is one of the few provinces in the Philippines that have two volcanic ranges with each having potentially about 12 or more baby volcanoes.

2.0 Sorsogon’s provincial government must spearhead investigation of its twin volcanic ranges, as Sorsogon Bay (SorBay) could have been formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.

 

3.0 If indeed SorBay was formed by eruptions of what are now the VRB&P, deep in the bay’s bottom are hundreds of millions, if not billions or trillions, of tons of dissolved but deadly methane and carbon-dioxide deposits, as explained in Part I of this series insofar as Bulusan Lake is similarly situated, as compared to the Congolese Lake Kivu volcanic range.

4.0 While even modern science has still to unlock fully the mysteries of the Earth’s mantle, “bits of rock, as modified by heat and pressure, are spit from volcanoes” (to use the words of NatGeo) as well as countless millions, if not billions (or trillions), of deadly gases, dangerous minerals and toxic fumes come out from the bowels of our planet. While mankind cannot prevent volcanic eruptions or even earthquakes and/or tsunamis that accompany such eruptions, the scientific studies can mitigate casualties by doing calamity-preparedness programs, construction of safe homes and buildings in safer grounds and doing orderly evacuations before an eruption happens.

5.0 Sorsogon Province sits on the Philippine Plate and is probably the closest province to the Pacific Plate that interacts with the Philippine and the Eurasian Plates. The clashes among the three Plates caused the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Northern Japan on March 11, 2011, which killed more-than 15,000 victims, injured tens of thousands more people and caused billions of dollars in economic damage.

6.0 Like in Northern Japan, the Congo’s Lake Kivu Basin, Ethiopia’s Afar Volcanic Range, the Pocdol and/or Bulusan Volcanic Range(s) have earthquake faults and/or rift zones. Not much has been done in scientific studies on the earthquake fault lines or rift zones of Sorsogon Province and probably Filipino scientists and Sorsogon’s “sayantists” do not have much data about them. Sorsogon has experienced one of the Philippine’s strongest earthquakes, as described in this article: More Data on the July 2, 1954, Earthquake in Sorsogon Province, PH

7.0 The Province of Sorsogon – even without the help of the Philippine national government – can afford, especially with grants from international agencies and worldwide environmental groups, to construct the sophisticated volcanic observatories, seismic-monitoring stations and geophysical studies of its BPVR and SorBay if only its provincial officials can eliminate or even minimize corruption. How to do it has been written in this 2009 article: Conceptual Framework of Approach for Ridding the Philippines of Graft and Corruption

 

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/politics/conceptual-framework-of-approach-for-ridding-the-philippines-of-graft-and-corruption

 

(To be continued . . .)