World: La Palma island braces for more quakes as volcano roars on

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — Residents on Spain’s La Palma island braced Wednesday for the possibility of bigger earthquakes that could compound the damage from a volcano spilling lava more than five weeks since it erupted.

© Provided by Associated Press Lava flows from a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Seismologists said a 4.6 magnitude earthquake shook the island a day after they recorded a 4.9 magnitude quake that was the strongest so far of the hundreds that have occurred under La Palma since the volcano's Sept. 19 eruption.

China says moon rocks offer new clues to volcanic activity

BEIJING (AP) — Moon rocks brought back to Earth by a Chinese robotic spacecraft last year have provided new insights into ancient lunar volcanic activity, a researcher said Tuesday. Li Xianhua said an analysis of the samples revealed new information about the moon’s chemical composition and the way heat affected its development. Li said the samples indicate volcanic activity was still occurring on the moon as recently as 2 billion years ago, compared to previous estimates that such activity halted between 2.8 billion and 3 billion years ago.“Volcanic activities are a very important thing on the moon.

So far, the earthquakes have either been small enough or far enough under La Palma to do no harm, other than adding to the anxiety of the island residents. The Tuesday earthquake was felt up to 60 miles (96 kilometers) away on three other segments of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa.

© Provided by Associated Press Nemesio, 69, takes his daily walk around his house, near the erupting volcano, on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

“The scientific committee has been warning for more than a week that we could see earthquakes, given their recent depth of around 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) and their magnitude, that reach a magnitude of 6 (on the Richter scale),” María José Blanco, director of Spain’s National Geographic Institute on the Canary Islands, told Spanish national broadcaster RTVE.

Mount Aso Live Camera Footage Shows Japanese Volcano Erupting, Shooting Ash Miles High

The eruption sent a huge cloud of ash and dust billowing out from one of the world's most active volcanoes, which is located in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture.Mount Aso erupted on Wednesday morning at just after 11:40 a.m. local time.

© Provided by Associated Press Spain Volcano

Flows of molten rock from the Cumbre Vieja volcano itself have caused the evacuations of about 7,500 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, mostly homes. The rivers of lava cover over 900 hectares (2,200 acres) of mostly farmland, while one major flow is extending the island into the Atlantic as it cools.

No deaths have resulted from the eruption. Other than in an area on the island’s western side, life continues as normal for La Palma's 85,000 residents except for having to clean up volcanic ash.

© Provided by Associated Press Residents watch as lava flows from a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The last eruption on the island, in 1971, lasted 24 days. Its longest, in 1949, lasted 47 days. The current activity is on day 39 and shows no signs of stopping.

3 dead, 3 missing after avalanche on Ecuador volcano: officials

An avalanche Sunday on a snow-capped Ecuadoran volcano, the highest peak in the country, killed at least three climbers and left three others missing, officials reported. Authorities did not identify the climbers or their nationalities, but the Quito newspaper El Comercio reported that all were Ecuadoran. The avalanche was spurred by "weather conditions" and was not caused by any volcanic activity, according to the firefighters.Rescuers as well as police and military personnel specialized in high-elevation operations set up a command center at Chimborazo to coordinate search-and-rescue operations.

© Provided by Associated Press Lava flows from a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

“We saw the worst-case scenario in the 1949 eruption, when a second volcano mouth opened up and cut off the southern part of the island, which had to be supplied by boat,” volcano scientist Vicente Soler said. “That is highly improbable, although not impossible, today.”

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Wilson reported from Barcelona.

© Provided by Associated Press Tourists look and take selfies at a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

© Provided by Associated Press Lava flows from a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. Officials say a volcano erupting for the past five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever. New lava flows have emerged following a partial collapse of the crater and threaten to engulf previously unaffected areas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)