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Thread: Bees and volcanoes.

  1. #1
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Default Bees and volcanoes.

    I am taking advantage of the strapline of this section - 'For those less-focussed discussions where keeping on-topic doesn't matter' and I am generally attracted to anything involving blether.

    Trog seems to be worried about the west coast of Scotland becoming the new Pompeii complete with ash-entombed bees and beekeepers.
    There has also been speculation as to whether volcanic ash might be more effective than sugar dusting in terms of inducing a mite drop!

    I came across these hives in February of this year about 15 miles from Popocatépetl.
    I was hoping to have a chat with Ardelio, the owner but he wasn't about the day I visited the ranch.

    And just to show how volcanoes are old hat, In February we set up a scale model complete with baking soda and vinegar eruption long before Iceland was in the news!

    I took the picture of the volcano erupting in December 2000 and the one with the fumarole is from around 1995. It used to put out a big ash cloud about a dozen times in the average day.

    bees-volcano..jpg

    vinegar-volcano1..jpg vinegar-volcano2..jpg

    eruption-popo..jpg popo-fumarole..jpg
    Last edited by Jon; 21-04-2010 at 02:35 PM.

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    Happy memories of the baking soda and vinegar volcano in our own kitchen years ago. Almost as good as the citric acid 'n' bicarb film canisters!

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Lovely pictures. I've been fascinated by Popocatépetl since hearing of it in Primary School in short trousers.

    However Iceland and Popocatépetl have nothing on Mull if you go back 60 my. It has a giant caldera in the middle and sent lava flows and dykes and sills all over the W of Scotland and N Ireland too. There must have been some pile of baking soda in the heap of earth then.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    It has a giant caldera in the middle and sent lava flows and dykes and sills all over the W of Scotland and N Ireland too.
    I have dim memories of that from an 'O' Level in Geology. Is that the Antrim Plateau, Giant's Causeway or both? Ailsa Craig island is something to do with it as well.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    I think that there is a tale of two Celtic warrior-giants in some kind of face-off between Antrim and Staffa. One was supposed to have ripped out a piece of the earth and thrown it away in a huff, simultaneously creating Lough Neagh and the Isle of Man ... thus linking the great reserves of Amm, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man (see how I brought it back to beekeeping?!).

    Mull seemed to be a major centre of volcanic activity, but whether or not it contributed the lava flows of NI I'm not too sure.

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    Senior Member POPZ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    Lovely pictures. I've been fascinated by Popocatépetl since hearing of it in Primary School in short trousers.

    However Iceland and Popocatépetl have nothing on Mull if you go back 60 my. It has a giant caldera in the middle and sent lava flows and dykes and sills all over the W of Scotland and N Ireland too. There must have been some pile of baking soda in the heap of earth then.
    At last back in the land of the living after journey down to deep south and thankfully back again to find a brand new grand daughter here!! Yep, I know that is absolutely off topic but I want to mention something.

    Gavin, the main volcano(s) were on Ardnamurchan peninsula. A series of small ones that one day decided to show off and they all turned into one of those super volacanos - the only one in europe I believe. If you put Ardnamuchan into google you will see an amazing 6 mile crater - I think the ones you talk about followed on afterwards in the vain hope of competing!!

    Regarding the Icelandic tiddly outflow, I was fortunate in arriving there the day after it erupted/flowed so was able to go and see it. Now all roads are closed to it. But it was just a crack in the ground about a kilometer long with larva flowing out into a gorge - that was a dramatic picture. If a small upheaval like that can cause such disruption, imagine what a real volcano would do.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Welcome back!

    Do you have pictures? (Iceland I was thinking!) Apparently there are a few beekeepers there, something between Orkney and Shetland in terms of numbers.

    G.

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    Senior Member POPZ's Avatar
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    No piccies I am afraid - left my camera behind and my phone had filled up with coffee in rough weather trying to find a lost diver - that's another story!! Yes there are beekeepers on Iceland and I am to meet some of them when I next visit.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Excellent. We'll expect a pictorial report and magazine article next time!

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    Here's a documentary that shows the volcanic rocks created by Mull's vulcano. It also mentions hexagonal shaped rock, like honeycomb (just to stay on topic...):

    Scoll to 19:20 if you are not interested in Bass Rock etc.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...Rocky_Islands/

    Doris

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