Mount Gambier is in a volcanic region and the famous Blue Lake is in a volcanic crater. There aren’t giant peaks, like Mt St Helens and elsewhere, just unimposing spikes to the obvious craters of Gambier and Schank.
Mount Gambier could erupt at any time.
The last eruption was about 4500 years ago.
Geologist Bernie Joyce attracted headlines last year when he said authorities should consider the prospect of an eruption when planning for emergencies.
Joyce warned the consequences of even a small eruption coming into contact with groundwater could include hot, wet ash falls, dangerous gases and ash blown into the air, damage to animals and the environment, and pollution in water systems.
Reassuringly, his colleague Wally Johnson suggested there would be plenty of warning, most likely through rising water temperatures.
“We know that volcanoes do provide a fair bit of warning. In most cases this would be months or even years. You might get a volcano way out in Western Victoria where you might not notice the warning signs, but in most cases you’ll get advance warning from geological phenomena,” he said.
Today I came across a new report by John O’Sullivan that quotes geology researcher Timothy Casey.
Casey disputes claims that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide have been causing ocean acidification.
After shaking off my instant aversion to any argument about the science of climate change, I read further that Casey’s study looked at examples such as the Blue Lake, which he says is acidifying due to volcanogenic CO2 input.
Casey claims this shows that Mount Gambier is not quite as dormant as we may have been led to believe.
“In fact, the lack of aquarium acidification is well known in the industry that supplies the pumps which aerate the water,” he writes.
“Unexpectedly, there is no demand for for any filtering equipment to remove the carbon dioxide from air pumped into aquarium water. If it is really true that the oceans are acidifying at the present time, then given that isolated water reservoirs and aquariums are not acidifying, the source cannot be common to both.
“This would exclude atmospheric carbon dioxide as a potential source of oceanic acidification.”
O’Sullivan comments: “If this fact was repeated worldwide, then it would dispel concerns that human-emitted greenhouse gases were the cause of rising levels of sea acidity. The real culprit seems to have been nature all along.”
I’m not sure about the scientific significance of these claims, but as a resident of Mount Gambier I’m concerned in the short term about the acidification of the water and in the longer term about the risk of a volcanic eruption.
It’s true that authorities never seriously address these issues.
Gee, Michael… don’t you think you might want to move again? Volcanoes make me hellishly nervous.
Cool story,I just hope it doesn’t blow up while I m in Mount
How could you be worried about the Mount suffering a volcanic eruption??? Come on – you’ve left the paper now, you don’t need to sensationalise!
And yet that is what they are talking about in the national news just 1 yr later…which says that maybe there is a fair bit of truth in it and maybe this eruption is overdue. I hope for everyone’s sake it doesn’t happen, but it is best to be prepared.
I agree with Bob above, this sort of sensationalism is what it is. You cant stop the volcano, just get out of the way when the warning signs meander along in their own slow time.
Live near the ocean you face tidal waves, at least our warning signs show up months in advance, as opposed to a few hours.
I don’t see people flocking away from the ocean front.
Hey there, I lived in the mount for most of my life, what a fantastic piece of writing. As kids we spent all our time climbing around the Blue Lake and Valley Lake. Get the board out guys, and surf.