Wednesday, January 18, 1984AThe Battalion/Page 9
Eruptions in Soviet Arctic
being studied by scientists
United Press International
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —
Volcanic-like eruptions in the
Soviet Arctic — the first ever
verified — could help explain
how the continents of Asia and
North America drift, scientists
“The plate boundary that is
not known is the one between
Asia and America and maybe if
that is a volcanic event, that
would help us to locale it,” he
said.
release in the May 18, 1980,
eruption of Mount St. Helens in
Washington state.
say.
The eruptions on or near
Bennett Island, an uninhabited
I tiny speck 1,000 miles northwest
of Barrow, Alaska, were first
spotted by a weather satellite.
Locating the plate bound
aries, he said, could eventually
enhance the understanding of
the region’s much-sought ener
gy resources because prospect
ing for energy is all done within
the framework of big structural
models.
“Our First suspicion was an
underground nuclear explo
sion, but no experiments have
been conducted in that area (in
the past),” said Juan Roederer,
director of the Geophysical In
stitute.
But the lack of volcanic activ
ity in the area is a major puzzle,
he said. While scientific refer
ences to the island are few, one
expedition in the 19th century
was briefly stranded there and
found no evidence of recent vol
canic activity.
It was the farthest north vol-
j canic activity has ever been con
firmed and the first time it has
been documented in the Arctic
Ocean, the scientists said.
Although scientists at the
Geophysical Institute at the Uni
versity of Alaska are tentatively
identifying the eruptions as vol
canic events, skepticism is high.
“We also looked for radioa-
tive elements and seismic (read
ings) and there were none.”
Reports from that party indi
cated volcanic activity between
70 million and 400 million years
ago, hardly recent enough to ex
plain current activity, Kienle
said.
Scientists first began watch-
l iiig the eruptions last year after
spotting one on Feb. 18 and
another on April 8 which sent up
j plumes towering about 3 W
! miles. After going back over
I their records, they found
I another eruption had occurred
I on March 11, 1982. The latest of
■ three eruptions occurred Sept.
“I have real problems with it
being a volcano but I also have
real problems with it being man
made,” said Glenn Shaw, a scien
tist at the institute known for his
work in tracing Arctic pollution.
After eliminating a nuclear
test, scientists turned to other
man-caused events, such as a
chemical burn. Those also were
dismissed, in part because of the
energy needed and because
there are no signs of habitation
or an airstrip on the remote is
land.
“What we’re interested in is
something like 5 million or 1 mil
lion years old, and there is no
thing that young on the.island,”
^ie said.
Baby murder unsolved
United Press International
DALLAS — Police Tues
day said they are certain 2-
year-old Amber Nichole
Crum, who disappeared Dec.
26, is dead and that they can
prosecute her mother’s for
mer boyfriend even though a
body has not been found.
James B. Monroe, 22, who
was charged with murder, has
maintained he left Amber in
his pickup truck when he stop
ped at a store on Dec. 26 and
that the child was gone when
he returned.
that the body will be found but
we are continuing our
search.”
Monroe, a plumber, was in
jail Tuesday in lieu of $50,000
bond. He was arrested last Fri
day on a probable cause war
rant.
Hughes was quotaying she
believed her daughter was
dead the night before her dis
appearance.
Police investigator Paul
Ronyak saidmation implicat
ing Monroe in the girl’s dis
appearance and probable
death surfaced during an in
terview last week with Stepha
nie Hughes, the child’s 19-
year-old mother.
“When the mother checked
the baby that night, there was
no movement at all on the
body,” Ronyak said. “She just
had a strong belief at that time
that (the child) was dead.”
“The state of Texas has
guidelines saying you don’t
have to have a body to prose
cute,” said one police official.
“In my mind, I’m certain she is
dead. The chances are remote
Ronyak said Hughes told
police she slept until about 9
a.m. the next day, when Mon
roe awakened her and told
her Amber had disappeared.
Ronyak said police had
reasons to discount Monroe’s
story and to suspect the child
was killed at her home and
taken away Ghristmas night.
He offered no explanation
of why the mother did no
thing when she thought her
child was dead.
led
e il
I s "
luc;
>nz;
hai
alle
b<
10.
I 'g “In the terms of (understand
ict
i n 8 ‘he geological structure of)
■ the world, it will have great im-
■ pact,” said Juergen Kienle of the
i University of Alaska.
“The one thing that makes it
so puzzling is there is no doubt at
all that enormous amounts of
energy are being released.”
The February and September
eruptions released about a bil
lion kilowatts of energy over six
to eight hours, scientists esti
mated. That is about the equiva
lent of 10 percent of the energy
In addition, scientists said a
Soviet-operated weather station
100 miles from Bennett Island
has continued supplying weath
er information to worldwide
data banks throughout the
events.
There is only one other refer
ence to volcanic activity in the
area. The event occurred in
1957 when a Soviet group on the
ice pack reported hearing the
bursting of ice, explosive noises
and a strong sulfur-like smell,
Kienle said.
One of the more plausible ex
planations, according to Kienle,
is a submarine volcano going off
near the island.
Scientists believe it may have
been a submarine volcano.
Soviet scientists have said re
latively little about the eruptions
on or near Bennett Island.
Plant stops
operations
United Press International
hn Mjidi I
&M
irms
j
LUBBOCK — Carbon Diox
ide Technology Corp. has sus
pended operations at its plant
southeast of Lubbock, plant
operations manager Bill Wig
gins III said Tuesday.
CDT, based in Houson, reco
vered carbon dioxide gas from
the stacks of a nearby Lubbock
Power & Light plant and sold the
gas to oil companies for use in oil
[well recovery operations.
Wiggins said the plant had
not been operating steadily since
it started a year ago because
flaws had to be worked out of a
new design for the recovery of
carbon dioxide gas.
TAMU Floriculture-
Ornamental Horticulture Club
PLANT SALE!
• PLANTS FOK. D0R.M ROOMS
AND APARTMENTS
•TROPICALS
SATURDAY,
January 21
9am - 1pm
L.UBBCVCK.
n-cwcotruf*
*ciue-
aTV
O err -dfe
j-irtt arsenheuse. OsCrQSS
from He Icier feIs
U) lUeMeln-fals Hd( I
ational
Oft,.
Spring Rush ^ ,. 'Aj
1984
' Ihur. ^hSi
All parties begin at 9:00 p.m. at the KA house
For information call:
Jeff Martinez
846-5659
Will Simmen
696-7328
- Form
1 Tuesdi
Mondal
ratic pr(
ut nottl
t, fornKj
Vi/hat’s Happening Tonight at 7:30
i wrappi
/as in Si
lecture l
id he 1*
ui has'j'
inning*
Tip - off
■ prol
a thirdd
ro win'd*!
Sen.)
d have! 1 !
id the fin 1 !
lave
londafc
a!i!l
Rally
fith
lods.
Tat
Sutter
i»
>;.v
'/CV
Cogue join with a
fast moving company
of Christians on
the A&M campus
for on evening of
challenging study
from God’s Word
and good Fellowship,
w,
x*
m
1L
NG
dNEfll
J* ^
r
sponsored by A&M Christian Fellowship
Wed., January 18,
7:30 pm, Zachary 103
AMCF meets every Wednesday 7:30 p.m. 103 Zachary