Ash-covered Tonga is like a moonscape say residents

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Amassive volcanic eruption in Tonga that triggered tsunami waves has smothered the Pacific islands in ash, cut power and severed communications.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the tsunami wreaked "significant damage", washing boats ashore and battering beachside shops.

Information from Tonga is scarce but no deaths have been reported so far.

Locals say Tonga looks "like a moonscape" after being coated in a thick layer of volcanic ash.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ash-covered-tonga-is-like-a-moonscape-say-residents/ar-AASPPQ6

[L. Coyote]

1. One of North America's immense eruptions decapitated Mt. Mazama, the highest peak in the Cascades.

The very thick ash layers around the peak are visible today in road cuts near Crater lake, the remnant of the great mountain, and was dated from the ash layer in Greenland's ice sheet. Some 50 cubic miles of material was ejected. This kind of eruption can happen in the USA!

I watched the Mt. St. Helen's eruptions, and they were mind-blowing, but even the big eruption, the deadliest known eruption in the US, was quite minor by comparison to Mazama. The eruption cloud at Tonga would have reached from Canada to Oregon 30 minutes after the eruption, to get an idea of the difference in scale. The ash cloud was more than 400 km across. The sound wave was detected in Norway half a day later.

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