Volcano... Yikes!

We have to admit it's a bit worrisome, and yet really cool, to have an active volcano right in our front yard – so to speak. “Cool” because kids like volcanoes, and worrisome as it makes us think of what happened in Pompeii...

Just eight kilometers north of Grenada is the volcano called Kick 'em Jenny. It is located under the sea and can't be seen from a boat or from land.

Kick ‘em Jenny is a relatively young volcano, and it seems likely that it will continue to erupt in the future, eventually forming a shoal and then a new island. That process could be relatively quick, or perhaps take thousands of years.

Kick 'em Jenny's volcanic cone is about 1300 M in height off the ocean floor, and soundings indicate that the top of the cone is only about 185 M below sea level. It has been active for over one hundred years.

Kick ‘em Jenny is named after a small nearby island called Diamond Rock (or Diamond Islet on some charts). Diamond Rock used to be called ‘Kick ‘em Jenny’ prior to the discovery of the current volcano in 1939. The University of West Indies is not certain of the exact origins of the name ‘Kick 'em Jenny’, but it seems to relate to the fact that the waters in this region are sometimes extremely rough. It may be a corruption of the French: cay que gêne, ‘the turbulent cay (shoal), or rough shallows.

The National Disaster Management Agency and news agencies are monitoring an increase in activities taking place at Kick ’em Jenny, the region’s only submarine volcano. They do not know exactly when Kick ‘em Jenny will erupt next. The most recent seismic activity was today. We do know, however, that this volcano has erupted 13 times since 1939, on average that is about once every 5 years. Over the last 60 years the longest gap between eruptions has been 12 years, and the most recent eruption occurred on July 23rd 2015.

So, a few days ago (Friday April 28th) we bought tickets for a fun ferry ride from Grenada to Carriacou. We have been looking forward to this trip and leave tomorrow morning (Tuesday, May 2) at 9:00 am. The routine path for the ferry is a course right between Kick 'Em Jenny and Ronde Island (see map above).

A warning was issued today, May 01, 2017, to raise the alert levels due to seismic readings - persons in the St Patrick’s area of Grenada also reported feeling tremors. As a result, the alert level is now on yellow and sea users and ships have been warned to stay away from vicinity of the submarine volcano. There is a 5 km radius exclusion zone for marine traffic. Hopefully our little friendly volcano will behave itself for the next couple of days while we have our mini cruise...

Kick 'em Jenny is of great interest to Seismologists and Volcanologists as it is a modern day demonstration of how the volcanic islands in this region were formed. With each submarine eruption deposits of volcanic material accumulate around the summit. All of the volcanic islands of the Lesser Antilles, including Grenada, began as submarine volcanoes. ... as you can see by the map, Barbados is not volcanic. It was created by tectonic plates colliding and lifting the ocean floor to allow years of coral growth to accumulate.