Supervolcano tipping point
Scientists find it extremely challenging to try and predict when a supervolcano might erupt again due to the sheer diversity of events that have gone before.
Climate safety valve
Scientists at the University of Southhampton have discovered that large chains of volcanoes have been responsible for both emitting and then removing atmospheric carbon dioxide over geological time thus stabilizing temperatures at Earth’s surface.
Volcanoes to cool Earth
Volcanoes are one of the most powerful forces on Earth and it is becoming increasingly clear that these forces are being altered by climate change.
Mantle explains explosive volcanoes
Indonesia’s volcanoes are among the worlds most dangerous. To explain why, researchers from Uppsala University have used chemical analysis of tiny minerals in lava from Bali and Java. They now understand better how the Earth’s mantle is composed in that region and how magma changes before an eruption.
Volcano cascade
Currently, most thinking is around the threat of a massive volcanic eruption, However, a team of experts now argues that too much focus is on the risks of these rare volcanic explosions, while far too little attention is paid to the potential domino effects of moderate eruptions in key parts of the planet.
Supereruption and human evolution
A massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia about 74,000 years ago likely caused severe climate disruption in many parts of the globe, but early human populations were sheltered from the worst effects, according to a new study led by Rutgers.
Lava lamp tectonics
Jay Chapman, a professor at the University of Wyoming, has used computer modeling to propose that sand and mud subducted of the coast of California around 75 million years ago returned to the Earth’s crust by rising through the mantle as enormous lava lamp like blobs.
Analyzing volcanoes
A team of geologists and geophysicists, led by the University of Geneva, Switzerland, has studied what causes a volcano to erupt and why some erupt regularly, while others remain dormant for thousands of years. They determined that most of the magma rising from depth actually does not cause a volcanic eruption.
Earth swallowing up carbon
Scientists from Cambridge University and NTU Singapore have discovered that slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates drag more carbon into Earth’s interior than previously thought.
Predicting supervolcanoes
Scientists say it is extremely challenging to try and predict when a supervolcano might erupt. There is not a single model which can describe how these catastrophic events happen.