eruptions

Studying bronze-age underwater volcanic eruptions is helping researchers better understand the size, hazards and climate impact of their parent eruptions, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. Credit: Johan Gilchrist, University of British Columbia Material left on the seafloor by bronze-age underwater volcanic eruptions is helping researchers better understand the size, hazards and climate impact…

An international team of researchers has found evidence suggesting that two mass extinctions, approximately 259 million and 262 million years ago during the Middle Permian Period, were caused by massive volcanic eruptions. The scientists studied uranium isotope profiles of marine samples collected in the South China Sea, which revealed two “pulses” where the oceans were deprived of life-giving oxygen. This research can help predict the potential impact of modern-day global warming on ocean food chains, as human activities…

The SO2 camera installation on Lascar Volcano, Chile. The camera is housed inside a protective metal casing, which also holds the battery for powering the instrument; a solar panel for battery charging is located to the left of the box. Credit: Dr Thomas Wilkes Gas emissions are the manifestation of activity occurring beneath the surface of a volcano. Measuring them lets researchers see what can't be seen from the surface.…

Night skies across the U.S. danced with streaks of green and magenta this past week. People as far south as Asheville, N.C., and Phoenix, Ariz., had the unexpected pleasure of witnessing the Northern Lights. “My Twitter feed was inundated. Every femtosecond, a new picture appeared,” says Scott McIntosh, a solar physicist and deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “It was pretty special.” The driving force behind the unusual light show was a severe geomagnetic storm that caught space weather…

Yesterday, February 22, it was reported that a new sunspot has emerged on the Sun and it appears to be extremely unstable. The sunspot AR3234 was first spotted on the Earth-facing side of the Sun on Sunday and ever since, it has been growing continuously. Since Monday, it has caused as many as six M-class solar flares with no indication of stopping. These flares have bombarded the upper atmosphere of the Earth with radiation that has caused continuous radio blackouts for low frequency waves. Above all, there is a fear…

Basalt is a type of volcanic rock that is formed when lava with a high content of mafic minerals (such as pyroxene and olivine) cools and solidifies. Basalt lava eruptions occur when this molten rock is erupted from a volcano and comes into contact with the Earth’s surface. These eruptions can be explosive, producing ash and tephra, or they can be more effusive, flowing slowly and steadily over long periods of time. Basalt lava is typically more fluid than other types of lava, which allows it to flow easily and cover…

Stromboli has been erupting for thousands of years, almost continually. Credit: vladimirat/Shutterstock An unexpected series of eruptions at Stromboli may be due to changes in the volcano's internal "plumbing." Changes to the layer separating the volcano's reservoirs are allowing deeper magma to rise more quickly, which can trigger…

Sunspots on the Sun's surface sparked dangerous solar flares yesterday! Could these flares have caused any damage? There is cause to worry as Earth has been in the firing line of dangerous solar flares recently. Solar activity has been at a high due to the Sun being in the middle of its 11-year solar cycle, a time when it reaches its peak before subsiding over the next few years. As a result, sunspot eruptions, solar storms, solar flares and more, have all plagued Earth for the past months. Just yesterday, dangerous…

Dr Leighton Watson doing volcanic field work on Villarrica in Chile. Credit: University of Canterbury University of Canterbury (UC) postdoctoral researcher Dr. Leighton Watson (Ngāi Tahu), in collaboration with researchers at the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and Boise State University, has developed a modeling tool that uses sound waves from volcanic activity to help understand and forecast…

The atmospheric plume from the Tonga volcanic eruption, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA In 1883, there was a volcanic eruption so large it killed tens of thousands of people. It expelled so much ash that, for a time, it changed the colors of sunsets and the palette with which impressionist artists painted. In history, few volcanic eruptions have been so documented, until a recent underwater eruption…