The Moon had surprisingly recent volcanic activity, samples from Chinese space mission confirm: Volcanoes were erupting on the Moon as recently as 120 million years ago, evidence collected by a Chinese spacecraft suggests. Until the last few years, scientists had thought volcanic activity ended on the Moon around 2 billion years ago. The findings, published …
Iceland on high alert for volcanic eruption – what we know so far: The Reykjanes peninsula in south-west Iceland trembled with an intense swarm of earthquakes on the afternoon of Friday November 10. Hundreds of quakes were detected on the regional networks of seismometers and several were strong enough to be felt in Reykjavik, 50 …
How climate change might trigger more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions: A volcanic eruption at the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland in May 2021. Thorir Ingvarsson/Shutterstock Earth’s climate is changing rapidly. In some areas, escalating temperatures are increasing the frequency and likelihood of wildfires and drought. In others, they are making downpours and storms more intense or …
Four volcanic hotspots in the Solar System: Io has volcanism. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Evidence for current volcanic activity on the planet Venus has recently made the news. But Venus is far from the only world beyond Earth to exhibit signs of volcanic activity. In fact, having volcanic activity (volcanism) on planets is quite common. Here …
When an ancient volcanic ‘supereruption’ caused sudden cooling, early humans got lucky: The Toba eruption left behind a 100km long lake where the volcano had once been. Clive Oppenheimer, Author provided Around 74,000 years ago, a “supereruption” on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, blasted out an estimated 5,000 cubic kilometres of magma. This was the …
A cool South African City image: Statue in the ground of Tenison Woods Catholic College in Mt Gambier. It overlooks a former volcanic crater now a lawned playing field. Image by denisbin Brief History of Mt Gambier – the second city of SA after Adelaide (region population nearly 35,000, urban 28,000). Lieutenant James Grant aboard …
Deep-sea volcanic eruptions create megaplumes that may have dispersed early life: An area on the summit of the West Mata Volcano erupting in 2009. NOAA / NSF / WHOI The ocean floor is famously unexplored and is imaged in much less detail than the surfaces of Mars, the Moon and Venus. Draining the water from …
Pompeii: ancient remains are helping scientists learn what happens to a body caught in a volcanic eruption: The Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland. Daniel Freyr Jónsson / Alamy Stock Photo The recent eruptions in Iceland, vividly captured through dramatic drone footage, have drawn public attention to the immense power of volcanoes. Beautiful though they are, and …
How 18th-century weather diaries shed light on the effects of an Icelandic volcanic eruption on Scotland: Joschenbacher/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA On June 15 1783, Dr John Purcell went outside his house in Edinburgh, looked up at the clouds and wrote in his diary how dark and gloomy the sky was. The dark skies, he reported, continued …
Did a volcanic eruption in Alaska end the Roman republic?: The death of Caesar. Vincenzo Camuccini/Wikipedia Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (March 15) in 44BC and a bloody civil war followed. This brought down the Roman republic and replaced it with a monarchy led by Caesar’s nephew Octavian, who in 27BC …
Why Mount Agung’s volcanic ash is a particular problem for aircraft: The eruption of Mount Agung on the island of Bali in Indonesia has emitted a huge plume of volcanic ash over the region, reaching more than 9km up into the atmosphere. This has disrupted flights over Bali and nearby islands. With the Aviation Colour …
Volcanic emissions caused the warmest period in past 56m years – new study: Natali Snailcat / shutterstock To predict what type of Earth lies ahead of us, we scientists usually turn to complex computer simulations. But how can we test whether these models are remotely accurate? Perhaps the best solution is to turn to instances …