How to Build a Supervolcano in Just 4 Million Years
Using argon-argon analysis on tiny crystals, researchers have created a timeline for the build up and eruption of a series of four supervolcanoes.
If you’re a regular member of our community, you know that Pamela and I stan volcanoes — from the liquid flow of Hawai’i and Iceland to the explosive bursts of Etna and Pinatubo — so long as lives aren’t lost. One thing we, thankfully, haven’t had to experience in our lifetimes is the eruption of a supervolcano. Every so often, though, scientists like to remind us that we are overdue for a supervolcano eruption. On average, they tend to occur every 20,000 years, and the last one was 27,000 years ago.
To keep us from panicking too badly, researchers have been studying a variety of features from known supervolcano eruptions to get a better understanding of just how often they occur and possibly what signs we can look for in advance.
In a new paper in Nature, a team of scientists recently published an analysis of tiny zircon and feldspar crystals from four known eruptions in northern Chile. Using argon-argon dating, the team was able to determine that the crystals formed underground in large plutons that cooled slowly until magma welled up through weak spots. The…
