The Canary Islands are 7 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa. They are but the peaks of several massive shield volcanoes that have grown from the bottom of the ocean over the past 30 million years. The islands are older in the east, and younger in the west. Six out of seven are still…
We, humans, are ingenious at finding smart ways to do the impossible. Regarding volcanic eruptions scientists have found a way of figuring out when large volcanic eruptions occurred with incredible precision, large explosive eruptions from anywhere in the world, by looking at ice none less, who would have guessed that? Combined with high-precision geochemical studies…
Italy is a fascinating country, and when it comes to volcanology, Italy has been arguably the most influential location in the planet. The first ever detailed description of a volcanic eruption came from Pliny the Younger writing about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Vesuvius was also the first volcano to be watched over…
Some days ago I got into a rather enthralling conversation about weird magma types. It revolved around a particular kind of magma called nephelinite. Some of you may know about this magma variety. Or perhaps not. It is after all a word that doesn’t show up as frequently as basalt or rhyolite. If this name…
Here comes the conclusion to the series, the 3 volcanoes that I considered the likeliest to produce a VEI-8 eruption. 3. Calabozos and neighbours (Chile) This volcano is located in Chile. It forms part of a little known, little studied, silicic flare-up of the Southern Andes Volcanic Zone. Steepening of the subducting Payenia Slab gave…