There are plenty of supervolcanoes present on Earth, and an eruption of either of them is certainly not something that you want happening anywhere near your own town. A new study raises awareness about a possible catastrophic eruption of a supervolcano, according to sky.com. Such an event could be a lot more likely than previously thought.
However, knowing for sure when an eruption will occur is pretty unlikely. The presence of liquid magma under the volcano should tell how feasible it is for an eruption to occur. The new research reveals that eruptions can happen even if there’s no trace of liquid magma. Therefore, the world should always be prepared for such a devastating event.
Studying Lake Toba from Sumatra
Martin Danisik from Curtin University of Australia, who’s also the lead Australian author of a study, declared as quoted by Sky.com:
The concept of what is ‘eruptible’ needs to be re-evaluated.
Danisik has studied Lake Toba from Sumatra along with his colleagues, meaning a natural lake from North Sumatra (Indonesia) that occupies the caldera of a supervolcano. A tremendously powerful eruption occurred at that supervolcano tens of thousands of years ago, leading to an awful impact on the environment and human evolution.
Danisik said, as also quoted by Sky.com:
Gaining an understanding of those lengthy dormant periods will determine what we look for in young active supervolcanoes to help us predict future eruptions.
He also added, as cited by the same publication:
Learning how supervolcanoes work is important for understanding the future threat of an inevitable super-eruption, which happen about once every 17,000 years.
According to the BBC, there are about 40 supervolcanoes on Earth, but we can be relaxed for the moment, as most of them are extinct.
