Volcanoes That Are Waking Up Right Now

Bright Side

Around the world, volcanoes that have been silent for centuries are now waking up — and scientists are keeping a close watch. From sudden rumblings to unexpected eruptions, the Earth's fiery giants are showing signs of new activity.  In this video, we explore the volcanoes that are active right now, the ones showing warning signs, and what their eruptions could mean for nearby cities and global weather patterns. Could we be heading into a new era of volcanic activity?  🔥 Stay until the end to see which sleeping giants might erupt next!  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00:00The moon's volcanoes are not dormant, and they can erupt any minute.

00:00:05For years, we lived knowing nothing about it, but now, it's officially proven,

00:00:10thanks to China's Chang'e 5 mission's shocking discovery.

00:00:14The lunar soil samples it brought back to Earth contained something absolutely unexpected,

00:00:20hinting that volcanic eruptions may have occurred on the moon as recently as 123 million years ago.

00:00:28Geologically, that's practically yesterday.

00:00:31But the big question is, are we safe down here on Earth?

00:00:35We've long known that the moon was once volcanically active due to the dark regions,

00:00:41lunar maria, on its surface.

00:00:44These maria, the dark planes that give the moon its characteristic markings,

00:00:49are ancient lava flows that date back to around 3 to 3.8 billion years ago.

00:00:54Until recently, scientists thought that those ancient flows marked the end of the moon's volcanic activity.

00:01:02But the Chang'e 5 mission brought back lunar soil that included several microscopic glass beads,

00:01:09and three of them in particular revealed an extraordinary story.

00:01:13They formed around 123 million years ago from volcanic eruptions.

00:01:19An uncertainty range is a mere 15 million years.

00:01:24The discovery of those tiny beads is super important because of their composition and rarity.

00:01:30Measuring between 20 to 400 microns, which is smaller than a grain of sand,

00:01:35these beads are volcanic in origin.

00:01:38And this fact sets them apart from most other lunar glass beads,

00:01:42which typically form due to meteor impacts.

00:01:45Impact events on the moon create glass by melting surface rock with incredible heat and pressure.

00:01:52The result is tiny glass beads scattered all over the landscape.

00:01:57Yet, the volcanic beads identified in Chang'e 5's sample

00:02:01were formed by magma erupting from beneath the moon's crust

00:02:05and cooling it into glass as it reached the surface.

00:02:08By using uranium-lead dating, which measures the decay of uranium into lead within the beads,

00:02:16scientists managed to pinpoint their age with striking accuracy.

00:02:21The results suggest that the last known volcanic activity on the moon

00:02:24happened within the past 200 million years,

00:02:28making it a recent event in the moon's long history.

00:02:32This discovery also aligns with prior observations of unusual surface features

00:02:38known as irregular mare patches.

00:02:41Those are smooth mounds surrounded by rocky terrain.

00:02:45They were first spotted by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2014.

00:02:51These patches appear much younger than other lunar features,

00:02:54potentially formed by volcanic eruptions less than 100 million years ago.

00:02:59Before Chang'e 5's glass beads,

00:03:02these irregular mare patches were among the best evidence of recent volcanic activity on the moon.

00:03:09Yet, without confirmation, their origins remain uncertain.

00:03:14And now, the glass beads confirm volcanic action.

00:03:18The findings raise new questions about the moon's inner workings.

00:03:22In particular, how could it retain enough heat to sustain volcanic eruptions?

00:03:28We thought that the moon had cooled significantly after its formation 4.5 billion years ago,

00:03:35which made it volcanically inactive.

00:03:37And without tectonic activity or an atmosphere,

00:03:41the moon should have shed its internal heat long ago.

00:03:45Yet, the beads suggest the possibility of some localized heat sources within the moon's mantle.

00:03:52Scientists think that heat-producing elements,

00:03:54such as potassium and thorium,

00:03:57might be creating small, warm pockets,

00:04:00which generate enough heat to melt rock

00:04:02and trigger isolated volcanic eruptions.

00:04:05But wait!

00:04:07Beyond rewriting the moon's history,

00:04:09this discovery adds an intriguing twist to ongoing studies of transient lunar phenomena.

00:04:15These sightings, often reported as ghostly glows or hazes by amateur astronomers,

00:04:22remain unconfirmed by scientific probes.

00:04:26Some experts just dismiss them as illusions caused by Earth's atmosphere.

00:04:31But if the moon has small pockets of volcanic or outgassing activity,

00:04:36TLP might have a real basis.

00:04:38Gases emitted from beneath the surface could explain such mysterious glows

00:04:43and possibly be a hint of residual volcanic action on the moon.

00:04:48Now, if volcanic activity still lingers on the moon,

00:04:52this might have exciting implications for future lunar missions.

00:04:56In the coming decades,

00:04:58astronauts might be able to use volcanic heat for generating power,

00:05:03melting ice into water,

00:05:04or even warming bases built into the frigid lunar surface.

00:05:09But recent geological discoveries aren't limited to Earth's natural satellite.

00:05:14We learn more about volcanic moons beyond our solar system, too.

00:05:18The detection of a possibly volcanic exomoon orbiting exoplanet WASP-49b

00:05:25around 635 light-years away

00:05:28means that volcanic activity may be a common feature among moons.

00:05:33Up until now, Jupiter's moon EO held the title of the most volcanic body we know about.

00:05:41But researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may have found a new candidate.

00:05:47This potential exomoon came to light when scientists observed a cloud of sodium gas around the exoplanet.

00:05:54But the thing is, sodium clouds are unusual in planetary atmospheres

00:05:59and can suggest volcanic activity.

00:06:01The sodium cloud near WASP-49b had a bizarre, unexpected behavior.

00:06:08It was moving erratically, shifting size,

00:06:11and occupying a space too large to be explained by the exoplanet's own atmosphere.

00:06:17Scientists thought the cloud could actually be generated by a volcanically active exomoon

00:06:22in orbit around WASP-49b.

00:06:25Volcanic moons like EO are known to release gases such as sulfur dioxide, sodium, and potassium,

00:06:33which form massive clouds around their parent planet.

00:06:37EO, for instance, regularly produces vast amounts of gas that form a cloud encircling Jupiter

00:06:43up to 1,000 times the size of the gas giant itself.

00:06:48If something similar occurs near WASP-49b, the gas cloud could be a clue to volcanic activity

00:06:56on an exomoon orbiting the planet.

00:06:59Observations from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile

00:07:04seems to confirm this theory.

00:07:06The sodium cloud around WASP-49b is positioned high above the exoplanet's atmosphere and behaves

00:07:14in ways that don't match the exoplanet's 2.8 Earth-day orbit.

00:07:19This could suggest that it originates from a separate body, likely a volcanically active moon.

00:07:26Additionally, WASP-49b and its host star consist primarily of hydrogen and helium,

00:07:33which makes the sodium cloud even more unusual.

00:07:37The observed rate of sodium release, over 220,000 pounds per second,

00:07:43can be a sign of an immensely powerful volcanic source.

00:07:48If scientists verified the existence of this exomoon,

00:07:52it would be the first discovery of a volcanic exomoon.

00:07:56Back in our solar system, EO remains the main space object

00:08:00helping us understand volcanic moons.

00:08:03Recently, NASA's Juno spacecraft provided some of the closest images of EO

00:08:09since the Galileo mission over 25 years ago.

00:08:13EO's intense volcanic activity is caused by tidal heating,

00:08:17the result of the gravitational pull of Jupiter and nearby moons like Europa.

00:08:23This tug-of-war generates immense friction within EO,

00:08:27producing heat that fuels continuous volcanic eruptions.

00:08:30One of Juno's most exciting recent findings was a new volcano that appeared just south of EO's equator.

00:08:39Juno's images show a large, complex volcanic region,

00:08:43approximately 111 by 111 miles in size.

00:08:48The craziest thing?

00:08:50It wasn't there when Galileo imaged the same spot in 1997.

00:08:54This new volcano formed near the previously known volcano, Kanahekele.

00:09:00Researchers say that this new volcanic structure is a great change that highlights the dynamic nature of EO's surface.

00:09:08EO's equatorial region is home to most of its volcanoes because of the concentrated tidal heating it experiences.

00:09:16The most powerful eruptions emit sulfurous gases and produce bright lava flows.

00:09:22They cover the moon in colorful, sulfur-rich deposits.

00:09:26JunoCam's image, taken from about 1,570 miles away,

00:09:32shows EO dramatically lit by sunlight reflected off Jupiter.

00:09:37And you can see a stunning view of its constantly changing volcanic surface.

00:09:42Despite these detailed observations, there are still many mysteries about EO's volcanism.

00:09:48Scientists are particularly curious about how tidal heating affects EO's interior

00:09:53and whether it has a subsurface magma ocean.

00:09:58Plus, researchers try to understand what triggers different types of eruptions.

00:10:03For example, plumes versus lava flows.

00:10:06And how volcanic gases shape EO's surface and thin atmosphere.

00:10:11The study of volcanic moons from EO to the possible exomoon near WASP-49b

00:10:17sheds light on how tidal forces create volcanic activity in different moons.

00:10:23In icy moons like Europa, tidal heating sustains liquid oceans beneath the surface,

00:10:29creating potential habitats for life.

00:10:32But for EO, without an ocean,

00:10:34the same forces instead generate powerful volcanic activity.

00:10:39Plus, if volcanic exomoons do exist,

00:10:43like the one possibly orbiting WASP-49b,

00:10:46we might soon discover more volcanic bodies across the galaxy.

00:10:51Well, pack your bags and hurry down to Antarctica.

00:10:56Because gold is literally raining from the sky there.

00:10:59$6,000 per day.

00:11:02Well, not exactly from the sky.

00:11:04More like from the eruptions of this massive, fiery volcano.

00:11:08The towering beast of a mountain is called Erebus.

00:11:11It looms over the icy, lifeless expanse of Antarctica, on Ross Island.

00:11:18It shares the spot with three neighbors,

00:11:20Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Terranova.

00:11:25Although Erebus is certainly dominating the place,

00:11:28it's about 12,500 feet tall, like eight Empire State Buildings.

00:11:33Now, even though it's far smaller than Mount Everest,

00:11:36it's still the southernmost active volcano in the world.

00:11:40And even though it stands in the middle of nowhere,

00:11:44Erebus is far from lifeless.

00:11:46It has a terrible temper, actually.

00:11:48Erebus constantly breathes and roars,

00:11:51throwing out gases and chunks of molten rock

00:11:54in crazy tantrums called strombolian eruptions.

00:11:57And among them,

00:11:59it spews out tiny, delicate specks of shimmering gold.

00:12:03And it's not a couple here and there.

00:12:05This money fountain works every day,

00:12:08spewing out nearly a quarter pound of gold per day.

00:12:11Like we mentioned, it's worth over $6,000.

00:12:14It also sums up to a crazy 64 pounds of gold per year,

00:12:19over $2 million.

00:12:22But before you treasure hunters rush there,

00:12:25we have to tell you that these are more like particles of gold.

00:12:28They're often less than 60 micrometers in size

00:12:31and are scattered around, impossible to collect.

00:12:34And when we say scattered around, we mean it.

00:12:38Some of those particles have been found as far as 620 miles away from the volcano,

00:12:43carried in the middle of nowhere by Antarctic winds.

00:12:47Now, Erebus isn't a super-friendly place to hang out next to.

00:12:51Its eruptions are wild and unpredictable.

00:12:53So, most of what scientists know about Erebus comes from satellites,

00:12:58which monitor its activity from the safety of space.

00:13:02For scientists, this place is also a gold mine.

00:13:06Erebus is the only volcano that can do this stuff.

00:13:09They figured out that this happens when the magma,

00:13:12super-hot semi-molten rock beneath the Earth's surface,

00:13:15rises to the volcanoes.

00:13:17Magma brings some liquid gold with it.

00:13:20The moment it meets the chilly Antarctic air,

00:13:23the gold crystallizes into little pieces.

00:13:25And voila!

00:13:272 million bucks per year.

00:13:29Erebus is such a weird and rare volcano.

00:13:33Its fiery heart has been burning for over a million years.

00:13:36Over these million years, it's been building layer by layer.

00:13:39Its basis is a super-ancient lava.

00:13:43And the upper layers are youngsters.

00:13:46And throughout many years, it's been very active,

00:13:49with a glowing lava lake bubbling at its center.

00:13:53This lava lake is exactly what it sounds,

00:13:55a pool of constantly shifting, burning molten rock.

00:13:59This site is incredibly rare,

00:14:01because there are only several lakes like that in the entire world.

00:14:04And this isn't just a pool of rock.

00:14:07It's a window into the volcano's soul.

00:14:10In Erebus, it's made of phonolite.

00:14:13Now, phonolite is a very cool rock.

00:14:15Its name comes from the Greek words for sound and stone.

00:14:18Because, guess what?

00:14:20It's a rock that produces a ringing sound when you strike it.

00:14:24There are only a couple of volcanoes that give it to us.

00:14:27But it's not the only volcano that can flex its weirdness.

00:14:31Oldoyenolengai, a volcano from the East African Rift in northern Tanzania,

00:14:38is even more mysterious.

00:14:40It spews what's called natrocarbonatite lava.

00:14:44Most volcanoes erupt glowing red-hot rivers of molten rock.

00:14:48But this one erupts dark lava.

00:14:50It flows super fast, like water,

00:14:53creating these thin, fast-moving rivers.

00:14:56So all this makes it look almost like black mud or oil.

00:15:00What's even wilder is that as soon as it hits the air,

00:15:04it starts reacting super fast and turns white within hours.

00:15:08It's like magic, with black lava turning into something that looks like white dust or snow.

00:15:14Not even mentioning that it even glows faintly at night.

00:15:17And it's not that hot either.

00:15:19Well, it's still pretty hot.

00:15:21From about 900 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:15:24But usually, lava temperature can vary from 1,300 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:15:32So it's cold by volcanic standards.

00:15:35That's because this lava is rich in some strange soda- and salt-like, incredibly rare materials.

00:15:42Nerorite and Gregorite

00:15:44Nerorite is usually colorless and shiny, looking like small, clear crystals or plates.

00:15:50Gregorite is often a bit cloudy.

00:15:52These guys are a geochemical mystery.

00:15:56Deep inside this place, there are two pools of magma.

00:16:00The rare minerals are probably born when carbon-rich parts of magma get separated from the rest,

00:16:06forming these two pools.

00:16:08And while they're fascinating, and we can get tons of them from this volcano,

00:16:11they're also completely useless.

00:16:14They're so rare and fragile that they're impossible to use in anything, even jewelry.

00:16:19Still, even astronomers find this curious.

00:16:22If there are planets out there that are rich in carbon instead of oxygen, like Earth,

00:16:27these minerals could be quite popular there.

00:16:30This volcano also releases a lot of gas.

00:16:34And I mean a lot.

00:16:35It's spewing out carbon dioxide at a speed of about 176 pounds per one second.

00:16:42Just think about it.

00:16:43About 5 tons of carbon dioxide per minute.

00:16:46Every minute, that's like several cars' worth of gas being pumped out into our atmosphere.

00:16:52Luckily, our planet is used to this volcano, so it's not that dangerous to us.

00:16:57Meanwhile, in the central Andes, far from human reach, Lestaria is having the time of its life.

00:17:04This is also one of the most extraordinary and remote volcanoes in the world.

00:17:08This one is even taller than Erebus, rising to almost 18,700 feet.

00:17:14It's surrounded by a barren, otherworldly landscape.

00:17:18There are literally no humans within 90 miles around it, except for some volcanologists.

00:17:24Lestaria is absolutely wild, constantly breathing out hot gases and steam.

00:17:29The air seems almost alive there, shimmering with plumes of vapor escaping from cracks in the ground.

00:17:36These vents, called fumaroles, are more than just hot steam.

00:17:40They're basically chemical labs.

00:17:42They spit out tons of various gases, all of which react with the air and rock around,

00:17:47and what's left behind is something otherworldly.

00:17:51It's like someone spilled a painter's palette.

00:17:53Bright yellows, fiery oranges, and rusty reds.

00:17:56But the wildest part are molten sulfur rivers.

00:18:01Streams of bright yellow liquid bubbling and flowing down the sides of a volcano.

00:18:06Some of it is still burning, darkening, like some sort of weird s'mores.

00:18:11All that because the sulfur is getting heated to its melting point by the intense heat below

00:18:16and turns into a thick, glowing liquid.

00:18:18Then it starts flowing, cooling, and hardening.

00:18:22You can't tell if you should be fascinated or disgusted by this site.

00:18:26And if that's not enough to make you feel like you're on another planet,

00:18:31the place itself is just as extreme and crazy.

00:18:34Listeria is perched high on the Altiplano, at the edge of the Atacama Desert,

00:18:39one of the driest places on Earth.

00:18:42Pretty much no rain, and temperatures can plummet to minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:18:47At least some volcanic ash enriches the soil, so there are some hardy plants here and there.

00:18:54The weirdest part is a salt pan, nicknamed Lake of Sulfur.

00:18:59It's fed by those sulfur rivers.

00:19:02It shimmers with minerals all along its shores.

00:19:05This lake used to be way higher in ancient times, but now it's just a shadow of its former self.

00:19:11Thousands of years ago, it witnessed a catastrophe of unimaginable scale.

00:19:18The southeastern side of the volcano, a huge part of it, crumbled and fell in an instant.

00:19:23The ground just gave way, and an avalanche of volcanic rock and ash thundered down the slopes.

00:19:29The landslide raced at terrifying speeds, faster than the fiercest storm, tearing apart everything in its path.

00:19:36It tumbled for five miles.

00:19:39When the dust settled, all that was left was a massive scar, about half a mile wide.

00:19:45We learn this story from the debris around the place.

00:19:49Ash, pumice, and lapili all are the shattered remnants of the volcano itself, lying now at its base.

00:19:55It's the 15th of January, 2022, 4.47 p.m. local time.

00:20:04It will start any moment.

00:20:06Here, do you feel these jolts?

00:20:08The South Pacific is about to experience one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions ever recorded by modern instruments.

00:20:16The eruption begins at Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'api, an underwater volcano in the Tongan Archipelago.

00:20:22The eruption itself is enormous.

00:20:26Its volcanic explosivity index is at least the EI-5, with the maximum being eight.

00:20:32It's as powerful as such historic catastrophes as Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.

00:20:41The eruption releases a staggering 2.4 cubic miles of volcanic material

00:20:47and sends over 150 million tons of water vapor into the stratosphere.

00:20:53This amount of water vapor would have been enough to fill 58,000 Olympic swimming pools.

00:20:59Additionally, the eruption generates the fastest underwater currents ever recorded

00:21:03and triggers large tsunamis that struck areas as far as Peru,

00:21:08more than 6,200 miles away from the volcano.

00:21:11And it takes at least four lives, with even more missing.

00:21:16But the craziest thing is that just before the eruption, 15 minutes ahead of time,

00:21:21there was a kind of warning.

00:21:24But as it often happens, people simply miss them.

00:21:28Two seismic stations, about 466 miles away from the volcano,

00:21:32which is pretty far for this kind of thing, picked it up.

00:21:35They figured out it was a Rayleigh wave, which is a type of seismic wave that moves along Earth's surface.

00:21:42This wave was caused by a fracture in the ocean floor,

00:21:45where magma and seawater started to interact under a lot of pressure.

00:21:50That's likely what triggered the eruption.

00:21:53The crazy thing is that normally, volcanic seismic signals are pretty small

00:21:57and can only be detected close to the volcano.

00:22:00But this Rayleigh wave traveled way farther than usual and was much stronger.

00:22:06It means there had to be a massive amount of movement going on beneath the surface before the eruption.

00:22:13While people on the ground didn't feel it, those distant sensors picked it up.

00:22:17And this discovery is great for identifying volcanic threats earlier in the future

00:22:22and for improving early warning systems.

00:22:25If scientists can detect these seismic precursors,

00:22:28they could give a heads-up before an eruption happens.

00:22:31That would give people time to evacuate and reduce the chances of injuries or property damage,

00:22:36especially for underwater volcanoes like this one,

00:22:39which can also trigger fatal tsunamis.

00:22:44Now, the eruption was big, but its impact was mostly contained.

00:22:49However, this discovery underlines how important seismic data is

00:22:53for predicting and preparing for these disasters.

00:22:56Even though this precursor wasn't used to issue a warning during this eruption,

00:23:01the idea that we could use this kind of information in real time during future eruptions

00:23:06is really promising, especially for underwater eruptions,

00:23:10which apparently might give us more warning time than we thought.

00:23:15Even though we wouldn't have been able to hear that precursor warning signal,

00:23:19there is a sound so loud it could actually finish you.

00:23:22And while such sounds are incredibly rare,

00:23:25the loudest noise ever recorded was indeed fatal to those who were close enough.

00:23:33On 27 August 1883,

00:23:36the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia created the loudest noise ever measured.

00:23:42It's thought to have been an astonishing 310 decibels at the source.

00:23:47To put this in perspective,

00:23:49a hand drill produces the sound of 98 decibels.

00:23:53The noise produced by a jet engine measures 140 decibels.

00:23:58And the sound of 180 decibels is capable of destroying your hearing tissue.

00:24:02So, the sound Krakatoa produced reached more than 170 decibels at a distance of 100 miles.

00:24:11And sailors aboard a ship just 40 miles from the eruption had their eardrums burst from the sound.

00:24:18The explosion's reverberation was so powerful that it was heard 3,000 miles away.

00:24:24In fact, at a farm in Alice Springs, Australia, over 2,200 miles away,

00:24:30sheep farmers reported hearing what they thought were gunshots.

00:24:34The sound from Krakatoa traveled around the world multiple times.

00:24:39Although no one heard the explosion beyond 3,000 miles,

00:24:42spikes of atmospheric pressure were recorded in places as far away as Canada and England.

00:24:48Those must have been the sound waves produced by the eruption traveling around the globe.

00:24:54Sound above 150 decibels can potentially cause life-threatening harm.

00:25:00In particular, sounds between 170 and 200 decibels can result in lethal conditions,

00:25:07including burst lungs.

00:25:10Anything over 240 decibels could cause fatal injuries,

00:25:14and you don't even want to know what those are.

00:25:16I'll just say that those sometimes happen to cartoon characters, but rarely to people.

00:25:21The scientific explanation behind this is that sound is essentially a wave of pressure,

00:25:27which can travel through both solids and liquids,

00:25:31and, in the case of an incredibly loud sound, pass right through the human body.

00:25:36If the pressure from such a sound is high enough,

00:25:39it can rupture eardrums and internal organs,

00:25:42causing significant and often fatal damage.

00:25:44Now, you probably know how volcanoes sometimes have small earthquakes before they erupt.

00:25:52Well, they often produce this weird sound called a harmonic tremor.

00:25:57The sound kind of hums,

00:25:59and the frequency of the hum gets higher and higher,

00:26:02until it suddenly stops just before the volcano erupts.

00:26:05The sound has been recorded at a bunch of volcanoes around the world.

00:26:10But the thing about Redoubt Volcano in Alaska is that its tremor is so intense,

00:26:15people can actually hear it.

00:26:17It's like the volcano is letting out this crazy scream right before the eruption.

00:26:23According to a geophysicist at the University of Washington,

00:26:27the frequency of Redoubt's harmonic tremor is so high

00:26:30that it is barely perceptible as a low-base hum.

00:26:34And that's at its highest pitch.

00:26:36All because the pitch of Redoubt's tremor exceeds that of any other recorded volcano.

00:26:41It questions the limits of the existing models used to explain these phenomena.

00:26:46That's why researchers had to propose a new model

00:26:48to account for these unusually high-pitched tremors.

00:26:52Most volcanoes produce sound when magma bubbles vibrate

00:26:56as they rise through cracks in Earth's crust.

00:26:58But in the case of Redoubt,

00:27:00scientists believe that the harmonic tremor and associated earthquakes

00:27:04occur when magma is forced through a narrow opening under immense pressure.

00:27:10The thick magma sticks to the rock surface inside the conduit,

00:27:13a channel or a pipe that carries magma from a reservoir or chamber to the vent.

00:27:18As the pressure builds, the magma moves upward.

00:27:21This makes it stick again until the pressure forces it to move once more.

00:27:25These sudden movements cause small earthquakes,

00:27:28which, as the pressure increases, occur more rapidly and blend into a continuous, rising noise.

00:27:35So it's actually the rocks making the sounds.

00:27:38This new model is important because it could help scientists better understand

00:27:42the eruptive cycles of volcanoes like Redoubt.

00:27:45It could also serve as a limited early warning system.

00:27:49By the time Redoubt began to scream like this, the volcano had already been erupting for a few days,

00:27:55so the tremor might only provide a few minutes or hours of warning before the next explosion.

00:28:01The harmonic tremor at Redoubt reaches an extremely high frequency,

00:28:05then falls eerily silent before the volcano erupts again.

00:28:10This pause occurs when the earthquake activity slows down

00:28:13and the two sides of the fault slip smoothly against one another.

00:28:17Maybe that's when even earthquakes can't keep up anymore.

00:28:20The new model may also apply to other volcanoes,

00:28:24such as the Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

00:28:29The research team is now planning to investigate

00:28:32why the pressure at Redoubt is concentrated in one specific spot.

00:28:36To move ahead in their research,

00:28:38the scientists have created two recordings of Redoubt's seismic activity.

00:28:42The first, a 10-second recording,

00:28:44compresses about 10 minutes of seismic sounds and harmonic tremors,

00:28:48sped up 60 times.

00:28:51The second, a one-minute recording,

00:28:53condenses roughly an hour of activity,

00:28:55including more than 1,600 small earthquakes

00:28:58that had occurred before Redoubt's first explosion with harmonic tremor.

00:29:03These recordings could provide crucial insight

00:29:06into the dynamics of volcanic eruptions

00:29:08and the signals that precede them.

00:29:13The last time this volcano erupted was about 500 years ago,

00:29:17but recently, small tremors have grown really frequent,

00:29:21to such an extent that scientists have been recording more than 1,000 a month.

00:29:26I'm talking about the Campi-Flagri supervolcano in Italy.

00:29:31At one point, just a few weeks ago,

00:29:34the area was rattled by a 4.4-magnitude earthquake

00:29:37with 150 tremors in just one night.

00:29:41It was the strongest earthquake in over 40 years.

00:29:44A lot of locals spent the night in their cars,

00:29:47but in the morning, the shakes were followed by another earthquake,

00:29:51a bit weaker with a magnitude of 3.6.

00:29:54So, is Italy in danger?

00:29:58Well, the quake itself wasn't big enough to cause serious damage,

00:30:02but it evoked a lot of panic.

00:30:04At the moment, local authorities are working on grandiose emergency plans.

00:30:09If worse comes to worse,

00:30:11they'll have to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people.

00:30:14One of the reasons is the proximity of this area to Naples

00:30:17with more than 3 million inhabitants.

00:30:20At the moment, they're even considering an option of paying people to leave their homes.

00:30:27Right now, schools remain closed in the Campi-Flagri area.

00:30:31The authorities are allocating more than 500 million euros

00:30:34to ensure the safety of buildings and constructions in the area.

00:30:38A yellow alert is still in place in the region where 80,000 people live.

00:30:43There's the so-called Red Zone, which is the most dangerous area.

00:30:47There are 1,250 houses in this Red Zone,

00:30:52and all of them will be at high seismic risk if an eruption begins.

00:30:57Plus, more than twice as many will be at medium risk.

00:31:01Italy is a country prone to seismic activity,

00:31:05and Pozzuoli is a densely populated area

00:31:08that is located on one of the most dangerous supervolcanoes in Europe.

00:31:12Campi-Flagri has 24 hidden underground craters

00:31:16and dwarfs the better-known Vesuvius.

00:31:20Yes, the very volcano that wiped the ancient Roman city of Pompeii

00:31:24off the face of the earth in 79 CE.

00:31:28This city thrived near the base of Mount Vesuvius at the Bay of Naples.

00:31:33In the time of the early Roman Empire,

00:31:3520,000 people lived in Pompeii.

00:31:37They were merchants, manufacturers, farmers, and others.

00:31:42The soil in the region was rich and fertile,

00:31:44so there were lots of orchards and vineyards.

00:31:47Strangely, no one knew that this black earth

00:31:50was the legacy of an earlier eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

00:31:54The area was a favorite summer destination for rich Romans.

00:31:58Sadly, at noon on August 24, 79 CE,

00:32:02all this prosperity came to an end.

00:32:05The peak of Mount Vesuvius exploded,

00:32:08sending a 10-mile-high mushroom cloud of ash and pumice into the stratosphere.

00:32:13For the next 12 hours, the eruption was wreaking havoc on the city.

00:32:18Volcanic ash and a hail of pumice stones,

00:32:20some of which were 3 inches in diameter,

00:32:23showered Pompeii.

00:32:24It forced the city's occupants to flee in terror.

00:32:28Around 2,000 people holed up in stone structures and cellars,

00:32:32paralyzed by fear.

00:32:34However, they hoped to wait out the eruption.

00:32:37Who knows?

00:32:38Maybe if they had decided to leave the city immediately after the beginning of the eruption,

00:32:42they would have had some chances to survive.

00:32:45A westerly wind protected the city from the first stages of the eruption.

00:32:49But soon, a giant cloud of hot ash and gas rushed down the western slope of Vesuvius.

00:32:57It engulfed the city, burning everything in its way.

00:33:00This disastrous cloud was followed by a flood of volcanic mud and rock,

00:33:06which completely buried the city.

00:33:08As if the volcano was making sure no one would survive,

00:33:12a cloud of toxic gas poured onto the city,

00:33:15finishing the lives of a few survivors on August 25th.

00:33:20A flow of rock and ash followed.

00:33:22It collapsed roofs and walls and turned the city into a giant cemetery.

00:33:26When a supervolcano erupts, the consequences are usually catastrophic.

00:33:33Supervolcanoes have at least once had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index of 8,

00:33:39which is the largest recorded number on the index.

00:33:43Supervolcanoes are often extremely large, with no cone at all.

00:33:47That's because they're typically the remains of gigantic magma chambers that once flared up,

00:33:53leaving behind a caldera.

00:33:55They're usually located over hotspots and appear when huge volumes of magma

00:34:00are trying to escape from deep underground.

00:34:03Eventually, they burst through Earth's surface.

00:34:06Sometimes, all this magma gets stuck, unable to break through the planet's crust.

00:34:11And then, massive pools of pressurized magma gather at a depth of several miles.

00:34:18The pressure keeps growing because more and more magma is trying to get to the surface.

00:34:23At one point, a supereruption goes off.

00:34:27The most recent supereruption happened in New Zealand.

00:34:30Well, when I say recent, I meant around 26,500 years ago.

00:34:36That's when a supervolcano beneath the surface of Lake Taupo

00:34:40spewed into the air more than 300 cubic miles of ash and pumice.

00:34:45Imagine, 500,000 Great Pyramids of Giza flying up into the air at the same time.

00:34:52That's how incredibly powerful that eruption was.

00:34:55But the most exciting and confusing thing about the eruption

00:34:59was that the Taupo volcano didn't simply go off like many others.

00:35:04At first, everything was going as usual.

00:35:07Tons and tons of pressurized magma had built up under the surface,

00:35:10and the pressure was getting higher and higher.

00:35:14But after the rock cracked and the first portion of lava rushed out of the crater,

00:35:18something went wrong, and the supervolcano took a break.

00:35:22Only several months later, the disastrous eruption shook the ground.

00:35:27Thousands of tons of lava, rocks, and ash flew high into the atmosphere.

00:35:30The unusual pattern of Taupo still confuses scientists.

00:35:37The Indonesian eruption at Toba Caldera 75,000 years ago

00:35:42was the largest eruption in the last 2 million years.

00:35:46Experts estimate that the eruption could have released

00:35:48hundreds of thousands of tons of sulfuric acid,

00:35:52which might have even caused a several-degree cooling of the planet's surface.

00:35:56But nowadays, the impact is hard to detect

00:35:59because of glaciers that covered the ground afterward.

00:36:02There are also several so-called supervolcanoes

00:36:05that haven't lived up to this name yet

00:36:06because they've never produced any supereruptions.

00:36:10For example, in 1883, Indonesian volcano Krakatoa went off.

00:36:16The power of the eruption tore the volcano's walls open,

00:36:20and cold seawater rushed into its molten insides.

00:36:23The difference in temperatures made the volcano blow up with a deafening boom.

00:36:28It was clearly heard 3,000 miles away in Australia.

00:36:32It earned the blast the title of the loudest sound in history.

00:36:36But even though the consequences of this event were truly catastrophic,

00:36:41it still turned out not powerful enough to be called a supereruption.

00:36:46It only had a volcanic explosivity index of 6.

00:36:50Then, there's also Mauna Loa.

00:36:54It's a shield volcano, which means it won't produce explosive eruptions.

00:36:58But its sheer size makes this monster of a volcano extremely dangerous.

00:37:05At the moment, the volcano seems to be at peace with its surroundings.

00:37:09Research equipment doesn't show any signs of activity on Mauna Loa.

00:37:13But if Mauna Loa did suddenly erupt, lava flows could reach the ocean

00:37:17and the most populated and touristy places like Captain Cook very fast, in a matter of hours.

00:37:25The last time the volcano erupted, lava got as far as the outskirts of Hilo on the other side of the island.

00:37:32That's where the University of Hawaii is located.

00:37:35Luckily, people had a few weeks warning to get ready for the disaster.

00:37:38Over its recorded history, Mauna Loa has been erupting pretty regularly, almost every six years.

00:37:46On the bright side, big island volcanoes, including Mauna Loa, aren't really very volatile.

00:37:51That's because they're shield volcanoes.

00:37:54These volcanoes got such a name because they aren't really very high

00:37:57and resemble a warrior shield placed flat on the ground.

00:38:01Shield volcanoes are formed by very fluid lava.

00:38:04It travels way farther and forms much thinner flows than the lava erupted from a stratovolcano,

00:38:10which is conically shaped and tall, like the infamous Krakatoa in Indonesia.

00:38:16So, if Mauna Loa erupts, there probably won't be ash clouds or tons of debris.

00:38:22The most dangerous thing will be lava.

00:38:25Since Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, its lava is extremely fluid and voluminous,

00:38:30which allows it to flow far and fast.

00:38:34Our planet's biggest and meanest supervolcanoes are waking up.

00:38:42When they erupt, you'll surely notice it, even if you live thousands of miles away from the epicenter.

00:38:48Scientists are worried we might not have enough time to prepare and deal with the consequences of a supereruption.

00:38:54There's some volcanic activity close to the Italian city of Naples.

00:39:00And no, it has nothing to do with the famous Mount Vesuvius, but with another volcano.

00:39:05This one is harder to see, as it doesn't have a tall peak like Vesuvius.

00:39:10But don't let this bad guy trick you.

00:39:12It could be way more dangerous than its giant neighbor.

00:39:15It does have a huge crater that's about 8 miles wide.

00:39:18This volcano is called Campi Flegre, and it's actually one of the largest volcanoes in Europe, sitting under the town of Pozwale.

00:39:26So, Campi Flegre erupted 39,000 years ago, with a bang so massive it spread ash across the whole Mediterranean region.

00:39:34It also caused the temperature to drop by over 16 degrees Fahrenheit across Eastern Europe.

00:39:39It was the biggest volcanic eruption in Europe in 200,000 years.

00:39:45Since then, Campi Flegre has had smaller eruptions, and the last one happened in 1538.

00:39:51Now the area is full of small craters, hot springs, and bubbling pools.

00:39:55And they're all proof that this volcano is still very much alive and brewing something.

00:40:00Since the early 2000s, the ground in the giant crater and the town nearby have been slowly rising by about 1 to 1.5 inches every year.

00:40:10There were at least 150 earthquakes that shook this supervolcano lately.

00:40:15In May 2024, there was a 4.4 magnitude in the area, the biggest in the last 40 years.

00:40:21Residents had to leave their homes and camp outside, fearing there would be more earthquakes.

00:40:26No one knows how Campi Flegre is going to behave in the following months or years.

00:40:31But the authorities are organizing evacuation exercises to prepare the population just in case.

00:40:38The Italian volcano looks like an innocent kitten compared to the real giants like Yellowstone.

00:40:45For a volcano to deserve the title of a super one, it must be able to produce catastrophic scale eruptions and eject huge amounts of magma, ash, and volcanic gases.

00:40:55The Yellowstone giant meets these criteria.

00:40:58Even though it moves from time to time, the Yellowstone supervolcano hasn't erupted for 640,000 years.

00:41:05But when it does wake up, it might erupt with incredible power.

00:41:09About the same amount as 10 huge nuclear power stations can produce.

00:41:14Under the ground, beneath Yellowstone, there's a superhot area full of molten rock called magma.

00:41:20As more magma moves into a big space called a magma chamber, the ground above starts to swell or rise.

00:41:28When the magma cools down, the ground falls.

00:41:31Between 2004 and 2009, the ground at Yellowstone rose by almost 10 inches, but then it started to slowly go back down in 2010.

00:41:41Scientists aren't sure if it's going to erupt anytime soon.

00:41:44There's also another big volcano called Long Valley in California that has been active since 1980, and it can be a really big threat.

00:41:54Scientists studying this supervolcano found out that before its biggest eruption, 760,000 years ago, the buildup may have taken less than a year.

00:42:03Now, that's bad news, because a supervolcano eruption can have a huge effect on the world, like the eruption of the Toba volcano in Sumatra around 74,000 years ago.

00:42:16It became the biggest volcanic eruption the Earth had seen in 28 million years.

00:42:21It covered parts of Indonesia, India, and the Indian Ocean with a thick layer of volcanic debris, almost like a 6-inch blanket.

00:42:29The amount of rock it spewed out was like stacking nearly 3 million Empire State Buildings.

00:42:35The giant crater it left behind can still be seen from space.

00:42:39All the ash and gases shot up into the air and blocked some of the sunlight.

00:42:43It caused a volcanic winter that lasted about 6 to 10 years.

00:42:47Some scientists think this eruption might have even affected early humans.

00:42:51Around the time Toba erupted, the human population took a sharp dip, and there were far fewer people.

00:42:57Some say this is why all modern humans come from a small group of survivors.

00:43:02According to the Toba catastrophe theory, most early humans in Europe and Asia didn't survive the cold and harsh climate after the eruption.

00:43:10But a lucky group lived through all that in Africa.

00:43:13Not all scientists agree with this idea, and some archaeological and climate records show a different story.

00:43:21Another volcano that changed the world in a big way was Mount Tambora in 1815.

00:43:26The next year went down in history as the year without a summer.

00:43:31It was cold and rainy, and there was snow and frost even in the middle of summer, especially in Europe and North America.

00:43:38This happened because the volcano sent out a lot of sulfur dioxide into the sky, which spread all over the world and made the planet colder.

00:43:46When Tambora erupted, it caused huge tsunamis that smashed homes and took the lives of around 10,000 people.

00:43:53Afterward, about 80,000 more people passed away because of the consequences the eruption had caused in the world.

00:44:00The cold weather ruined crops, so food became really expensive.

00:44:03And because horses were the main way people traveled, the cost of oats that they ate went way up, too.

00:44:10Some people even think this led to the invention of the bicycle in 1817 as a new way to get around.

00:44:17The eruption made the Earth colder for about three years.

00:44:20Now, even though the Tambora eruption was so powerful, Krakatoa, another volcano in Indonesia, stole the show when it erupted in 1883.

00:44:30It was just easier to spread information about it through telegrams and photos.

00:44:35Its final blast was the loudest recorded sound in history, and people could hear it on 10% of the entire Earth's surface.

00:44:42The eruption started a tsunami, with waves about half as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

00:44:49Now, if we only had 12 months to prepare for a supervolcano eruption, it would be really hard to store enough food and get ready.

00:44:57But don't panic just yet.

00:44:59Supervolcano eruptions are very rare, and the last one happened 26,500 years ago in New Zealand.

00:45:07Scientists think that a supereruption happens once every 100,000 years on average.

00:45:11But the sad part here is that the Earth doesn't follow a perfect timeline.

00:45:16There could be clusters of supereruptions with shorter gaps between them and then longer quiet periods.

00:45:22Since there have already been two supereruptions in the last 100,000 years, there's always a chance one could happen again sooner than we expect.

00:45:33Plus, although there are places like Yellowstone and Long Valley, where we expect volcanoes to erupt,

00:45:38there are less obvious possible hotspots.

00:45:42In Chile, there's a volcano called Laguna del Maule that has erupted in the past and left behind a huge crater.

00:45:49Over the last 20 years, the ground there has been swelling really fast, rising up to almost 1 foot a year.

00:45:56Some people are worried that this could be a sign of a big eruption coming.

00:46:00But scientists say there's not enough magma yet to cause a supereruption.

00:46:04In Bolivia, the Juturanku volcano is also acting up.

00:46:08It's part of a group of volcanoes that have caused supereruptions in the past.

00:46:13Since the 1960s, the ground around Juturanku has been lifting.

00:46:17But the last eruption was 250,000 years ago.

00:46:21Even though the magma might be rising, it's not enough to worry about just yet.

00:46:25The chances of a supereruption happening during our lifetime are 1 in 1,400, which is pretty low, so you don't need to worry too much.

00:46:35But just like someone wins the lottery every week with very small chances, a supereruption could happen sometime in the future.

00:46:43And when it does, we'll need to be prepared.

00:46:46The ground suddenly starts shaking.

00:46:50Clouds of gas start forming in the sky, making it dark during broad daylight.

00:46:54Bits of the ground start swelling, lifting, and even collapsing.

00:46:59These are the telltale signs of a volcano that is bound to erupt.

00:47:04And this is what could easily happen again with Mount Spur.

00:47:08It's only about 75 miles from Anchorage, one of Alaska's busiest cities.

00:47:13More than half of the population of the northernmost state of the U.S. live there.

00:47:18There's also a huge amount of air cargo that passes through its international airport daily.

00:47:24So anytime a volcano this close to such a vital hub begins to get restless, people start paying attention.

00:47:31Just FYI, approximately 350 million people in the world live within the danger range of an active volcano.

00:47:39That means that around 1 out of 20 people live in an area at risk of volcanic activity.

00:47:47Alaskans probably wish that Spur's reawakening was fiction, but it's actually true.

00:47:53The Alaska Volcano Observatory picked up on several of these, I'm about to erupt, signs from Mount Spur.

00:47:59So much so that they raised the alert level to yellow, which means unrest above normal background levels.

00:48:06Spur erupted twice in the 90s, and it was pretty intense.

00:48:12If we were ranking volcanic eruptions on a scale from 1 to 10, these eruptions would rank a 6 or 7.

00:48:19Not that terrible, but still worth 10 to 17 million in damages.

00:48:23However, these numbers are nothing compared to Alaska's 1988 Redoubt Eruption.

00:48:30Another volcano that erupted and summed up a staggering $345 million in damages.

00:48:37Mainly because its ashes hit aircraft engines, such as the KLM 747 that lost power after all its engines went off due to the ashes.

00:48:47If people weren't paying attention to Alaska's unstable geology before that, well, they surely started to after it.

00:48:57When you think of the hazards of volcanic activity, the first thing that might possibly pop in your mind is Pompeii, Italy.

00:49:05Of course, that's the worst-case scenario, a city being engulfed by lava.

00:49:11Spur may seem innocent compared to Vesuvio, but it still took its toll.

00:49:15The last time it erupted in the 90s, and it threw volcanic aerosols over 60,000 feet into the atmosphere.

00:49:24Let's get our science straight here.

00:49:26Think of volcanic aerosols like liquid particles that are released into the atmosphere during an eruption.

00:49:32These particles are usually created when gases from a volcano, such as sulfur dioxide,

00:49:38combine with water and other particles that exist in our atmosphere.

00:49:41These aerosols can actually cool the Earth's surface, since they reflect sunlight directly back into space.

00:49:49And that's not the worst part.

00:49:51It can stay in the atmosphere for several years after an eruption, causing lots of health issues.

00:49:57The eruption unleashed blazing-fast avalanches of hot gas and ash called pyroclastic flows,

00:50:05along with thick, muddy floods known as lahars.

00:50:09Oh, and there were also the massive volcanic boulders.

00:50:14These rock chunks were huge, some over three feet long,

00:50:17and they blasted out from the volcano like nature's cannonballs, landing more than six miles away.

00:50:23All that volcanic heat melted part of a nearby glacier,

00:50:28kicking off debris flows that dammed up the Chakachatna River and created a whole new lake along the valley.

00:50:35Some good came out of Spur's first eruption, though.

00:50:39The main lesson was, volcanic monitoring pays off.

00:50:43The local monitoring was able to reduce the economic damage done by the eruption,

00:50:47especially for a city that has an intense air traffic.

00:50:50Spur is deemed as dormant for the moment, but it could go off any time soon.

00:50:58You see, volcanoes are classified as active, dormant, or extinct,

00:51:03depending on how much action they're putting on.

00:51:06If it's still active, it's still rumbling and erupting someone regularly.

00:51:11Dormant means it's had some recent activity, but it's still lying low for now.

00:51:15And extinct, that's when it's been quiet for such a long time that we figure it's done for good.

00:51:23One of the U.S.'s most dangerous active volcanoes is Mount St. Helens.

00:51:28This volcano is actually responsible for the most powerful eruption in U.S. history.

00:51:34Its last blast was so intense, it threw off about 1,300 feet off its summit.

00:51:41Basically, the top of the mountain vanished.

00:51:44And if you thought Mount Spur's ash cloud was impressive,

00:51:48St. Helens wins the competition, since it launched its ashes 80,000 feet into the sky.

00:51:54Eastern Washington plunged into total darkness.

00:51:57But it wasn't just that.

00:52:01In a matter of three minutes, the eruption hurled 3.7 billion cubic yards of blazing rock and dust,

00:52:08enough to fill a million Olympic-sized pools across 230 square miles of lush forest.

00:52:15Actually, the earthquakes that anticipated the eruption started weeks before May 18, 1980.

00:52:21A ground shake of magnitude 5.0 went off, triggering a landslide on one side of the volcano.

00:52:29By the end of the official eruption date, 57 people had lost their lives.

00:52:35Nearly 7,000 big-game animals like deer and elk were wiped out,

00:52:40and millions of birds laid scattered on the burnt earth.

00:52:44Researchers don't think St. Helens will blow at the same magnitude again anytime soon,

00:52:48but they're keeping an eye on it, because this volcano is not exactly finished.

00:52:54By the way, the word volcano comes from the Roman name Vulcan, which was the Roman deity of fire.

00:53:01And they often happen at the meeting point of tectonic plates,

00:53:05which are the pieces of the earth's surface that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

00:53:09The so-called Ring of Fire, located in the Pacific Ocean,

00:53:14is the world's danger zone when it comes to volcanoes.

00:53:16It contains between 750 and 915 active volcanoes.

00:53:23The largest volcano located in the Ring of Fire,

00:53:27also the largest active volcano in the world,

00:53:30is the Mauna Loa.

00:53:32It's over 13,000 feet high, and it's located in Hawaii.

00:53:37Researchers say that Mauna Loa has been erupting for at least 700,000 years.

00:53:42It's most recent eruption began on the 27th of November, 2022, and it lasted until December 13.

00:53:50It's been quiet since the 80s until it decided to wake up again.

00:53:54Thanks to constant monitoring by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory,

00:53:58it didn't cause any casualties when it last erupted.

00:54:01Scientists have been investing big time on volcanic monitoring,

00:54:06not only to reduce economic hazards, but also to save lives.

00:54:11The most recent attempt has been to drill into volcanoes.

00:54:15Recently, a group of scientists went all the way to Iceland in one of the world's volcanic hotspots.

00:54:21There are around 33 active volcanoes in Iceland alone,

00:54:27but the one that is the most interesting to them the most is the Krafla volcano.

00:54:32The Krafla has erupted around 30 times in the last 1,000 years,

00:54:36and its most recent eruption was in the mid-1980s.

00:54:40The project named Krafla Magma Testbed, or KMT for short,

00:54:45is hoping to advance the understanding of how magma behaves underground.

00:54:49The main advantage of this drilling research is predicting the risk of eruptions,

00:54:54but it can also help to push geothermal energy forward.

00:54:58I mean, can you imagine having electricity that is run by the limitless source of volcano power?

00:55:05The KMT team will begin drilling holes deep into volcanic ground in 2027.

00:55:11They're aiming at reaching over a mile into the ground.

00:55:14After all, it's different to monitor lava activity when it's on the surface

00:55:18than when it is still below ground.

00:55:20This will allow researchers to listen to the pulse of the Earth, according to them.

00:55:26They're saying this research is as revolutionary as the first time man went to the moon.

00:55:32Oh, and speaking of that,

00:55:34I was shocked to discover that volcanoes exist all throughout the solar system.

00:55:39Yep, other planets and moons have volcanoes too.

00:55:42The largest volcano in our solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars.

00:55:48It's a shield volcano, much like the ones that make up the Hawaiian Islands.

00:55:52It's about 370 miles wide.

00:55:55If we transported it all the way back to Earth,

00:55:58it would almost occupy all of Poland.

00:56:02Yikes.

00:56:02Phew, you can finally send that last report for the day and breathe out.

00:56:11The weekend is around the corner, but just when you're about to hit send,

00:56:15you're alarmed by the low rumbling under your desk.

00:56:18Is it the light rail passing by?

00:56:20Unfortunately, that's not the case.

00:56:23It's a volcano speaking.

00:56:25What, here?

00:56:26In Arizona?

00:56:27That's right.

00:56:29The ground keeps shifting under Arizona, reminding us that Earth is alive.

00:56:34No panic, though.

00:56:35Let's arm ourselves with some context.

00:56:3820 American states have extinct, active, and dormant, currently sleeping, volcanoes.

00:56:45Among such states, you can find California,

00:56:49New Mexico,

00:56:51Nevada,

00:56:53Utah,

00:56:54and Colorado.

00:56:55On the bright side,

00:56:57Arizona's volcanoes are dormant at the moment.

00:57:00But it doesn't mean they won't go off in the near, or not so near, future.

00:57:05Now, how about traveling to Arizona to check the traces of its active volcanic past?

00:57:11They dot the desert landscapes of this state like spots dot a Dalmatian.

00:57:17There are entire volcanic fields southwest of Phoenix,

00:57:21east of Douglas,

00:57:24near Flagstaff,

00:57:25north of Kingman,

00:57:27and near the Mexico border.

00:57:31The most worrying thing about these fields is that even though they're not active at the moment,

00:57:36eruptions in this region might happen every thousand years or so.

00:57:40Well, the time seems to be up.

00:57:42The last powerful and destructive volcanic eruption occurred around 1,000 years ago at the Sunset Crater.

00:57:51Oh, this place is worth paying more attention to.

00:57:53And we will, but a bit later.

00:57:55First, we have to talk about hotspots.

00:57:59No, not that place where you can surf the web.

00:58:02In our volcanic context, a hotspot is a place where insane amounts of heat melt the overlying crust,

00:58:09Earth's thin outer layer and form volcanoes.

00:58:12This heat rises from the mantle, which is located between our planet's dense, superheated core and the crust.

00:58:19Want to see an example of this type of volcanism?

00:58:25Welcome to the Hawaiian Islands.

00:58:27The Big Island has its active volcanoes because, at the moment, it's situated on top of the Hawaiian hotspot.

00:58:34The older Hawaiian islands were once there too, but later they drifted off towards the northwest.

00:58:42It happened because that's where the oceanic crust on top of which they sat, namely the Pacific Plate, moved.

00:58:49Now, look at the world's ocean basins.

00:58:52Yes, they're literally dotted with islands that sit on top of hotspots, like Hawaii.

00:58:58Iceland

00:58:58Samoa

00:59:00The Galapagos

00:59:02Those are probably the most famous examples.

00:59:05But don't think that continents can't host hotspots.

00:59:08They can.

00:59:09But those are far less common.

00:59:11One of the most famous continental hotspots is, ah, I bet you know it.

00:59:16Yep, the one beneath the Yellowstone Caldera.

00:59:20By the way, the caldera is a vast volcanic crater,

00:59:23especially one formed as a result of a massive eruption that led to the collapse of the mouth of a volcano.

00:59:29The Yellowstone Hotspot is basically the creator of Old Faithful and the rest of the hot springs and mudpots for which the national park is famous.

00:59:40Speaking of Old Faithful, let's make a small detour and pay more attention to this wonder of nature.

00:59:46It's one of the most well-known geysers in the world.

00:59:50People have been coming from all over the globe to see it for more than a century.

00:59:55The cool thing about this geyser is that the likes of it can only form under very specific conditions.

01:00:01That's why they're pretty rare.

01:00:03Magma under the surface superheats pockets of underground water.

01:00:09The pressure there keeps growing until it eventually pushes the water upward with immense strength.

01:00:15A certain volcanic rock with a high silica content lines the tunnel through which this water escapes.

01:00:21Basically, it creates a unique pipe that can withstand unbelievable pressure and heat created by the water erupting above the ground.

01:00:32Old Faithful was the very first named geyser in Yellowstone.

01:00:36If you come to visit it expecting the thing to erupt every hour on the hour, you're gonna be disappointed.

01:00:42On average, Old Faithful erupts every 91 minutes or so, which isn't that bad either.

01:00:47Plus, you can download a special app, which will provide you with the approximate time of the next eruption.

01:00:54But be very careful while visiting and stay away from the site.

01:00:58The water erupting from the powerful geyser reaches 204 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:01:04The steam is even more scorching, up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:01:09It's hot enough to bake a cake.

01:01:12But let's get back to our volcanic hotspots.

01:01:14Scientists still don't clearly understand why there aren't many hotspot volcanoes on continental crust.

01:01:22One reason might be that the continental crust is much thicker than the oceanic crust, which is about four times as thick on average.

01:01:32Another reason could be that most of Earth's crust, about two-thirds of it, is oceanic.

01:01:37This means that there's less continental crust for hotspots to form under.

01:01:41Now, I bet those of you living in Arizona will appreciate the following info.

01:01:49We'll talk about a volcanic field right in the heart of this state.

01:01:53The San Francisco Volcanic Field.

01:01:56That's a massive area filled with over 600 volcanoes.

01:02:00Yes, they're mostly small, but it doesn't make them any less impressive.

01:02:04They're scattered across 1,800 square miles in northern Arizona, a giant territory.

01:02:11Interestingly, scientists are still debating about whether this volcanic field is actually sitting on top of a hotspot.

01:02:18But one thing they agree upon, the volcanoes in this area get younger as you move east.

01:02:23And this pattern matches up with the North American plate moving west over what could be a stationary hotspot beneath the surface of our planet.

01:02:33Cool, huh?

01:02:36The volcanic hullabaloo in that area started around 6 million years ago.

01:02:41So, in geological terms, it's relatively young.

01:02:45As for the most recent eruption, it happened less than 1,000 years ago.

01:02:49The Sunset Crater, which I mentioned before, the one near Flagstaff, is the most famous vent from that eruption.

01:02:57The Sinagua people had to leave their homes at Wupatki Pueblo because of the eruption.

01:03:02That site is now part of the Wupatki National Monument.

01:03:06There, you can see how people lived in this volcanic region many years ago.

01:03:12If you go to explore this area, you'll notice that most of the volcanoes there are basalt cinder cones.

01:03:18It's small and steep.

01:03:20The Colorado Plateau has quite dry weather conditions.

01:03:24That's why the volcanoes haven't worn down much.

01:03:27Some of the best examples of those cones, like this one, called the SP Crater, still look like they appeared yesterday.

01:03:35But look around.

01:03:37It's not just cinder cones.

01:03:39The San Francisco volcanic field also has a stratovolcano.

01:03:43As well as some lava domes that formed from volcanic rocks with more silica than basalt you can find in places like Hawaii.

01:03:52It means they're thicker and don't flow as easily.

01:03:56Anyway, the stratovolcano is going to be one of the most epic sites you'll come across while exploring this volcanic field.

01:04:03Well, not the stratovolcano itself, but the San Francisco peaks, the remains of that giant formation.

01:04:09They stand tall at more than 12,600 feet.

01:04:13That's four and a half Burj Khalifas placed on top of one another.

01:04:18It makes the peaks some of the biggest landmarks in northern Arizona.

01:04:22They're not only stunning, but also sacred to the Native American people who have lived in the area for many generations.

01:04:30Now, unlike those superactive volcanoes in Hawaii, the San Francisco volcanic field takes its time, thousands of years between eruptions.

01:04:41But you shouldn't relax just yet.

01:04:44Geologists say another eruption is likely to happen one day.

01:04:47It will probably occur in the remote eastern part of the field, away from big towns.

01:04:54Phew!

01:04:55And if that next eruption is anything like the one that formed Sunset Crater, it would be quite the show.

01:05:01Lava fountains and rivers of lava flowing.

01:05:05At the same time, the next eruption might not happen for centuries, maybe even millennia.

01:05:10Until then, the San Francisco volcanic field will remain a hidden gem of volcanic history, waiting for its next fiery performance.

01:05:24That's it for today.

01:05:25So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

01:05:30Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.

Category

Transcript

Recommended