Latest Types of volcanic eruptions Stories

New research suggests that climate change following massive volcanic eruptions drove Neanderthals to extinction and cleared the way for modern humans to thrive in Europe and Asia.The research, led by Liubov Vitaliena Golovanova and Vladimir Borisovich Doronichev of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia, is reported in the October issue of Current Anthropology."[W]e offer the hypothesis that the Neanderthal demise occurred abruptly (on a geological time-scale) "¦...

Researchers working with the British Geological Survey (BGS) are studying ash samples collected from the Eyjafjallajökul volcano that could shed new light on the dispersion of volcanic ash following an eruption, according to a Tuesday report by BBC News.Neil Bowdler, a science reporter with the British news agency, reported that the samples were collected following the massive March eruption of the Icelandic volcano, and that they could help scientists find out why ash that was fine when...

A better way to pinpoint where volcanic eruptions are likely to occur has been produced by an international team of geophysicists.Scientists from the universities of Leeds, Purdue, Indiana and Addis Ababa, investigated volcanic activity occurring in the remote Afar desert of Northern Ethiopia between 2005 and 2009.By studying a rare sequence of 13 magmatic events "“ where hot molten rock was intruded into a crack between the African and Arabian plates "“ they found that the location of...

Geologists reported on Sunday that a swarm of small earthquakes that struck western Saudi Arabia last year was actually the rumbling of a volcano.Over 30,000 minor quakes took place between April and June 2009 within an ancient solidified lava field called Harrat Lunayyir, which damaged some buildings near Al Ays and prompted the authorities to evacuate the 40,000 residents from the region. Most of the quakes measured less than two on the scale of magnitude, but several were hefty, delivering...

Experts say that another volcanic eruption on Iceland could happen again soon, but will likely cause much less chaos than the one that caused air traffic to shutdown earlier this year. The Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which began erupting on April 14, spewed enough ash into the atmosphere to cause the largest-scale European airspace shutdown since World War II. University of Iceland geologist Armann Hoskuldsson told an international conference in Keflavik that the event "was very unusual." "Most...

An Indonesian volcano that had been dormant for more than four centuries before erupting earlier this week has once again become active, launching a massive burst of ash some 10,000 feet into the air and forcing nearby villagers, many of whom had just returned home, to once again evacuate.According to Associated Press (AP) Writer Binsar Bakkara, the force of the eruption was "the strongest so far" and could be felt up to five miles away from the source, Mount Sinabung in North...

Two French scientists are travelling to one of the remotest places on Earth, the Kamchatka peninsula, to piece together the complex life story of two volcanoes.Kamchatka is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth. It is part of the Ring of Fire "“ intermittent chains of volcanoes that encircle the Pacific Ocean. Over at least the last 6 million years, Kamchatka has experienced more explosive eruptions than any place on Earth. Historically, the level of activity has made it...

A new study has found that a mixing of two different types of magma is the key to the historic eruptions of Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest mountain, and that eruptions often happen in a relatively short time "“ weeks or months "“ after this mixing occurs.This behavior is somewhat different than that of most other Cascade Range volcanoes, researchers said, including Mount Hood's nearby, more explosive neighbor, Mount St. Helens.The research is being reported this week in Nature Geoscience by...

A team of scientists has returned to the North Atlantic to gather more data on the Icelandic volcanic eruption that took place earlier this year. The researchers are studying whether iron within the vast volcanic ash cloud entered the ocean, causing an extended bloom of tiny organisms known as phytoplankton. The scientists have recorded "enhanced levels" of iron in samples they have collected. The most recent project follows an earlier cruise, which was carried out in the spring....

The next Yellowstone eruption could be similar volcanic eventMillions of years ago, volcanic eruptions in North America were more explosive and may have significantly affected the environment and the global climate. So scientists report in this week's issue of the journal Nature.The researchers found the remains--deposited in layers of rocks--of eruptions of volcanoes located on North America's northern high plains that spewed massive amounts of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere 40 million...