Two new studies into the 'plumbing systems' that lie under volcanoes could bring scientists closer to predicting large eruptions.International teams of researchers, led by the University of Leeds, studied magma chambers on the Earth's mid-ocean ridge system – a vast chain of volcanoes along which the Earth forms new crust.
They worked in Afar, Ethiopia, and Iceland – the only places where mid-ocean ridges appear above sea level. Volcanic ridges, or spreading centres, are caused by tectonic plates rifting, or pulling apart. Molten rock, or magma, then pushes into weaknesses in the brittle upper crust, erupting as lava and forming new crust when it cools.
It's a bit like a plumbing system, with pressurised magma moving through networks of underground 'pipes'.
The studies, published in Nature Geoscience, reveal new information about where magma is stored and how it moves through this geological plumbing, which can help identify early warning signs of impending eruptions. In fact the scientists detected that the ground at Afar started 'uplifting' four months before an eruption in 2008, due to new magma increasing pressure in one of the underground chambers. Read More
