THE GUARDIAN: Terrawatch: the recipe for an explosive volcano eruption

  • Fabio Arzilli

Press/Media: Research

Description

More than half of the world’s volcanoes are basaltic. Most basaltic eruptions tend to ooze their magma out in a relatively benign way, producing a thick, sticky flow. But occasionally they go off with a big bang, like the eruption of Mount Etna in 122BC, which destroyed the Roman town of Catania. Now a study reveals what makes some basaltic eruptions so explosive.

By cooking up miniature volcanoes in the lab, analysing rock samples flung from explosive basaltic eruptions and numerically modelling the eruption process, Dr Fabio Arzilli, from the University of Manchester, and colleagues showed that low temperature magma and fast ascent up the pipes are key conditions for an explosive basaltic eruption.

Period5 Nov 2019

Media coverage

1

Media coverage

  • TitleTerrawatch: the recipe for an explosive volcano eruption
    Media name/outletThe Guardian
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date5/11/19
    DescriptionMore than half of the world’s volcanoes are basaltic. Most basaltic eruptions tend to ooze their magma out in a relatively benign way, producing a thick, sticky flow. But occasionally they go off with a big bang, like the eruption of Mount Etna in 122BC, which destroyed the Roman town of Catania. Now a study reveals what makes some basaltic eruptions so explosive.

    By cooking up miniature volcanoes in the lab, analysing rock samples flung from explosive basaltic eruptions and numerically modelling the eruption process, Dr Fabio Arzilli, from the University of Manchester, and colleagues showed that low temperature magma and fast ascent up the pipes are key conditions for an explosive basaltic eruption.
    URLhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/nov/05/terrawatch-the-recipe-for-an-explosive-volcano-eruptions
    PersonsFabio Arzilli
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Keywords

  • vulcanology

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