The merger of glaciers could trigger volcanic eruptions worldwide, the results of the study
The merger of glaciers could make volcanic eruptions more explosive and frequent, aggravating climate change in the process, have warned scientists.
Hundreds of volcanoes In Antarctica, Russia, New Zealand and North America are resting under the glaciers. But as the planet warms up and these ice caps melt and withdraw, these volcanoes are likely to become more active, according to the authors of a new study analyzing the activity of six volcanoes in southern Chile during the last ice age.
Researchers will present their results on Wednesday July 8 at the Conference 2025 Goldschmidt in Prague.
“The glaciers tend to remove the volume of the eruptions of volcanoes below. But as glaciers withdraw due to climate change, our results suggest that these volcanoes continue to break out more frequently and more explosively”, the study of the author of the study Pablo Moreno YaegerA student graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a press release.
Scientists have first theorized that the fusion of ice could have an impact on volcanoes in the 1970s. The underlying process is simple – the weight of the glaciers exerts a low force on the crust and the mantle of the earth, so when the ice withdraws, the underground gases and the magma are developing, leading to accumulations of pressure which fuel explosive eruptions.
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This process is already known to have fundamentally reshaped reshaping from Iceland, which is located above North American and divergent Eurasian tectonic plates. In 2002, scientists calculated changes in volcanic activity in Iceland when his glaciers withdrew at the end of the last glacial period, about 10,000 years ago. The island’s volcanoes responded with a wave of eruptions, blowing at a pace 30 to 50 times higher that before or since then.
However, the danger that could hide inside continental volcanic systems remains sub-studied. To investigate, the geoscientists examined six volcanoes located in southern Chile, including the Mocho-Choshuenco volcano now sleeping, and how they responded to the fusion of the Patagonia ice cap thousands of years ago.
Using the radioactive decay of the Argon published by eruption volcanoes of the region as an isotopic clock, and by studying crystals which began to form inside the raw magmatic rocks when the volcanoes broke out, the researchers were able to follow the volcanic activity of the region and its relationship with its vanishing ice.
They found that between 26,000 to 18,000 years, during the top of the last ice age, ice coverage stamped the volume of eruptions, which had a giant magma tank under the surface of the region. When the ice cap melted, the pressure developed inside this tank and was finally released to form the Mocho-Choshuenco volcano.
This threat is planetary range: 245 of potentially active volcanoes in the world are under or at less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) of ice, according to A 2020 study.
“The main requirement for increased explosiveness is initially a very thick ice cover on a magmatic chamber, and the trigger point is when these glaciers begin to withdraw, releasing pressure – which is currently occurring in places like Antarctica,” said Moreno Yaeger.
He added that other worrying regions include North America, New Zealand and Russia, affirming that these areas “guarantee more in-depth scientific attention”.
Over short periods, eruptions generally release sulfate aerosols that reflect sunlight in space. This led to cooling events after past eruptions, some of which have triggered major famines. Yet in the long term, the greenhouse Of these volcanoes will likely lead to the acceleration of climate change, the researchers said.
“Over time, the cumulative effect of several eruptions can contribute to long -term global warming due to an accumulation of greenhouse gases,” said Moreno Yaeger. “This creates a positive feedback loop, where the melting of the glaciers triggers eruptions, and the eruptions could in turn contribute to additional warming and fusion.”
