Sci-Tech Information: What Could Happen If Mount Gambier Volcanic Chain Erupts
AND you thought there were no volcanoes in Australia.
In fact the Mount Gambier volcanic chain erupted a mere 5000 years ago - a blip in the world of geophysics - and volcanologists believe a similar event could rival the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland in terms of impact.
The news follows the revelations earlier this week that the magma basin underneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States was two and a half times larger than previously thought, leading to new predictions about the damage it could cause in an eruption event.
Dr Jozua van Otterloo and Professor Ray Cas from the School of Geosciences at Monash University used modelling to show the last known eruption of the Mount Gambier volcanic chain would have been a size four eruption on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) - equivalent to Eyjafjallaj¶kull, the Icelandic peak which went up in 2010, grounding aeroplane traffic in many parts of the world.
Dr van Otterloo said Australia could face the same scale of tragedy if the Mount Gambier chain were to erupt.
"Little is known about the magnitude of eruptions from this volcanic province (the Newer Volcanics) that stretches around 400 kilometres between Melbourne and Mount Gambier. It has over 400 eruption centres and has been active for at least 4 to 5 million years," he said.
"Normally the size and magnitude of eruptions of active volcanoes are determined based on observations during these eruptions. Using 3D geometrical modelling, we've shown it is also possible to obtain volume estimates for different deposits of a prehistoric, monogenetic volcanic centre."
The team produced a diagram showing the impact of ash plume as it dispersed from the 2010 Iceland eruption over Europe, but juxtaposed over Australia with the eruption in Mount Gambier.
The team believe the eruption that took place 5000 years ago would have produced an ash plume 5-10km high and displaced material equivalent to the volume of 130,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
"Magma rose to the surface from a depth of 80 kilometres and a large part of that magma interacted with the shallow groundwater which made the eruption so violent," Dr van Otterloo said.
And when could the chain erupt again? Nobody knows.
"When and where the next eruption will occur is unknown," Dr van Otterloo said.
"That is why our team continues undertaking extensive research in the area. Although statistics tell us it could be a long time before the next eruption, the main hazard is that when it does, we will only have a few days warning."
Dr van Otterloo said a similar eruption in the region would cause closure of the major airspace of eastern Australia, health risks from fine ash composed of glass fragments, destruction of crops and impacts on livestock up to 100 kilometres from the erupting site and disruption to local infrastructure.
"Understanding explosive volcanism aids the community to manage risk and provides insight into potential regional or global disruptions including to infrastructure, and impact on climate," Dr van Otterloo said.
The Monash team published their findings in the Bulletin of Volcanology.
Continued undersea volcanic activity may form new island
The newest addition to Japan's archipelago is most likely a permanent landmass, this coming from experts as they continue to study Japan's latest volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. As of Nov. 24, continued volcanic activity was spotted from an observation aircraft, including the eruption of lava and debris into the air, at the site off Nishinoshima Island, 1,000 kilometers south of central Tokyo in the Ogasawara island chain.
Aboard the plane was Setsuya Nakada, a professor of volcanological studies at the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo. €The lava flow was about 100 meters long as it made its way into the sea,€ Nakada said. Lava flow usually is a good bet for the permanence of an island - once lava cools, it hardens and increases the odds that the island will remain. Some newly formed volcanic islands are eroded by the ocean and tend to slip back underneath the waters. The path of the magma appeared to be stable, according to reports from the observation plane. Since it was first spotted, the volcanic island has grown to more than 20 meters in height, around the same height as nearby Nishinoshima Island, with its highest point of 25 meters.
The island was first spotted by the Japan Coast Guard on Nov. 20, and was announced by the Japan Meteorological Agency on Nov. 21. The Japanese government is actually a little bit pleased with this situation, as one can never have more than enough territory. Chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that €if it becomes a full-fledged island, we would be happy to have more territory.€ If the island becomes permanent, it will further extend Japan's territorial waters.
Here is report in Nov. 21 titled as New island rises in southern Japan after volcanic eruption.
The Japan Coast Guard and Japan Meteorological Agencyannounced that a small island has risen in the far south of Tokyo after avolcanic eruption occurred under the sea sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. Scientists are not sure if the island will become permanent or if it will eventually be eroded away.
The advisories from the two government agencies say that the island is around 200 meters in diameter and is located off the coast of the uninhabited island of Nishinoshima which is part of the Ogasawarachain or Bonin Islands, just 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo. On Wednesday, the coast guard issued an advisory on Wednesday, saying heavy black smoke was coming out of the waters in the area. Then on Thursday, footage showed smoke, ash and rocks were exploding from the crater. The last time the volcanoes in the area erupted was in the mid-70s, and most of the activity was underwater, thousands of meters deep into the Izu-Ogasawara-Marianas Trench.
Hiroshi Ito, the coast guard's resident volcanologist said that there was a strong possibility the new island will be eroded, but it can also stay there on a permanent basis. Chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that this has already happened before, but the islands eventually disappeared. He added, €€If it becomes a full-fledged island, we would be happy to have more territory.'' Japan, being an archipelago already has thousands of islands, which are often used to claim wide expanses of ocean that are rich in minerals and energy resources.
In fact the Mount Gambier volcanic chain erupted a mere 5000 years ago - a blip in the world of geophysics - and volcanologists believe a similar event could rival the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland in terms of impact.
The news follows the revelations earlier this week that the magma basin underneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States was two and a half times larger than previously thought, leading to new predictions about the damage it could cause in an eruption event.
Dr Jozua van Otterloo and Professor Ray Cas from the School of Geosciences at Monash University used modelling to show the last known eruption of the Mount Gambier volcanic chain would have been a size four eruption on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) - equivalent to Eyjafjallaj¶kull, the Icelandic peak which went up in 2010, grounding aeroplane traffic in many parts of the world.
Dr van Otterloo said Australia could face the same scale of tragedy if the Mount Gambier chain were to erupt.
"Little is known about the magnitude of eruptions from this volcanic province (the Newer Volcanics) that stretches around 400 kilometres between Melbourne and Mount Gambier. It has over 400 eruption centres and has been active for at least 4 to 5 million years," he said.
"Normally the size and magnitude of eruptions of active volcanoes are determined based on observations during these eruptions. Using 3D geometrical modelling, we've shown it is also possible to obtain volume estimates for different deposits of a prehistoric, monogenetic volcanic centre."
The team produced a diagram showing the impact of ash plume as it dispersed from the 2010 Iceland eruption over Europe, but juxtaposed over Australia with the eruption in Mount Gambier.
The team believe the eruption that took place 5000 years ago would have produced an ash plume 5-10km high and displaced material equivalent to the volume of 130,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
"Magma rose to the surface from a depth of 80 kilometres and a large part of that magma interacted with the shallow groundwater which made the eruption so violent," Dr van Otterloo said.
And when could the chain erupt again? Nobody knows.
"When and where the next eruption will occur is unknown," Dr van Otterloo said.
"That is why our team continues undertaking extensive research in the area. Although statistics tell us it could be a long time before the next eruption, the main hazard is that when it does, we will only have a few days warning."
Dr van Otterloo said a similar eruption in the region would cause closure of the major airspace of eastern Australia, health risks from fine ash composed of glass fragments, destruction of crops and impacts on livestock up to 100 kilometres from the erupting site and disruption to local infrastructure.
"Understanding explosive volcanism aids the community to manage risk and provides insight into potential regional or global disruptions including to infrastructure, and impact on climate," Dr van Otterloo said.
The Monash team published their findings in the Bulletin of Volcanology.
Continued undersea volcanic activity may form new island
The newest addition to Japan's archipelago is most likely a permanent landmass, this coming from experts as they continue to study Japan's latest volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. As of Nov. 24, continued volcanic activity was spotted from an observation aircraft, including the eruption of lava and debris into the air, at the site off Nishinoshima Island, 1,000 kilometers south of central Tokyo in the Ogasawara island chain.
Aboard the plane was Setsuya Nakada, a professor of volcanological studies at the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo. €The lava flow was about 100 meters long as it made its way into the sea,€ Nakada said. Lava flow usually is a good bet for the permanence of an island - once lava cools, it hardens and increases the odds that the island will remain. Some newly formed volcanic islands are eroded by the ocean and tend to slip back underneath the waters. The path of the magma appeared to be stable, according to reports from the observation plane. Since it was first spotted, the volcanic island has grown to more than 20 meters in height, around the same height as nearby Nishinoshima Island, with its highest point of 25 meters.
The island was first spotted by the Japan Coast Guard on Nov. 20, and was announced by the Japan Meteorological Agency on Nov. 21. The Japanese government is actually a little bit pleased with this situation, as one can never have more than enough territory. Chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that €if it becomes a full-fledged island, we would be happy to have more territory.€ If the island becomes permanent, it will further extend Japan's territorial waters.
Here is report in Nov. 21 titled as New island rises in southern Japan after volcanic eruption.
The Japan Coast Guard and Japan Meteorological Agencyannounced that a small island has risen in the far south of Tokyo after avolcanic eruption occurred under the sea sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. Scientists are not sure if the island will become permanent or if it will eventually be eroded away.
The advisories from the two government agencies say that the island is around 200 meters in diameter and is located off the coast of the uninhabited island of Nishinoshima which is part of the Ogasawarachain or Bonin Islands, just 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo. On Wednesday, the coast guard issued an advisory on Wednesday, saying heavy black smoke was coming out of the waters in the area. Then on Thursday, footage showed smoke, ash and rocks were exploding from the crater. The last time the volcanoes in the area erupted was in the mid-70s, and most of the activity was underwater, thousands of meters deep into the Izu-Ogasawara-Marianas Trench.
Hiroshi Ito, the coast guard's resident volcanologist said that there was a strong possibility the new island will be eroded, but it can also stay there on a permanent basis. Chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that this has already happened before, but the islands eventually disappeared. He added, €€If it becomes a full-fledged island, we would be happy to have more territory.'' Japan, being an archipelago already has thousands of islands, which are often used to claim wide expanses of ocean that are rich in minerals and energy resources.