Greece’s Methana Volcano Thought Dormant for 100,000 Years is Waking Up

Methana seen from the sea. Credit: Ggia – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

New probe published successful Science Advances has challenged the long-held presumption that the Methana volcano successful Greece, located astir 50km from Athens, is extinct. Despite showing nary signs of activity—such arsenic ash clouds oregon lava flows—for implicit 100,000 years, the volcano has been softly accumulating immense quantities of magma wrong its subterranean chambers.

To scope these findings, scientists analyzed much than 1,250 zircon crystals extracted from the Earth’s crust beneath the volcano. Because these crystals sphere information astir the conditions nether which they formed, researchers were capable to representation the volcano’s past with singular detail.

As ETH Zurich volcanologist Olivier Bachmann explained, “We tin deliberation of zircon crystals arsenic tiny formation recorders. By dating much than 1,250 of them crossed 700,000 years of volcanic history, we’ve reconstructed the volcano’s interior beingness with precision.”

The survey reveals that the volcano’s magma chambers person been progressive astir continuously, suggesting that a deficiency of aboveground enactment does not needfully bespeak extinction. Bachmann further noted, “What we learned is that volcanoes tin ‘breathe’ underground for millennia without ever breaking the surface.”

Sulfurous baths of Methana. Credit: Agustin Bartolome – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

The risks from Greece’s Methana volcano

The probe squad discovered that the magma feeding the volcano is exceptionally water-rich, which whitethorn really power the frequence of eruptions. According to co-author Răzvan-Gabriel Popa, “We really judge that galore subduction portion volcanoes mightiness beryllium periodically fed by peculiarly bedewed primitive magma, thing that the technological assemblage has not yet afloat recognised.”

These findings transportation important consequences for planetary information protocols regarding volcanic risk. The authors emphasized that the survey “highlights the value of monitoring dormant volcanoes, adjacent successful the lack of caller eruptions,” and suggested that existent menace levels for long-quiet volcanoes should beryllium re-examined.

Bachmann stated: “For volcano hazard authorities, for example, successful Greece, Italy, Indonesia, the Philippines, South and North America, Japan, etc, this means re-evaluating the menace level of volcanoes that person been quiescent for tens of thousands of years but amusement periodic signs of magmatic unrest.”

Ultimately, the survey serves arsenic a informing that a agelong play of dormancy tin disguise the improvement of a large, perchance unsafe magma system.

Related: The Volcanic Springs of Greece’s Methana Peninsula