Global warming will wake up volcanoes

An international team of volcanologists led by Emanuel Gloor of the University of Lida in the UK found for the first time direct evidence that warming the climate will increase the frequency of volcanic eruptions in Iceland. This conclusion scientists made by analyzing the content of volcanic ash in sedimentary rocks.

Iceland is a country of ice and fire. Near the surface of the northern island are hidden close foci of magma. The fragile calm is ensured by the balance between the pressure of the incandescent gases from below and the powerful glaciers from above. If the ice recedes, the eruptions will become more frequent.

This conclusion scientists have long made by numerical modeling. But until now there was no direct evidence that the climate really influences the temper of the fire-breathing mountains. The team of Glor presented such evidence.

The researchers studied the content of volcanic ash in peat and sedimentary rocks at the bottom of the lakes. The obtained information was compared with the known data on the climate of the past epochs.

So they discovered a period of severe decline in volcanic activity between 5500 and 4500 BC. It began after the cooling and growth of glaciers associated with changes in atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic and deepening of the Icelandic depression.

Maybe it’s the opposite, and this cooling was caused by the immersion of volcanoes in a dream? No. And the evidence is simple: a period of volcanic calm began 600 years after the temperature began to decline. This time was needed for the glaciers to gain the necessary power.

Now, according to a press release from the study, the volcanic system of Iceland “comes to life” after the small ice age of 1500-1850. But now anthropogenic warming is imposed on natural fluctuations in the climate.

It is hot in this regard can not only become residents of a small northern island. Mankind already had time to be convinced of this, when in 2010 he had to learn the name of Eyyafyadlyayukudl. But the problems with air travel – not the most ambitious of the possible consequences.

The fact is that volcanoes in turn can influence the climate and, which is much more critical for mankind, for crops. With the consequences of volcanic eruptions, some scholars also link uprisings in Hellenistic Egypt and even the fall of Byzantium. It is possible that humanity will have to feel how convincing these theories are.

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