Volcanic activity encompasses all processes associated with the movement and eruption of magma and volatiles from Earth’s interior to its surface, including effusive lava flows, explosive eruptions, degassing, and the formation of associated edifices and deposits. It is governed by magma generation in the mantle and crust, melt composition, temperature, volatile content, and tectonic setting (e.g., subduction zones, rifts, hotspots). Volcanic activity is studied through petrology, geophysics, gas geochemistry, geodesy, and remote sensing to quantify eruption dynamics, magma ascent rates, and hazard potential, and it exerts major controls on crustal growth, surface morphology, and volatile fluxes to the atmosphere and hydrosphere.
The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000 earthquakes, according to a unique machine learning study that identified the earthquakes as they occurred ...
Earth Sciences
11 hours ago
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Located in Sicily, Mount Etna is Europe's most active volcano. Yet its origin remains largely enigmatic, as no existing geological model fully explains how it formed. In a new study, scientists from the University of Lausanne ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 13, 2026
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We've spent decades scratching the surface of Mars trying to uncover life there. But we've been searching a barren wasteland bombarded by radiation and bathed in toxic perchlorates. The entire time, it's likely that it's ...
Astrobiology
Apr 12, 2026
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A lot of research goes into determining how to best predict the next eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Part of this involves pinning down how the magma migration system functions and evolves over time. The exact mechanism ...
Take a tour through volcanic history on the edge of the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes, California. Between the tall granite peaks to the west and the Basin and Range province to the east, overlapping volcanic complexes ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 8, 2026
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Understanding what triggers large volcanic eruptions is crucial for hazard assessment, but the exact mechanism driving these eruptions is still poorly understood. The prevailing theory is that volatile exsolution—gas coming ...
Although volcanic eruptions are spectacular natural events that occur around the world every day, most volcanoes spend the majority of their time not erupting. To accurately forecast volcanic activity, it's important to characterize ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 27, 2026
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The magma reservoir of the largest volcanic eruption of the Holocene is refilling. This Kobe University insight on the Kikai caldera in Japan allows us to understand giant caldera volcanoes like Yellowstone or Toba more generally ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 27, 2026
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Observations of the Rimae Bode region on the moon reveal five distinct types of terrain and identify several potential landing sites for China's first crewed mission, according to research titled "Geology of Rimae Bode region ...
Space Exploration
Mar 9, 2026
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44
Japan is looking into using a remote deserted Pacific island nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) from Tokyo as a site for burying nuclear waste, officials said.
Environment
Mar 4, 2026
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