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.
Sophisticated chemical analysis of volcanic gases from Kenya has provided the first evidence that a vast mass of deep Earth material lies beneath East Africa.
Earth Sciences
May 14, 2025
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65
A restive volcano in central Philippines briefly erupted Tuesday, spewing a 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) ash plume and debris into the sky as its rumblings were heard nearby.
Environment
May 13, 2025
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60
It had been dormant for 800 years, but in March 2021, the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland came to life. While the eruption was ongoing, large-scale field experiments were conducted to build defensive earthen barriers aimed ...
Earth Sciences
May 8, 2025
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38
Swarms of earthquakes have been jolting southern Italy with increasing intensity since 2022, threatening hundreds of thousands of people living atop a volcanic area known as Campi Flegrei, where the land experiences slow ...
Earth Sciences
May 2, 2025
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208
For communities living in the shadow of a volcano, early warning systems are a lifeline—but mistrust in these warnings can have deadly consequences. To avoid false alarms, it is vital that scientists seek more reliable ways ...
Earth Sciences
May 1, 2025
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84
Geologists led by the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaiʻi finally connected the dots between one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history and its source deep beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Earth Sciences
Apr 30, 2025
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63
Volcanoes erupting underwater have a distinctive effect on the climate that is larger and more widespread than previously thought, according to an international group led by University of Auckland and Tongan scientists. Research ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 30, 2025
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148
Scientists from China, the UK and the U.S. have collaborated to analyze the inner workings of Bolivia's "zombie" volcano, Uturuncu. By combining seismology, physics models and analysis of rock composition, researchers identify ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2025
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59
The Reykjanes Peninsula at Iceland's southwestern edge is one of the country's most populated regions, and it is also one of the most volcanically active. In 2024, sensing technology developed at Caltech was deployed in the ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 25, 2025
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86
Around 10,000 years ago, as the last Ice Age drew to a close, the drifting of the continent of North America, and spreading in the Atlantic Ocean, may have temporarily sped up—with a little help from melting glaciers, according ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 23, 2025
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