Volcanology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of volcanoes, magmatic processes, and related phenomena such as eruptions, fumarolic activity, and volcanic gas emissions. It integrates petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and tectonics to investigate magma generation, ascent, storage, and eruption dynamics within the lithosphere and asthenosphere. Volcanologists analyze rock, ash, and gas compositions, monitor seismicity, ground deformation, and thermal anomalies, and develop physical and numerical models to understand eruptive behavior and conduit processes. The field also characterizes volcanic hazards, eruption forecasting methodologies, and long-term magmatic fluxes, contributing to broader insights into planetary differentiation, crustal evolution, and volatile cycles on Earth and other terrestrial bodies.
Scientists have shed light on a thermal process in magma that may help explain why similar volcanic systems can produce very different eruptive behaviors.
Earth Sciences
Jun 8, 2026
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The plumbing systems of volcanoes are vast and complex. But they aren't consistent, even in the same volcano. A Cornell-led collaboration found very different mechanisms behind two historic eruptions of Mount Etna in Italy. ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 6, 2026
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Some 350,000 years ago, the center of New Zealand's North Island appeared much different than the mountainous, scrub-covered landscape it is today. Amid a glacial period, temperatures were colder and conditions harsher. Vast ...
Earth Sciences
May 30, 2026
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It all began with a perfectly ordinary chat over coffee between four researchers. How many films featuring geologists can we think of? Quite quickly, the colleagues were able to come up with about 10 films. But then the scientific ...
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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Io is a world of extremes. It is by far the most volcanically active world in our solar system. Being continually squeezed in the never-ending tug-of-war between Jupiter and its larger satellites will do that to a moon. As ...
Planetary Sciences
May 4, 2026
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When Mauna Loa erupted in 2022, the largest lava flow headed on a path headed directly toward Daniel K. Inouye State Highway 200, also known as Saddle Road, a critical route that carries many residents from their homes on ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 27, 2026
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105
For more than 100,000 years, the Methana volcano in Greece appeared dormant. No lava, no explosions, no ash clouds. It appeared extinct, like many other volcanoes today. An international research team led by ETH Zurich has ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 22, 2026
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143
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
Apr 17, 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 ...
Supereruptions are extremely large volcanic eruptions that eject more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma, rock and ash. They are among the most hazardous geological events on Earth and have profound impacts on the environment, ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 10, 2026
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