Meanwhile, Ethiopia's “Great Rift Valley” volcano erupted behind the earthquake swarm, prompting evacuations.
from legal riots
Posted by Leslie Eastman
Whenever I write about climate change, I often note that volcanoes can have a significant impact on global climate.
In a new example recently revealed, a “mysterious volcano” that erupted in 1831 and significantly reduced the Earth's climate was eventually identified as Zavaritskii on the island of Simushir in the Kuril Islands between Russia and Japan.
The eruption, one of the most violent of the 19th century, released large amounts of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. Earth-caused emissions contribute to a drop in average annual temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere of about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
The challenge in locating volcanoes is their remoteness.
While the year of this historic eruption is known, the location of the volcano is not. Researchers recently solved the puzzle by sampling ice cores from Greenland and peering back through the ice core layers to examine sulfur isotopes, volcanic ash particles and tiny shards of volcanic glass deposited between 1831 and 1834.
Scientists reported Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they used geochemistry, radiometric dating and computer modeling to map particle trajectories that linked the 1831 eruption to an island volcano in the northwest Pacific.
..Prior to scientists’ discovery, Zavaritsky volcano last erupted in 800 BC.
“For many volcanoes on Earth, especially those located in remote areas, we know very little about their eruption histories,” said the study's lead author, Dr. William Hutcheson, principal investigator at the American University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. explain.
“Zavaritsky Island is located on an extremely remote island between Japan and Russia. It is uninhabited and historical records are limited to a handful of diaries from ships that passed through the islands every few years,” Hutcheson wrote in an email. told CNN in an email.
To find the volcano, researchers conducted chemical analyzes of microscopic fragments of volcanic ash extracted from ice cores drilled from Greenland with samples from the Zavaritsky crater. They thought it was a perfect match.
“Finding the match took a long time and required extensive collaboration with colleagues in Japan and Russia, who sent us samples collected decades ago from these remote volcanoes,” Hutcheson said.
“It was a real eureka moment when we were analyzing two ashes together in the lab, one from a volcano and one from an ice core. I couldn’t believe the numbers were the same. After that, I spent A lot of time was spent researching the age and size of the volcanic eruptions recorded in the Thousand Islands to really convince myself that this game was real.
Meanwhile, recent volcanic activity in Ethiopia's Dofan Mountains has caused significant concern and prompted evacuations in surrounding areas.
In a rural area 165 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, hundreds of people fled their homes in panic as a nearby volcano showed signs of a possible eruption, a local chief told BBC English. .
Sultan Kemir said the smoke rising from Mount Dofan at around 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Thursday “had a hot plume and was very high”.
In a video posted by the Ethiopian Institute of Geology on its Facebook page, steam and debris can be seen spewing from the mountain.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen seismic events have occurred around Awash Fintale, an earthquake-prone area in Ethiopia's Afar region.
The seismic activity is part of an ongoing geological process in the East African Rift Valley, where new oceanic crust is being created.
Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how eco-activists connect the Rift to SUVs.
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