Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

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Study Links Climate Change and Earthquake Frequency
December 18, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekaleret) A recent Colorado State University study demonstrates that climate change can affect the frequency of earthquakes, adding to a small but growing body of evidence showing that climate can alter the seismic cycle.

CSU geoscientists analyzed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado, a range with an active fault along its western edge. Their results indicate that the fault had been held in place under the weight of glaciers during the last ice age, and as the ice melted, slip along the fault increased. This suggests that earthquake activity along a fault could increase as glaciers recede.

“Climate change is happening at a rate that is orders of magnitude faster than we see in the geologic record,” said first author Cece Hurtado, who led the study as her master’s thesis. “We see this in the rapid mountain glacial retreats in Alaska, the Himalayas and the Alps. In many of these regions, there are also active tectonics, and this work demonstrates that as climate change alters ice and water loads, tectonically active areas might see more frequent fault movements and earthquakes due to rapidly changing stress conditions.”

It is well known that climate adjusts to seismic changes in the Earth’s surface. The tectonic uplift of mountain ranges alters atmospheric circulation and rainfall, for example. However, few studies have investigated climate’s influence on tectonics, and this study is among only a handful linking seismic activity to climate.

"We've been able to model these processes for a while, but it's hard to find examples in nature,” said Sean Gallen, Geosciences associate professor and senior author of the study. “This is compelling evidence. It suggests that the atmosphere and the solid earth have tight connections that we can measure in the field.”

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1068818

For results of the study involving fairly complicated mathematics as published in Geology: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/g ... m=fulltext

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Volcanic Activity Beneath Yellowstone's Massive Caldera Could Be on The Move
Michelle Starr
January 2, 2025

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Volcanic activity bubbling away beneath the Yellowstone National Park in the US appears to be on the move.

New research shows that the reservoirs of magma that fuel the supervolcano's wild outbursts seem to be shifting to the northeast of the Yellowstone Caldera. This region could be the new locus of future volcanic activity, according to a team led by seismologist Ninfa Bennington of the US Geological Survey.

"On the basis of the volume of rhyolitic melt storage beneath northeast Yellowstone Caldera, and the region's direct connection to a lower-crustal heat source, we suggest that the locus of future rhyolitic volcanism has shifted to northeast Yellowstone Caldera," they write in their paper.

"In contrast, post-caldera rhyolitic volcanism in the previous 160,000 years has occurred across the majority of Yellowstone Caldera with the exclusion of this northeast region."

Yellowstone is one of the world's largest supervolcanoes; a vast, complex, dynamic region of Earth's crust that is both spectacularly beautiful and deeply dangerous.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/volcanic- ... the-move

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Antarctica ice melt could cause 100 hidden volcanoes to erupt

By Madeline Reinsel
published 2 days ago

A slow climate feedback loop may be bubbling beneath Antarctica's vast ice sheet. The continent, divided east to west by the Transantarctic Mountains, includes volcanic giants such as Mount Erebus and its iconic lava lake. But at least 100 less conspicuous volcanoes dot Antarctica, with many clustered along its western coast. Some of those volcanoes peak above the surface, but others sit several kilometers beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Climate change is causing the ice sheet to melt, raising global sea levels. The melting is also removing the weight over the rocks below, with more local consequences. Ice sheet melt has been shown to increase volcanic activity in subglacial volcanoes elsewhere on the globe. Coonin et al. ran 4,000 computer simulations to study how ice sheet loss affects Antarctica's buried volcanoes, and they found that gradual melt could increase the number and size of subglacial eruptions.

The reason is that this unloading of ice sheets reduces pressure on magma chambers below the surface, causing the compressed magma to expand. This expansion increases pressure on magma chamber walls and can lead to eruptions.

Some magma chambers also hold copious amounts of volatile gases, which are normally dissolved into the magma. As the magma cools and when overburden pressure reduces, those gases rush out of solution like carbonation out of a newly opened bottle of soda, increasing the pressure in the magma chamber. This pressure means that melting ice can expedite the onset of an eruption from a subglacial volcano.

https://www.livescience.com/planet-eart ... s-to-erupt



Credit: Josh Landis, U.S. Arctic Program, Public Domain

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The Hidden Mechanics of Earthquake Ignition
January 8, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A new study has unravelled the hidden mechanics of how earthquakes ignite, shedding light on the mysterious transition from quiet, creeping motion to the violent ruptures that shake the Earth. Using cutting-edge experiments and innovative models, the research reveals that slow, silent stress release is a prelude and a necessary trigger for seismic activity. By incorporating the overlooked role of fault geometry, the study challenges long-held beliefs and offers a fresh perspective on how and when earthquakes begin. These findings not only deepen our understanding of nature’s most powerful forces but also pave the way for improved predictions of seismic events.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1069703

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New findings date Los Chocoyos supereruption to 79,500 years ago, and show Earth bounced back within decades
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-date-los- ... years.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

An international team of Earth and life scientists, hydrologists, chemists, and physicists, has found evidence showing that the Los Chocoyos supereruption occurred approximately 79,500 years ago and that the planet bounced back from its chilling effects within decades.

In their paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the group describes how they studied ice core samples obtained from places in Greenland and Antarctica to learn more about the global impact of the ancient volcanic eruption.

Prior evidence has shown that a massive eruption occurred in what is now Guatemala's Atitlán volcanic system tens of thousands of years ago, spewing ash far into the atmosphere. So much ash was emitted, it has been thought, that it led to an ice age. Today, the eruption is known as the Los Chocoyos supereruption.

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USGS says 6.1

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes ... us6000px89

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Moment skyscraper under construction collapses in Bangkok after earthquake – video

Fri 28 Mar 2025

Footage widely shared on Thai social media shows the moment a tower block under construction collapsed in a Bangkok district after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake. Thailand’s National Institute of Emergency Medicine said that at least one person was killed. Dozens of workers were rescued from under the rubble, they added

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video ... uake-video

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Trump says the US will help in Asia quake. A former official says the system is now in 'shambles'

Source: AP

Updated 6:27 PM EDT, March 28, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. was going to help with the response to Southeast Asia’s deadly earthquake. But the effects of his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department will likely be tested in any response to the first big natural disaster of his second term.

Sarah Charles, a former senior USAID official who oversaw disaster-response teams and overall humanitarian work under the Biden administration, said the system was now “in shambles,” without the people or resources to move quickly to pull out survivors from collapsed buildings and otherwise save lives.

A powerful quake shook Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, killing at least 150 people and burying others under the rubble of high-rises. Asked about the quake by reporters in Washington, Trump said: “We’re going to be helping. We’ve already alerted the people. Yeah, it’s terrible what happened.” At the State Department, spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the administration would use requests for assistance and reports from the region to shape its response to the quake.

“USAID has maintained a team of disaster experts with the capacity to respond if disaster strikes,” Bruce said. “These expert teams provide immediate assistance, including food and safe drinking water, needed to save lives in the aftermath of a disaster.” Despite cuts, “there has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties,” Bruce said. But it was also Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a former associate of Elon Musk now in a senior position at USAID, Jeremy Lewin, notified staff and Congress they were firing most remaining USAID staffers and moving surviving agency programs under the State Department.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-earthq ... 9803e6239b

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