Super Volcanoes May Have Catastrophic Eruptions Drastically Affecting Earth’s Temperature, Scientists Warn

Studies say that supervolcanoes have catastrophic supereruptions infrequently that it will have dire consequences when it does. It can usher in a volcanic winter that drives changes in the earth's climate to more than sub-zero temperatures.

This assumption is from a study investigating them as drivers of deadly climate changes, like when the next one will come. It is a fact that the frequency of the cataclysmic volcanic activity is periodic. Scientists think the next one will not be due until several thousand years or so.

The eruptions have affected epochs it occurred in

Researchers are sure a supereruption can tip the earth's climates in ways that we cannot control, noted a paper published in the journal Nature-Earth and Environmental Sciences.

A group did the study from the Curtin University in Australia, which focused on Indonesia's Lake Toba caldera volcano. They discovered Lake Toba is one of the menacing supervolcanoes active after the last planet-changing eruption, noted the Daily Mail.

After 5,000 to 13,000 years after it erupted, there is still oozing magma inside the caldera years after the last eruption. One of these signs is the solidified magma in the caldera is pushing up from inside, remarked University Associate Professor Martin Danišík in a statement, noted in Scimex Org.

The earth cooled down significantly

Minerals like feldspar and zircon, which are remnant minerals ejected in the last eruption, were examined to check the presence of argon and helium gases. They might give clues to the timing of the explosion; the gases will be indicators to study it.

Analysis of the super eruption reveals a staggering six billion tons of sulphur dioxide cause a long winter with the temperature dipping to less than 59 degrees Fahrenheit for years.

This discovery did not agree with the accepted ideas about volcanic activity, which expects liquefied rock to be a factor in a catastrophic eruption. It might be disastrously mistaken, added Danišík.

This finding opens the question of an eruption will happen with no liquid magma inside a volcano. What can erupt is now a big question for researchers to find out. A cataclysmic eruption happens in intervals of 17,000 years based on understanding how supervolcanoes work.

New Zealand's Lake Taupo is a caldera volcano-like Toba, and it last erupted about 22,600 years back, said a survey. Toba had its turn 74,000 years back, which sends pyroclastic material up to 2,800 kilometers, that was rhyolite magma, noted the study.

Periodic cataclysmic eruptions affect everything

Danišík said a supereruption would cause many changes because it covers the earth in a volcanic cloud fast. Temperatures usually are constant that will drop quickly in 'volcanic winter' that will kill vegetation and cause the extinction of unsuitable species. When it blew its top, Toba Caldera caused the fastest cooling that is a side effect of cataclysmic eruption, said the study authors.

However, the findings need to be more in-depth to understand the super eruption phenomena. There are many clues like feldspar and zircon that are found. Scientists will do a close watch on 20 supervolcanoes, including Yellowstone National Park. Supervolcanoes have catastrophic supereruptions that can usher the end of one or more species, including humans.