Volcanology

The word volcano typically brings to mind a mountain with fire spewing forth from the summit. Therefore, a “supervolcano” would be a massive fire breathing mountain but, this is not the case. Most of Yellowstone National Park and some of the surrounding area is a “supervolcano”.While some of the largest volcanic eruptions have come from Yellowstone, it is not the only place these “mega-eruptions” have occurred There have been “mega-eruptions” in Indonesia, Chile, New Zealand, Argentina, Japan…

On September 27, 2014 Japan’s Mount Ontake erupted catching everyone by surprise, including over 250 hikers at the resorts and shrines on the peak. In contrast recently everyone around the globe was able to track the eruption by Iceland’s Bardarbunga due to a web of advanced technology, allowing them to even track where the magma was underground. Japan has a very similar array but was unable to predict Ontake’s eruption. This is due to the fact that it was what is called a phreatic eruption, or…

There is an area within the Pacific Ocean called the “Ring of Fire,” that is a region of high volcanic and seismic activity ranging from parts of Asia, to Australia, and to North and South America. Majority of active volcanoes on Earth are located within the Ring of Fire. In fact 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes are located in the Ring of Fire. Within it’s boundary in the Pacific Ocean, the Ring of Fire consist of the Pacific Plate, where it runs along against other plates such as…

(VOGRIPA) database was used to gather data on volcanic eruption histories along the the North American-Eurasian plate boundary. This database is maintained by several international institutions and is endorsed by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI). We chose the VOGRIPA database because it includes data on bulk deposit volume from each eruption, giving us a quantifiable way to define eruption magnitudes. The earthquake catalog from the…