An international team of geologists and earth scientists from Iceland, the UK and the USA has developed a new theory of how lava fountains form during volcanic eruptions. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature Communications (NatComms).
A volcanic eruption is one of the most spectacular types of eruptions, in which a fiery mountain shoots molten rocks into the sky. However, how they are formed and what activates their energy is still not fully known.
The scientific team took advantage of the characteristics of the Fagradalsfjall volcano eruption that occurred in 2021. Fagradalsfjall did not erupt as it often does, but spewed out a series of lava fountains of varying heights.
A new theory suggests that Fagradalsfjall and similar volcanoes have a shallow cavity filled with magma beneath the caldera. As magma rises into a cavity, gases cause a layer of foam to form on top of the magma inside the cavity.
Researchers believe that breaking the foam layer releases pressure that pushes the magma into the air, creating a fountain effect like soda from a well-shaken can. The cyclic nature of ejection is due to gases repeatedly forming a layer of foam inside the cavity.
Earlier, during the eruption of an underwater volcano in Japan created new island.
Source: Gazeta
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