The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide temporarily fell by 50% immediately preceding a period of intense volcanism, likely because of increased weathering, new results reveal.
lava & magma
Posted inNews
New Evidence Points to Venusian Lava Tubes, and They’re Really Big
Researchers bring new life to 30-year-old Magellan data to unearth the first direct evidence of the long-hypothesized structures.
Posted inNews
A Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Norwegian Sea Pumps Out Hydrogen
Vent fluids collected from the Knipovich Ridge contain unexpectedly high concentrations of hydrogen, potentially produced by the degradation of organic matter.
Posted inFeatures
Discovering Venus on Iceland
Scientists trekked across Icelandic lava flows that served as stand-ins for Venus’s volcanic landscapes, testing tools and methods the upcoming VERITAS mission will use when it reaches the planet.
Posted inNews
A “Lava World” Unexpectedly Hosts an Atmosphere
TOI-561 b, an exoplanet roughly 275 light-years away, seems to have a thick atmosphere despite being wildly irradiated by its host star.
Posted inScience Updates
Lessons and Lingering Questions from Collapsing Basaltic Calderas
Research into the hazardous collapses of basaltic volcanoes has revealed common physical processes, but addressing remaining questions requires learning more from historical events.
Posted inNews
Crystal Clusters Contain Clues to Magma’s Past and Future Eruptions
It’s now become easier to forecast the next eruption of Alaska’s Bogoslof volcano. New research led by Pavel Izbekov, a volcanologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, is applying the foundations of diffusion chronometry—the study of chemical change in crystals over time—to a new eruption forecasting approach. Izbekov’s team used crystal clusters and their collective records […]
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Complex Plumbing Dynamics for Kīlauea Volcano
A new analysis of subtle seismic velocity changes provides insights into the coupling of magma reservoirs of Hawaiian volcanoes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Invisible Brake: Near‑Surface Cooling Stalls Giant Dyke Swarms
Sill-based pressure reconstructions show Mull’s giant dykes had eruption-capable pressures, but near‑surface groundwater cooling increased magma viscosity and stalled lateral propagation.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Webb Telescope Spies Io’s Volcanic Activity and Sulfurous Atmosphere
New James Webb Space Telescope images reveal cooling lava, volcanic sulfur monoxide gas, and sulfur gas emissions created by interactions between plasma and the moon’s atmosphere.