What happens when super volcanoes erupt?
The scientists hope that their discovery can teach them more about active supervolcanoes. “What we hope to do is to better understand what processes contribute to making this super eruption,” Quick said. “If we can understand that then we would better be able to understand the signals that we see when we’re monitoring supervolcanoes that are still alive.” Quick likens the research to an autopsy in which doctors are trying to figure how a disease progresses in order to better treat patients who are still alive. “You can think of this as an autopsy of a supervolcano that is now dead, but we’re able to look at it all the way through,” he said. The research was published in the July issue of the journal Geology. These are the first published findings regarding the Sesia Valley supervolcano. The study was led by Quick and the research team included members from Stanford University in CA, and the Universita di Trieste in Italy.
