Climate Change Melting May Bring More Volcanic Eruptions, Study Says

Climate change threatens to change many more things than just the Earth’s temperature, like where large masses of people choose to live. Despite some government bodies not being too keen on acknowledging it, climate change is still vigorously studied. According to a new study published in the journal Geology, the volcano threat could grow due to Earth’s rising temperature.

Scientists noticed in the past that the rate of volcanic eruptions tended to rise at points in history with massive glacial melts, such as the ends of ice ages, Scientific American reported. This new study focused on the kind of smaller shifts in the Earth’s glaciers to see if they could have a similar effect as the massive melts of old.

To be clear, the study did not use data from particularly recent years. Instead, it studied Icelandic eruptions that occurred thousands of years ago during a time when Earth’s temperatures changed without a legitimate ice age. By measuring the eruption record against the record of ash in Europe at the same time, the scientists got an idea of how often volcanoes erupted during that period.

What they found was that the rate of eruptions decreased as the size of glaciers increased. In simple terms, the theory is that more glaciers meant more pressure on the planet’s surface, which dictates the amount of magma that flowed through the crust. When those massive chunks of ice went away, magma had an easier path to the surface, which caused eruptions. To put a cherry on top, the study noted that eruptions were larger in magnitude during times with less glacial coverage.

This was all purely theoretical, of course, and there was no proof that this will have any effect on modern civilization. But the study predicted that, based on its findings, we may need to invest in volcano insurance in the future.