SCIENCE

An underwater volcano in the Mediterranean Sea risks to explode with serious consequences

Geologists are monitoring earthquake swarms and growing lava chambers beneath Greece's Kolumbo volcano, which last exploded in 1650, ravaging Greek islands and blowing ash across Turkey.

The swarms of earthquakes in the vicinity related to the increasing magma chamber make a future eruption very likely, although it is impossible to predict when.

It could be in a day or a century or much more. But the underwater volcano must be carefully monitored, scientists warn. The eruption of Kolumbo would pose a serious risk to the Greek islands surrounding it.

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Location in the Mediterranean Sea
Beneath the surface of the Aegean Sea, a few kilometers from the island of Santorini, lies an underwater volcano called Kolumbo. It is already the most active in the Aegean, and scientists are beginning to wonder what the consequences of a potential explosion might be.  The main observation concerns the magma chamber. Researchers have already detected rising magma and associated earthquake swarms.
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So many question marks
It is not possible to predict when the eruption will occur, however, according to volcanologists, the newly discovered magma chamber is growing at such a rate that, within 150 years, it is estimated to reach the same volume of magma released during the previous eruption, which occurred in 1650 AD.
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The research team
To discover and describe the new magma chamber of the Kolumbo, the largest of twenty underwater volcanoes in the northeastern area of Santorini, was an international research team led by scientists from the Imperial College of London. "We know the system is active. We know that magma is moving from a deeper system to a shallower reservoir, episodically, but not constantly," says Prof. Michele Paulatto of the Imperial College di Londra.
photo by @ProjectSantory
Used a new technique
The scientists, coordinated by volcanologist Michele Paulatto and geophysicist Kajetan Chrapkiewicz, identified the "hidden" magma chamber through an innovative survey technique called "complete waveform reversal seismic imaging , based on compressed air gunshots fired from a research vessel sailing over the volcanic region.
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What is it possible to discover
Thanks to it it is possible to identify "positions, sizes and melting rates of mobile magma bodies", as explained in a press release from the University of London. The Kolumbo chamber is located between 2 and 4 kilometers deep below the surface of the sea, while the mouth of the volcano is 500 meters away.
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The situation and the risk
Thanks to this technique, the volcanologist's team Michele Paulatto was able to identify a large magma chamber that, according to calculations, has grown at a rate of 4 million cubic meters of magma per year from 1650 AD to today. This means that currently in the magma chamber there are 1.4 cubic kilometers of magma, which at this rate will become 2 cubic kilometers within 150 years. It could represent the critical threshold of the volcano to trigger a new explosive eruption, although as indicated at the moment there is no certainty.
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