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A " zombie " volcano in Bolivia has been rumbling in its sopor — despite being dormant for hundreds of G of long time — and scientists now think they get it on why .
Uturuncu , settle in the Andes in southwestern Bolivia , last erupted around 250,000 days ago . For several decades , it has been evidence signs of unrest , releasing plumes of gas , didder with earthquakes , and make the surrounding ground to deform , lead to concerns it could be about to erupt .
Uturuncu is one of many volcanoes on the Bolivian Altiplano that lie above the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body.
However , harmonize to a Modern subject field write Monday ( April 28 ) in the journalPNAS , the unusual activity is down to the movement of liquidness and gas beneath the mountain .
This " not only explains why a ' " zombie ' " volcano remains participating but also pop the question insights into its outbreak potential , set up a technique that could be practice to help valuate eructation fortune at other fighting volcanoes , " the research worker save in the paper .
Uturuncu is a large , dormant volcanothat stands at a height of19,711 feet ( 6,008 meters)above sea level . It is a stratovolcano , which are large , steep , and cone cell - form volcano built up by many layers ( strata ) of hardened lava , volcanic ash tree , and rock . Stratovolcano eruptionsare often explosivebecause the lava is thick , meaning it traps gas pedal easily . Mount St. Helens and Mount Vesuvius are both stratovolcanoes .
(Image credit: Jon Blundy, University of Oxford)
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Uturuncu is know as a " zombie spirit " vent because of its on-going , but noneruptive activity , the researcher spell in the paper .
Since the 1990s , orbiter radar and GPS measurement have shown that the ground around Uturuncu is deforming in a " sombrero " radiation pattern , with a central area of go up primer smother by settling , or sinking . The central rising land has been uplifting for at least 50 years , at a varying rate of up to 0.4 inches ( 1 cm ) per twelvemonth .
(Image credit: Duncan Muir, Cardiff University)
This distortion , along with the frequent earthquake recorded in the realm and plumes of volcanic gas pedal , especially carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , being released from the volcano , take some scientists to theorize that there might be a huge magma torso building underneath Uturuncu .
Cerro Uturuncu , right , and Cerro San Antonio , go out , volcano above the small townspeople of Quetena Chico on the Bolivian Altiplano .
Gravimeter and GPS station with Cerro Uturuncu in the background .
Uturuncu sit above an enormous and exceedingly deep hole-and-corner artificial lake of magma named the Altiplano - Puna Magma Body ( APMB ) , which stretches beneath southern Bolivia , northern Chile , and northern Argentina . Magma from the APMB can be pushed upward and accumulate near the surface .
The presence of a body of magma beneath the volcano could show that Uturuncu may be pitch up to erupt .
In the raw study , researchers analyzed signals from over 1,700 earthquakes to visualize what was occurring beneath the vent , and also canvas the property of the rocks on and around the vent to determine how seismal signal might interact with the ground .
Rather than an accumulation of magma , they determine that the APMB is sending hot fluids and gases upward towards the aerofoil via a minute chimney - like pipe . This causes gases like steam and CO2 to get trapped under the elevation , and brackish water to spread out obliquely into cracks around the volcano .
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The ascertained ground contortion and quake around Uturuncu can be explained by these fluids and gun moving around below the surface , rather than magma rising quickly from below , meaning that the volcano is not primed to flare up as antecedently feared .
This uncovering could also aid researcher square off if other volcanoes around the world are primed to erupt .
" The methods in this theme could be give to the more than 1,400 potentially fighting volcanoes and to the rafts of vent like Uturuncu that are n’t considered fighting but that show signs of life — other potential zombie volcanoes , " co - authorMatthew Pritchard , a professor of geophysics at Cornell University , said in a statement .
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