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scientist have proposed an alternate account for why therecord - shattering Tonga volcanic eruptionof 2022 was so violent : The explosion may have been triggered by gas , rather than by a reaction between magma and urine as previously suggested .
Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha’apai , an underwater volcano in the South Pacific Ocean , flare up on Jan. 15 , 2022 , loose themost intense lightning storm ever recordedand thefirst know mega - tsunami since ancientness . late research indicated that the underwater eructation wasfueled by two merging magma chambers , but precisely what sparked the blast has remained indecipherable .
The GOES-17 satellite captured images of an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Jan. 15, 2022.
" former model have take magma - seawater interaction , but oestrus transference considerations show this to be untenable and direct evidence is not provided by planet data , " researchers compose in a raw study , write online April 21 in theJournal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research . Instead , they write , bathymetric ( water depth ) and satellite observance bespeak to a stupendous buildup of gas beneath a seal inside the vent that all of a sudden broke on Jan. 15 after a series of lowly eructation between Dec. 19 , 2021 , and Jan. 13 , 2022 .
This seal may have make through a chemical reaction between volcanic rocks and gas arise from the depths of the vent . " It is now well established that fast reactions come between the [ atomic number 16 dioxide ] and [ hydrogen chloride ] content of magmatic gases to bring forth mineral including anhydrite , vitreous silica and sulfide as they expand from source to open , " the research worker write in the study . " Their formation leads to a strangling of period path and potentially sealing of the gas flux through the volcano . "
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An aerial photograph of the Tonga volcano during the eruption in January 2022.
accelerator trap inside the vent likely accumulated over several months and then reached a " critical stage " when the pressure at last ruptured the seal and triggered an explosion , they wrote . The energy amassed underground was so slap-up that it prompt an ash swarm 36 miles ( 58 kilometers ) into the sky and blew out a volcanic crater 2,800 feet ( 850 meter ) deep and 1.2 to 1.8 miles ( 2 to 3 kilometre ) wide .
The Tonga eruption — which may have been even more powerful than the1883 Krakatoa irruption — run itself by exploding away ever - deeper layers of rock and release ever - higher - pressure gaseous state , entering a runaway , " supercritical " res publica , the researchers noted in the study . The eruption eventually subsided as the gas reservoir discharge and seawater flooded into the gawp crater .
" What we witnessed during this result was a Plinian eruption , " direct authorRichard Henley , an honorary professor of material aperient at the Australian National University , order in astatement . " These are the variety most mass opine of when conceive of an ignite volcano — very intense , violent and sudden with super high ash columns . "
— Underwater Santorini volcano eruption 520,000 eld ago was 15 fourth dimension openhanded than record - damp Tonga eruption
— Underwater vent eruption 7,300 years ago is the largest in read history
— The sea ' began to boil ' : Freak volcanic clap of Santorini 1,300 years ago indicate huge blasts can occur during time of still
Henley and his colleague evoke that flatulence seals could be the key to why most , if not all , Plinian eruptions are so volatile . Unlike old models that assumed a response between magma and seawater caused the eruption , the team ’s conclusions imply that the cataclysmic force of the 2022 Tonga eruption was self-governing of its pelagic setting .
" The eructation at Hunga has open up our eyes , " cobalt - authorCornel de Ronde , principal scientist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited in New Zealand , allege in the command .
