Check Out These Galapagos Islands Volcanoes That Could Be Hiding Some Explosive Magma!

Amaze Lab

Scientists wanted to figure out why volcanoes on the Galapagos Islands were so "boring," but instead, the team found they are hiding an explosive secret.

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00:00 [MUSIC]

00:04 Scientists have discovered that seemingly boring Galapagos volcanoes may be hiding an

00:08 explosive secret.

00:09 They found volcanoes that create small, basaltic lava eruptions hide chemically diverse magmas

00:15 underground, and the team led by a Trinity College Dublin researcher found that some

00:19 have the potential to produce explosive activity.

00:23 Volcanoes on the Galapagos Islands consistently erupt slow-moving lava flows, which aren't

00:27 as dangerous as explosive eruptions.

00:30 But scientists studied two volcanoes with uniform compositions that have only produced

00:34 these lava flows.

00:36 By analyzing the microscopic crystals in the lavas, they reconstructed the properties of

00:40 magmas underground, and found that they are very diverse and have compositions similar

00:45 to explosive eruptions.

00:47 The team thinks the amount of magma that flushes through the ground is high enough to overprint

00:51 chemical diversity.

00:53 Scientists say the underground magma could become mobile, causing unexpected changes

00:57 in activity, but there's no sign these volcanoes will transition anytime soon.

01:02 The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

01:05 [MUSIC]

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