A new supervolcano is brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire
Something unexpected has been gradually making itself known to geologists in the United States. A huge mass of molten rock is creeping upwards beneath the nation’s north eastern states.
“The upwelling we detected is like a hot-air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England,” says Rutgers University geophysicist Professor Vadim Levin.
Traces of the brooding mass only became evident through a large-scale new seismic study.
The idea that there may be a super volcano brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire is something of a surprise.
“Our study challenges the established notion of how the continents on which we live behave,” Professor Levin says. “It challenges the textbook concepts taught in introductory geology classes.”
The region is geologically stable. There are no active volcanoes.
So the massive magma build-up must be a relatively recent event.
But, in the timescale of Earth’s geological processes, this still means tens of millions of years.
Video at site
Something unexpected has been gradually making itself known to geologists in the United States. A huge mass of molten rock is creeping upwards beneath the nation’s north eastern states.
“The upwelling we detected is like a hot-air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England,” says Rutgers University geophysicist Professor Vadim Levin.
Traces of the brooding mass only became evident through a large-scale new seismic study.
The idea that there may be a super volcano brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire is something of a surprise.
“Our study challenges the established notion of how the continents on which we live behave,” Professor Levin says. “It challenges the textbook concepts taught in introductory geology classes.”
The region is geologically stable. There are no active volcanoes.
So the massive magma build-up must be a relatively recent event.
But, in the timescale of Earth’s geological processes, this still means tens of millions of years.
Video at site
