Ancient Eruption May Change Our Understanding of Modern Volcanoes

Since volcanoes like Sunset Crater, called basaltic scoria cones, usually erupt only once, they don’t receive much of the attention their more active counterparts see. But the new research showed this eruption liberated disproportionally high amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur for the volume of material released, suggesting these scoria cones might be more impactful than previously thought. “What we’re finding here is that some of these volcanoes may actually be able to erupt in a similar manner to something like Mount St. Helens,” said Chelsea Allison, lead author on the new paper. “It’s really important that we can understand how that’s happening…so that in the future, if such an event were to occur, we’d be prepared for what might happen.” - EOS