Perhaps only days or months
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26 July 2016 – Super volcanoes can eject thousands of cubic kilometers of magma and ash into the atmosphere in a matter of days or few months. That much ash could devastate the entire planet, blocking out light and heat from the sun for years or even decades.
Unfortunately, super volcanoes give very little notice before they blow their tops, a new study in PLOS ONE has found.
When researchers analyzed quartz crystals at the Long Valley Caldera in California, the site of one of these massive eruptions some 760,000 years ago, they found that more than 70% of rim growth had occurred in less than one year.
Perhaps in just days or months.
“Overall, our results show that quartz rims primarily grew within a year of eruption, likely with significant growth in the days to months prior to eruption … with most of the growth taking place in the weeks or days preceding eruption,” the study found..
“These kinds of cataclysmic super-eruptions have occurred a few times in the geological past of our planet,” writes Simone Skully in Business Insider. These include the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand, Campi Flegrei in Italy and Yellowstone, which has erupted three times in the past million years. There are fears that it could occur again,” warns Skully.
See entire article:
See PLOS ONE link:
“The Year Leading to a Supereruption” by Guilhernne A.R. Gualkla and Stephen R. Sutton
Thanks to Laurel for these links