Enlarge / Buried fiber-optic cables at Etna’s summit pick up subtle volcanic activity, potentially improving early warning systems. (credit: M.A. Gutscher) Towering 11,000 feet above a million humans, Mount Etna is one of the most thoroughly monitored volcanoes on Earth. Hundreds of sensors dot its flanks, and for good reason: it’s Europe’s most active volcano, […]
Enlarge / Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, (credit: Ignacio Palacios / Getty Images) The vast volcanic caldera at Yellowstone National Park is just the latest in a long string of volcanic sites, all of which seem to be linked to a hot blob of material that may go all the way […]
Enlarge (credit: Vidal et al 2022) The oldest known Homo sapiens fossil is about 36,000 years older than previously thought, according to a recent study. Volcanologists matched a layer of ash above the fossil skull to an eruption of southern Ethiopia’s Shala volcano 233,000 years ago. Their findings seem to line up well with other […]
(charge: Gerardo Aguirre-Díaz) Maya culture had been blossoming to its golden era in which a volcano erupted at the southern border of the Maya area, at what is now El Salvador. Tens of yards of debris and ash buried the thickly populated, rich farming valleys across the Ilopango caldera. Aerosols smashed into the stratosphere from […]