'Everything so far about this eruption is off-the-scale weird,' from its deafening blast to its Pacific-wide tsunami
Barker and his colleagues chartered a boat in 2015 to camp for several nights on the volcanic island’s rubbly landscape. As they surveyed the region and collected samples of rock, the team spotted small cones from recent eruptions dotting the seafloor around the primary peak. They also discovered thick layers of fragmented lava rocks and ash, known as pyroclastic flows, from two monstrous eruptions that they later dated to around 900 and 1,800 years old.
Scientists are now hoping to study the chemistry of the freshly erupted rock to see what it can tell us about this latest event."It'll be interesting to see what the crystals are recording," Brenna says. A blanket of ash has dulled the usually vibrant plantlife across the string of tropical islands, as shown in this January 17 image of Nomuka, where the tsunami caused extensive damage.Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.: A Maxar satellite image taken on December 29, 2021, before the volcano’s most explosive blasts, shows homes and buildings on the archipelago’s most populous island Tongatapu.
"It basically had a very low decay of tsunami size all around the Pacific, which is really, really unusual," Kilgour says. The shockwave that traveled through the air could have coupled with the sea surface, driving the expansive tsunamis. Just such a process1883 explosion of Krakatoa, one of the most powerful and deadly volcanic eruptions in recorded history.
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