A Catastrophic Volcano Has Erupted — The Consequences Could Be Unimaginable

[00:00:01]Wow! Earth's surface is shaking. Long cracks split the ground open. Lava rivers are rapidly flowing down the slopes. Deafening noises filling the air. Rocks and other debris are flying high up. Clouds of volcanic gas and ash cover the sky. Now, this is not a plot of a blockbuster disaster movie. It's what happens when super volcanoes decide to erupt. But this is likely not the scenario that will take place when the world's largest volcano, Monoloa, decides to finish its long, long nap. In 2021, scientists were sure it would happen soon, but so far nothing. The volcano's seismicity keeps increasing and then going back to normal, but you never know when this giant will finally come back to life. That's why experts have been monitoring geological activity on Hawaii's largest island for quite some time. The Big Island of Hawaii is made up of five volcanoes, including the most active on the planet, Kilawea, and the largest, Monoloa. This gigantic thing makes up almost half the land mass of the island. And what lava Kiloa emits in one day, Monaloa, could spew out within 20 minutes. That's what it did in 1984.

[00:01:17]While Monoloa's smaller sibling has been throwing tantrums for a while, the giant has been slumbering ever since its last eruption. But very recently, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory has recorded more than 200 many earthquakes below Monaloa.

[00:01:33]It likely means an increased flow of magma down there. Good morning. The volcano might be waking up or not. If Monaloa did suddenly erupt, lava flows could reach the ocean and the most populated and touristy places like Captain Cook very, very quickly in a matter of hours. In 1984, the last time the volcano erupted, lava got as far as the outskirts of Hilo on the other side of the island. That's where a campus of the University of Hawaii is found.

[00:02:03]Luckily, people had a few weeks warning to get ready for the disaster. These days, locals have special go bags ready with the most important stuff, including documents and money. Such precautions can come in handy in case of an emergency evacuation. Even though most Monoa eruptions have so far only affected the summit area, several of them sent lava all the way down to the ocean. And you never know how powerful the next eruption will be. Now, what is the highest mountain on Earth? Mount Everest, you say? Well, it depends. From seafloor to the summit, Monaloa is 1,000 ft taller than the famous Himalayan peak. The volcano is so big it makes the Pacific plate it's sitting on literally slump under its weight. Scientists say that when this monster of a volcano erupts, the volume of lava coming out per unit will be life-threatening. Over its recorded history, Monaloa has been erupting regularly, almost every 6 years. And even though the last eruption of the volcano occurred about 40 years ago, scientists are certain it'll happen again.

[00:03:11]Now, remember the scene I showed you at the beginning? Well, you can relax. It's not likely to happen with Monaloa. The thing is, big island volcanoes, including Monaloa, aren't very volatile.

[00:03:23]That's because they're shield volcanoes.

[00:03:26]These volcanoes got such a name because they aren't really very high and resemble a warrior's shield placed flat on the ground. Shield volcanoes get formed by very fluid lava. It travels farther and forms much thinner flows than lava erupted from a strat volcano which is conically shaped and tall like the infamous Krakatoa in Indonesia. So if or should I say when Monoa erupts, there probably won't be ash clouds and tons of debris. The most dangerous thing will be lava. Since Monaloa is a shield volcano, its lava is extremely fluid and voluminous, which allows it to flow far and fast.

[00:04:07]Using theoretical vent maps, experts from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory have made charts of possible lava flows.

[00:04:14]They're kind of worried about earthquakes clustering at high rates.

[00:04:18][music] It likely means that lava is on the move under the surface. 500 to 600 earthquakes per day are a serious reason to be on high alert. On the other hand, it doesn't necessarily mean a disaster or inevitable eruption. Around a decade ago, several earthquakes that happened at the same time signal that something was happening under Monoa. But an eruption [music] didn't occur. Instead, half the volcano shifted a bit to the south. This way, it probably gave more room to magma so that it had enough space to stay [music] beneath the surface. Now, let's get back to the catastrophic eruption we saw at the beginning of the video. That's what often happens when a super volcano erupts. Those are volcanoes that have at least once had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index of 8, which is the largest recorded number on the index. Super volcanoes are often extremely large with no cone at all.

[00:05:15]That's because they're typically [music] the remains of gigantic magma chambers that once flared up, leaving behind a caldera. They're usually found over hot spots. Super volcanoes can produce super eruptions. And when they do, they blow [music] more than 240 cubic miles of ash, molten rock, and hot gases up into the air. In other words, four super eruptions could fill the Grand Canyon to the brim. Super volcanoes get formed when gigantic volumes of scorching hot magma are trying to escape from deep underground. This magma rises close to the surface, but can't break through Earth's crust. That's why a huge pressurized pool of bubbling magma gathers at a depth of only several miles. The pressure keeps growing because more magma is trying to get to the surface until bam, a super eruption occurs. The most recent super eruption happened in New Zealand. Well, when I say recent, I mean around 26,500 years ago. Nah, I wasn't around then.

[00:06:18]That's when a super volcano beneath the surface of Lake Tabo spewed into the air more than 300 [music] cubic miles of ash and pummus. Imagine 500,000 [music] great pyramids of Giza flying up at the same time. That's how incredibly powerful that eruption was.

[00:06:35]But the most exciting and confusing thing about the eruption was that the Tabo volcano simply didn't go off like many others. At first, everything was going as usual. More than 200 square miles of magma had built up under the surface and the pressure was getting higher and higher. But after the rock cracked and the first part of lava rushed out of the crater, something went [music] wrong and the super volcano took a break. Only several months later, the disastrous eruption shook the ground, and thousands of tons of lava, rocks, and ash flew high into the atmosphere.

[00:07:11]But the age of super volcanoes isn't over. The most infamous of them all is probably the one in Yellowstone National Park. This giant handles at least three mega powerful eruptions, and who knows how many smaller ones. If this monster erupted anywhere as strongly as it did 2.1 [music] million years ago, it would spit out more than 588 cubic miles of red hot material. You can probably picture it more vividly if I tell you that this volume is comparable to 65 million capital retundas in Washington DC piled together. Wow. Anyway, scientists are sure that Yellowstone doesn't present any danger these days. For an eruption to happen, magma inside must be at least 50% molten. With the Yellowstone caldera, this number is just 5 to 15%.

[00:08:02]But of course, Yellowstone isn't the only super volcano on our planet.

[00:08:07]There's also New Zealand's Tabo. You already know about Japan's Eric Cauldra, California's Long Valley, Indonesia's Toba. Any of them can one day produce a super eruption. There are also several so-called super volcanoes that haven't lived up to this name yet because they've never produced anything like a super eruption. For example, in 1883, Indonesian volcano Crakatoa went off.

[00:08:33]The power of the eruption tore the volcano's walls open and cold seawater rushed into its molten insides. The difference in temperature made the volcano blow up with a deafening boom.

[00:08:45]It was clearly heard 2,000 mi away in Australia. It earned the blast the title of the loudest sound in history. But even though the consequences of this event were truly catastrophic, it still turned out not powerful enough to be called a super eruption.

[00:09:03]The Kikai [music] caldera is being recharged and that might trigger one of the most destructive eruptions we've ever seen.

[00:09:12]It would not only destroy parts [music] of Japan but also affect the lives of millions of people around the world.

[00:09:20]And if this new study [music] is right, Kikai might not be the only threat.

[00:09:25]Other massive caleras like Toba and Yellowstone could be on the same path.

[00:09:32]The Kikai [music] caldera is an active volcano system near Kiushu Island.

[00:09:37]Unlike traditional volcanoes with a visible peak, a caldera [music] is a giant crater left behind by past eruptions.

[00:09:46]In Kikai's [music] case, much of it is hidden beneath the ocean, so it's hard to know exactly when it might erupt.

[00:09:53]But scientists just found a large magma chamber [music] beneath it, and it is slowly filling up.

[00:10:00]That's super concerning because we're talking about one of the most dangerous volcanic systems on Earth. Around 7,300 years ago, [music] it triggered the largest eruption in our current geological era. It spread ash and rock across 1,700 square miles. That's like three times the size of Los Angeles.

[00:10:21]This event is [music] known as the Aka Hoya eruption, and it was probably what wiped out a prehistoric [music] community living there at the time known as the Jon people.

[00:10:32]Kikai has [music] not done anything nearly that dramatic since. But the next major event may be closer than we think because that huge magma reservoir scientists have just found is probably the same one that fed the Akahoya eruption. The problem is that the magma inside does not [music] appear to be leftover material from that ancient blast. It looks new.

[00:10:57]That changes the story completely. This is not old heat slowly [music] fading away. It's a big volcano being recharged, and that raises new concerns about its potential to erupt again.

[00:11:10]The stakes are now much higher than they were 7,000 years ago. Back then, the region was home to scattered communities.

[00:11:18]Today, an eruption like this could affect the lives of 120 million people.

[00:11:24]Volcanic ash could cover a huge area, destroying homes and shutting down electricity, gas, and water services.

[00:11:31][music] It could also block roads and highways, paralyzing transport and cutting off food supplies.

[00:11:38]The destruction would not stop in Japan.

[00:11:41]It could also trigger tsunamis and earthquakes later on. At the same time, volcanic ash could block sunlight and lower [music] global temperatures that damages crops, leading to food shortages around the world and major [music] economic losses.

[00:11:58]Even if nothing like this happens, [music] this discovery still matters. It puts us one step closer to understanding when the next big eruption might happen.

[00:12:09]Researchers now want to refine the methods that [music] work so well in this study so they can better understand how volcanic systems are refilled.

[00:12:18]If they succeed, [music] we may find that other giant calderas like Yellowstone and Toba are on the same path. And by spotting the warning signs of a giant eruption earlier, we could have a better chance of protecting ourselves.

[00:12:35]Phew. You can finally send that last report for the day and breathe out. The weekend is around the corner, but just when you're about to hit send, you're alarmed by the low rumbling under your desk. Is it the light rail passing by?

[00:12:49]Unfortunately, that's not the case. It's a volcano speaking.

[00:12:53]What? Here in Arizona? That's right. The ground keeps shifting under Arizona, reminding us that Earth is alive. No panic, though. Let's arm ourselves with some context. 20 American states have extinct, active, and dormant, currently sleeping volcanoes. Among such [music] states, you can find California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. On the bright side, Arizona's volcanoes are dormant at the moment, but it doesn't mean they won't go off in the near or not so near future.

[00:13:34]Now, how about traveling to Arizona to check the traces of its active volcanic past? They dot the desert landscapes of this state like spots dot a Dalmatian.

[00:13:45]There are entire volcanic fields southwest of Phoenix, east of Douglas, near Flagstaff, north of Kingman, and near the Mexico border. The most worrying thing about these fields is that even though they're not active at the moment, eruptions in this region might happen every thousand years or so.

[00:14:09]Well, the time seems to be up.

[00:14:12]The last powerful and destructive volcanic eruption occurred [music] around 1,000 years ago at the Sunset Crater. Oh, this place [music] is worth paying more attention to. And we will, but a bit later.

[00:14:25]First, we have to talk about hotspots.

[00:14:28]No, not that place where [music] you can surf the web. In our volcanic context, a hot spot is [music] a place where insane amounts of heat melt the overlying crust, [music] Earth's thin outer layer, and form volcanoes. This heat rises from the mantle which is [music] located between our planet's dense, superheated core and the crust.

[00:14:50]Want to see an example of this type of volcanism? Welcome to the Hawaiian Islands.

[00:14:56]The Big [music] Island has its active volcanoes because at the moment it's situated on top of the Hawaiian hot spot. The older Hawaiian islands were once there too, but later they drifted [music] off towards the northwest. It happened because that's where the oceanic crust on top of which they sat, namely the Pacific plate, [music] moved.

[00:15:18]Now, look at the world's ocean basins.

[00:15:20]Yes, they're literally [music] dotted with islands that sit on top of hot spots like Hawaii, Iceland, Samoa, the Galapagos. [music] Those are probably the most famous examples. But don't think that continents [music] can't host hotspots.

[00:15:36]They can, but those are far less common.

[00:15:39]One of the most famous continental hotspots is ah, I bet you know it. Yep, the one beneath the Yellowstone Caldera.

[00:15:48]By the way, the caldera is a vast [music] volcanic crater, especially one formed as a result of a massive eruption that led to the collapse of the mouth of a volcano.

[00:15:59]The Yellowstone hotspot is basically the creator of Old [music] Faithful and the rest of the hot springs and mud pots for which the national park is famous.

[00:16:08]Speaking of Old Faithful, let's make a small detour and pay more attention to this wonder of nature.

[00:16:15]It's one of the most well-known geysers in the world. People have been coming from all over the globe to see it for more than a century.

[00:16:23]The cool thing about this geyser is that the likes of it can only form under very specific conditions. That's why they're pretty rare.

[00:16:32]Magma under the surface superheats pockets of underground water. The pressure there keeps growing until it eventually pushes the water upward with immense strength. A certain volcanic rock with a high silica content lines the tunnel through which this water escapes. Basically, it creates a unique pipe that can withstand unbelievable pressure and heat created by the water erupting above the ground.

[00:17:00]Old Faithful was the very first named geyser in Yellowstone. If you come to visit it expecting the thing to erupt every hour on the hour, you're going to be disappointed. On average, Old Faithful erupts every 91 minutes or so, which isn't that bad either. Plus, you can download a special app which will provide you with the approximate time of the next eruption. But be very careful while visiting and stay away from the site. The water erupting from the powerful geyser reaches 204° F.

[00:17:32]The steam is even more scorching up to 350° F. It's hot enough to bake a cake.

[00:17:40]But let's get back to our volcanic hotspots.

[00:17:44]Scientists still don't clearly understand why there aren't many hot spot volcanoes on continental crust. One reason might be that the continental crust is much thicker than the oceanic crust, which is about four times as thick on average.

[00:18:00]Another reason could be that most of Earth's crust, about 2/3 of it, is oceanic. This means that there's less continental crust for hotspots to form under.

[00:18:12]Now, I bet those of you living in Arizona will appreciate the following info. We'll talk about a volcanic field right in the heart of this state. The San Francisco Volcanic Field.

[00:18:24]That's a massive area filled with over 600 volcanoes. Yes, they're mostly small, but it doesn't make them any less impressive. They're scattered across 1,800 square miles in northern Arizona, a giant territory.

[00:18:39]Interestingly, scientists are still debating about whether this volcanic field is actually sitting on top of a hot spot. But one thing they agree upon, the volcanoes in this area get younger as you move east. And this pattern matches up with the North American plate moving west over what could be a stationary hot spot beneath the surface of our planet. Cool, huh?

[00:19:04]The volcanic holo in that area started around 6 million years ago. So in geological terms, it's relatively young.

[00:19:13]As for the most recent eruption, it happened less than a thousand years ago.

[00:19:18]The Sunset Crater, which I mentioned before, the one near Flagstaff, is the most famous vent from that eruption. The Sinagua people had to leave their homes at Wupatki Pueblo because of the eruption. That site is now part of the Wupatki National Monument. There you can see how people lived in this volcanic region many years ago.

[00:19:40]If you go to explore this area, [music] you'll notice that most of the volcanoes there are basalt cinder cones, small and steep. The Colorado Plateau has quite dry weather conditions. That's why the volcanoes haven't worn down much. Some of the best examples of those cones, like this one, called the SP crater, still look like they appeared yesterday.

[00:20:04]But look around. It's not just cinder cones. The San Francisco volcanic field also has a strat volcano [music] as well as some lava domes that formed from volcanic rocks with more silica than basaltt you can find in places like Hawaii.

[00:20:21]It means they're thicker and don't flow as easily. Anyway, the Strata volcano is going to be one of the most epic sites you'll come across while exploring this volcanic field. Well, not the Strato volcano itself, but the San Francisco peaks, the remains of that giant formation.

[00:20:38]They stand tall at more than 12,600 ft.

[00:20:42]That's 4 and a half Burj Khalifas placed on top of one another. It makes the peaks some of the biggest landmarks in northern Arizona.

[00:20:51]They're not only stunning, but also sacred to the Native American people who have lived in the area for many generations.

[00:21:00]Now, unlike those super active volcanoes in Hawaii, the San Francisco volcanic field takes its time, thousands of years between eruptions.

[00:21:10]But you shouldn't relax just yet.

[00:21:12]Geologists say another eruption is likely to happen one day.

[00:21:17]It will [music] probably occur in the remote eastern part of the field away from big towns. Phew. And if that next eruption is anything like the one that forms Sunset Crater, it would be quite the show. Lava fountains and rivers of lava flowing. At the same time, the next eruption might not happen for centuries, maybe even millennia.

[00:21:40]Until then, the San Francisco volcanic [music] field will remain a hidden gem of volcanic history, waiting for its next fiery performance.

[00:21:52]The largest volcanic region on Earth is not in Africa or Japan, but under the ice of Antarctica. Scientists found 138 volcanoes in its western part, and if they decide to go wild, you'll surely notice it. They could melt huge amounts of ice that will move into the ocean, raise its level, and make our planet uninhabitable for humans. But before you pack your things to fly away to another planet, hear me out. Only two of the Antarctic volcanoes are officially classified as active now. And it would take a whole series of eruptions decade after decade to seriously impact the whole world.

[00:22:31]Mount Arabus, one of the two Antarctic volcanoes currently in action, proudly bears the title of the world's southernmost active one. It has been continuously erupting since at least 1972. It emits plumes of gas and steam and sometimes even spews out rocks, and scientists call it Strombolian eruptions. One of the coolest features is a lava lake in one of its summit craters with molten material on the surface. Such lakes are rather rare because they need certain conditions to make sure the surface never freezes over. The second active volcano is Deception Island, a horseshoe-shaped landmass. It is the caldera of an active volcano that last erupted over 50 years ago. Scientists who monitor it say it shouldn't go wild anytime soon.

[00:23:18]Antarctica also has plenty of fummeralss. Those are volcanic vents that release gases and vapors into the air. In the right conditions, they can spew out enough stuff to build fumemerrollic ice towers up to 10 ft tall.

[00:23:33]Scientists keep an eye on the Antarctic volcanoes with seismometers that detect when the Earth starts trembling from volcanic activity. Sometimes they also use more complicated tech. But it's all really challenging because of how far away this polar region is and how tricky it is to get there. That's why no one can predict when one of the continent's volcanoes that are now sleeping might erupt. We can guess what this waking up would look like if we analyze the events from nearly 20,000 years ago. So, shall we?

[00:24:06]One of Antarctica's sleeping volcanoes, Mount Takah had a series of eruptions and spewed out a good amount of halogens rich in ozone back then. Some scientists say these events warmed up the southern hemisphere. glaciers started to melt and help finish the last ice age. For these events to repeat, we'd need a series of eruptions with substances rich in halogens from one or more volcanoes that are now above the ice. It's an unlikely scenario, but since it already happened in the past, it's not completely impossible.

[00:24:39]As for volcanoes hiding under a thick layer of ice, it looks like their gases would hardly make it to the atmosphere, but they would be strong enough to melt huge caverns in the base of the ice and [music] produce a serious amount of melt water. The West Antarctic ice sheet is wet and not frozen [music] to its bed.

[00:24:56]So, this melt water would work as a lubricant and set the overlying ice into motion soon. The volume of water that even a large volcano would generate in this way is nothing compared to the volume of ice beneath it. So a single eruption wouldn't make a difference. But several volcanoes erupting close to or beneath any of the western Antarctica's big ice streams would. Those ice streams are rivers of ice that take most of the frozen water in Antarctica into the ocean. If they change their speed and bring unusual amounts of water into the ocean, its level will rise. As the ice would get thinner and thinner, [music] there would be more and more new eruptions. Scientists call it a runaway effect. Something like that happened in Iceland. The number of volcanic eruptions went up when glaciers started to recede at the end of the last ice age.

[00:25:49]So it looks like for massive changes, several powerful volcanoes above the ice with gases full of halogens need to get active within a few decades of each other and stay strong over many tens to hundreds of years. Antarctica stores around 80% of all the fresh water in the world. And if they melted all of it, global sea levels would rise by almost 200 ft. And then we'd have to look for a new planet to live on. But this again is an unlikely scenario. It's more likely that the eruptions under the ice will lubricate ice streams and seep water into the ocean. But it wouldn't be the end of the world.

[00:26:29]A super strong, super angry super volcano could do it though, and it is already happened in the past. Over 200 million years ago, the world went through a major makeover with not one, not two, but four massive volcanic eruptions and huge pulses. The super volcano called Camp had been erupting over and over for 600,000 years. It all happened in Rangelia, a large chunk of land that used to be a super massive volcano stretching [music] across what's now British Columbia and Alaska. And it wasn't the lava or the volcanic ash that ruined the environment. The eruption made carbon levels skyrocket. The planet would never be the same again. This volcanic activity might have helped dinosaurs grow from cat-sized critters into giants we saw in Jurassic Park.

[00:27:18][music] It kicked off a 2 million-year rainy season. It made the whole world hot and humid. And the dinos just loved it. Researchers dug deep into sediment layers beneath an ancient lake in Asia to uncover [music] these secrets. They found traces of volcanic ash and mercury, clear signs of those epic eruptions. There were carbon signatures showing huge spikes in carbon dioxide levels. It made the atmosphere toasty and the rain poured down.

[00:27:46]So, the bad news is another eruption like this could happen. The super volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park has been sleeping for nearly 70,000 years. But if it wakes up, it would be many times more catastrophic than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

[00:28:04]It's considered the most disastrous volcanic eruption in US history. It followed 2 months of earthquakes and injection of magma below the volcano that weakened and destroyed the entire north face of the mountain. The eruption column went 80,000 ft into the atmosphere and spread ash over 11 US states and several Canadian provinces.

[00:28:25]The last Yellowstone eruption was a thousand times greater than that.

[00:28:31]The ground above Yellowstone sits on a hot spot made of molten and semi molten rock called magma. This magma stuff flows into a chamber beneath the park about 4 to 6 mi down making the ground puff up like a balloon. But then as it cools down, the ground goes back to [music] its usual state. Volcano watchers have been keeping an eye on this for a century. They noticed the ground lift up about 10 in around 20 years ago, but since 2010, it's been going back down. The experts say we have no big eruptions on the horizon, so Doomsday isn't coming anytime soon. But there's some underground activity going on lately which keeps us interested.

[00:29:12]Since humans haven't been around to witness every little thing Yellowstone does, it's kind of tough to say for sure what's brewing down there. Yellowstone has had some epic eruptions within the last couple million years. They happened like clockwork with gaps of 6 to 800,000 years between them. The last big one was around [music] 640,000 years ago, and it basically reshaped the entire landscape, spreading ash and debris as far as Louisiana. You can still see the aftermath of the last big eruption in the Yellowstone Caldera today. Experts say a massive eruption like the last one is an unlikely scenario. We're more likely to see eruptions of steam and hot water or lava flows. When and with what force it will wake up remains a mystery to scientists.

[00:29:59]Okay, watch your step now. Millions of gallons of hot magma are gathering in one flow and rising thousands of miles to the surface of our planet. A massive fracture in a tectonic plate shakes the ground and fills the air with a loud hum. Fire, gases, lava erupt from the dark, unexplored depths of Earth's crust. A planetary scale catastrophe has just happened and no one's noticed it.

[00:30:25]Now, imagine you're having fun on a luxury yacht somewhere in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, drinking cocktails and sunbathing. At this moment, one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in the planet's history is happening right below you, but you don't feel anything. You don't even drop your glass. Yeah, you can hear a strange sound coming from the ocean depths. You see foaming water and pieces of pummus floating up to the surface, but it doesn't bother you much.

[00:30:53]So, how did it happen that we missed such a powerful eruption in 2012? Why did scientists find out about it only a few years later? The answer is simple.

[00:31:03]Water. An eruption of an ordinary volcano is a huge disaster. There are incandescent liquid metals and molten rock containing almost the entire [music] periodic table inside our planet. All of this soup is called magma and it's constantly boiling inside the subs soil of our world. This hot substance is lighter than the surrounding crust, [music] so it always rises. Fortunately, the planet surface is strong enough and doesn't allow magma to splash out. But sometimes this protection fails.

[00:31:33]The upper part of Earth is covered with connected parts, tectonic plates. These plates collide with each other and then move apart. Imagine a big moving mosaic puzzle where all its parts are tectonic plates. And when a small part of this puzzle gets separated from another, magma immediately comes up. These unstable fault sites with leaking magma are called volcanoes. And when they erupt, it gets hot. Lava flows out of the vent and burns all the vegetation around. This is accompanied by earthquakes and thick black smoke. If a volcano spits out magma too high, it falls back to the surface in the form of fire rain. But the worst thing here is ash. It's not that ash that's left in your grill after a good barbecue.

[00:32:18][music] No, no. Volcanic ash consists of solid particles harmful to any organism. These particles are not burnt wood, but various chemical elements. Volcanic ash is sharp, dense, and tangible. It can block sunlight, cover, and destroy all plants, settle in your lungs. If you get too close to an erupting volcano, well, you better have a fireproof suit, oxygen tanks, a gas mask, and an underground shelter. then you might survive, but there's no guarantee.

[00:32:48]At the same time, if an eruption occurs underwater, you don't need to worry about it. Of course, if you're not a marine biologist studying coral reefs nearby, or if you don't travel past that area in a submarine, in that case, boy, you're in trouble. When an underwater volcano erupts, this shakes a colossal area, heats the water, destroys the seabed, but almost nothing happens at the surface. The enormous pressure of millions of gallons of water suppresses the destructive power of the volcano.

[00:33:16]Molten rock shooting out of Earth's crust get pressed against the seabed.

[00:33:21]Yeah, a submarine swimming by would be thrown off course and might [music] collide with solidified lava.

[00:33:27]Fortunately, no such cases have ever been recorded, but it can easily become a reality because underwater eruptions happen pretty often. More than 70% of all volcanic activity occurs underwater [music] and almost no one notices it. In most cases, these volcanoes immediately fall asleep after they erupt and never wake up again. But in 2012, [music] something happened and scientists couldn't ignore it. Big pieces of pummus the size of a van began floating up in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. These rocks covered about 154 square miles.

[00:34:01]There were thousands of them. They look like a group of unknown floating mini islands. Volcanic stones were scattered in the ocean over the area twice as large as New Zealand. Scientists determined the full scale of the disaster with the help of deep sea sonar devices. They studied the seabed at a depth of 4,000 ft for a long time and found 14 craters from which magma had flowed during the eruption. The seabed was covered [music] with frozen lava flows and tons of ash. The researchers found that more than a third of the erupted volcanic material surfaced and was scattered all over the place. The rest remained at the bottom. This wiped out all marine life in the area. It seemed that this eruption was one of the largest in the entire history of observations. But in 2019, researchers discovered something even more significant.

[00:34:51]That was an underwater volcano three times higher than the Eiffel Tower.

[00:34:56]According to scientist calculations, it ejected between 30 and 1,000 times more molten rock than the previous volcano.

[00:35:03]This monster had been feeding from the world's deepest magma reservoir we know about. Seismic activity here was so devastating that it destroyed everything around. Fortunately, not for long. After any eruption, life reappears like a phoenix rises from the ashes. And it's not just a figure of speech. Volcanic ash and lava around the volcano contain many useful mineral elements. All of them nourish the soil and help microorganisms develop on land and in the water. For this reason, there's [music] usually so much vegetation, flowers, and trees around volcanoes. And underwater volcanoes can eventually form islands. This is a long process that ends with the appearance of a massive piece of land above the water surface.

[00:35:47]To understand how this happens, you need to go back millions of years. So, let's go see this underwater volcano. There are sea dinosaurs, giant sharks, and ancient fish swimming around. Now, the seabed starts shaking. The volcano releases tons of magma and ash. The water pressure immediately pushes all this stuff back to the bottom. The eruption can continue for a long time.

[00:36:11]The released magma raises the seabed.

[00:36:13]After hundreds, maybe a thousand years, a new eruption begins. New magma flows create a new layer above the previous one. Over millions of years, layer by layer, the volcano is growing. It's slowly rising thanks to constant eruptions. Of course, with time, some volcanoes go dormant. But this one continues to erupt. And then one day, the volcanic rock reaches the surface and an island emerges. After many more years, the volcano can fall asleep.

[00:36:43]After this, life is likely to appear on the island. grass, flowers, trees, animals. The area that was once ruined seabed is swarming with life now.

[00:36:53]Volcanic islands have unique ecosystems because they develop separately from all the continents. Observing such islands help scientists understand how life on Earth evolves. New species of birds, animals, insects can live on these chunks of land.

[00:37:09]Hundreds of islands around the world appeared thanks to eruptions of underwater volcanoes. You can find them in Hawaii, Indonesia, Iceland. Many of them are inhabited by people who build villages and towns there. There were cases when a volcano erupted when people literally lived on top of it. That's what happened on the small island of Algashima located to the south of Tokyo.

[00:37:31]People built a beautiful town right in the crater of an active volcano. And in May 1785, an eruption began. Nobody expected this to happen. At some point, thousands of birds rose in the air and flew away from the island. Then the ground began to shake. A heavy low sound shook the air. [music] Thick smoke appeared above the top of the green volcano. The crater started spitting dirt, [music] huge rocks, and red-hot pieces of magma into the sky. The disaster lasted several weeks. People somehow managed to evacuate. Then finally, the volcano calmed down. After that, a long process of recovery started. The inhabitants of the town rebuilt houses, roads, infrastructure.

[00:38:16]More than 200 years have passed since that moment. And during this time, the volcano never woke up. And despite the risk of a new eruption, people continue living there. The population is growing.

[00:38:29]Many people from other cities and countries come to live there. The main reason everyone loves this place is that it looks like a paradise. Nobody wants to leave the island. There are thermal springs where you can bathe, dense jungle with many beautiful animals and trees. The soil is rich and you can grow tasty fruit and vegetables there.

[00:38:48][music] The water near the coast is swarming with fish. Every day you can enjoy the incredible landscapes of the island. Seismological services constantly monitor the situation and watch the volcano's activity, listening for a rumble that may someday come again.

[00:39:06]This is not some hypothetical situation or fairy tale. The Vuvius super volcano that erased the city of Pompei may wake up again and destroy many other towns built near the mountain.

[00:39:20]And to understand what consequences [music] humanity would face if it wakens this time, it's smart to note what the eruption did 2,000 years ago with the ancient city.

[00:39:31]So Pompei was a thriving city in the Roman Empire located just 5 miles from Vuvius on the west coast of Italy.

[00:39:40]It was a resort where the noblest and richest [music] people rested. They walked along cozy streets, lived in beautiful villas, and had fun beside fountains.

[00:39:51]The soil in this region was fertile since the ground around the volcano had a lot of useful elements. Olives and grapes from Pompei were sold throughout the empire.

[00:40:02]About 12,000 people lived in Pompei by the time of the eruption. It seems [music] not so much compared to modern standards, but it was considered a big city in those days.

[00:40:14]The catastrophe began unexpectedly in 79 CE. At first, everyone felt the ground tremble. Birds flew away from the volcano as far as possible. There was tension in the air because of the impending catastrophe.

[00:40:30]The volcano started to release thick smoke, soot, and ash. There was so much of it that soon it obscured the sky over the city with a heavy gray cloud. Vubius spat out gases, rocks, and dirt. Hot ash polluted the air and made it difficult for people to breathe. Locals couldn't see inside this gray haze. And then it started raining heavily. The water mixed with ash and soot and fell on Pompei.

[00:40:59]Roofs of houses broke under the heavy weight of mud. Streets, fountains, alleys, and squares were hidden under millions of tons of soot. The next day, the destruction continued with renewed force.

[00:41:13]There was an explosion of hot gas and crushed rock at the top of the mountain.

[00:41:18]A devastating blast wave at a speed of 100 mph dispersed in all directions and vaporized all the trees in its path.

[00:41:27]When the wave reached Pompei, it turned the city into ruins. On the second day, the eruption stopped.

[00:41:36]By this time, the great town had been lying under a thick blanket of ash.

[00:41:41]By the way, this type of eruption is called an explosive one. But when lava flows out of a volcano and causes a fire, this is a quiet eruption. The last time Vuvius erupted was in 1944.

[00:41:56]But even today, it's still one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.

[00:42:01]But nobody's afraid of it. 3 million people live around the mountain about 20 m from the crater. If the volcano wakes up, it could be one of the most enormous cataclysms in the modern world.

[00:42:16]Pompei was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago. Since then, science and technology have advanced a lot. We're planning to colonize Mars someday. We've created a metaverse. But so far, we're still powerless before the forces of nature.

[00:42:34]An erupting super volcano can destroy nature around it and cause technogenic catastrophes in big cities. The phone lines would be overloaded and people wouldn't be [music] able to call their loved ones or the rescue service.

[00:42:48]There would be big traffic jams on the roads. Panic would spread throughout the streets. Fires would start because of falling hot soot. All flights would be cancelled and locals would have to hide in airports, supermarkets, and the subway. A large gray cloud would obscure the sun and make the air hot.

[00:43:08]The only thing that can help us in such a situation is a preliminary warning about the upcoming eruption and good preparation. So if the disaster starts while walking on the streets, you should take shelter in a car or building. It's better to buy a dusk mask in advance that allows you to breathe freely. If there's no mask, cover your nose and mouth with any cloth. If you stay at home, close all doors and windows so volcanic ash can't get into your apartment or home. These incandescent particles can easily set fire to a carpet or curtains.

[00:43:45]Put wet towels under the door sills. If you need to go outside for some reason, wear a suit covering your body completely. Don't forget about the protection for your eyes. Put on special glasses that have a dustproof function.

[00:43:59]And remember about the mask.

[00:44:02]If you have a house, you need to disconnect the downpipes from the gutters to avoid clogging the drains. If your house has a rainwater collection system, you need to disconnect the pipes from the tank. Rain with ashes is a hot, dense mess that can easily break the water supply system. Fill the tub and sink to have water for washing and cleaning in case the central water supply is turned off. Set the lowest temperature on the fridge and freezer.

[00:44:30]Your food will be stored much longer if electricity is shut down in the city. Go to a room without windows above ground level and wait for a message from authorities on the radio or TV. Keep the receiver close to you so you don't miss anything important. The device must have a full charge, a strong body, and a powerful antenna. Here's an excellent option for survival in the ash apocalypse.

[00:44:58]The eruption is intensifying and you hear on the radio about the evacuation.

[00:45:04]At this [music] point, you need to calm down and follow the instructions from rescuers. Collect a bag at home with food, water, and medical supplies. Your emergency kit should include flares, maps, a first aid kit, sleeping bags, flashlights, a fire extinguisher, a portable phone charger, car tools, and a few charged batteries.

[00:45:28]You should always have a filled gasoline canister if you live near an active volcano.

[00:45:34]Going to the gas station is not a good idea during the evacuation. You can get into a long traffic jam and spend too much time in it. If you don't have a car, ask your friends for help or pay someone for a ride. It's possible the city administration would organize buses for evacuation.

[00:45:54]you would find out about it through the radio. In any case, before leaving the house, don't forget to turn off the gas and electrical devices and shut off the valve with the water supply to prevent your home from a gas leak or flooding.

[00:46:08]>> Government officials, >> so you're driving a car. The authorities must announce the plans for evacuation.

[00:46:15]Don't go off the route because some roads can be blocked. Perhaps they will say the eruption is over and you can return home. Maybe the eruption will be so strong that it will destroy the city.

[00:46:27]Anyway, if you're prepared, you'll have fewer things to worry about. Modern seismic sensors monitor the fluctuations of tectonic plates and the volcano's activity, so the eruption won't be a surprise.

[00:46:42]Pompei is far from the only city destroyed by the eruption.

[00:46:47]In 1785, [music] a similar disaster occurred in the Japanese town of Alushima.

[00:46:54]It was located right in the crater of an active volcano. And one day, it woke up.

[00:47:00]It was sunny weather and no one suspected a disaster was coming. At some point, the birds rose in the air and flew away. Then the ground began to shake.

[00:47:14]A heavy low sound came from the depths of the island and thick streams of smoke and ash erupted from the volcano. The volcano threw dirt and big red hot stones into the sky. It looked like a meteor shower. People evacuated and the mountain continued to erupt for several weeks. When the ashes settled, the volcano fell asleep again and people began to return to their city. Despite the risk of a new eruption, they continue to live and work there today.

[00:47:46]Since then, more than 200 years have passed, and the volcano never woke up.

[00:47:51]Meteorological and seismological services monitor the situation and seismic activity.

[00:47:58]After all the horrors and devastation that a volcanic eruption leads to, Harmony and Nature eventually comes.

[00:48:05]Decades and centuries later, volcanic ash, rich in helpful food elements, settles on the soil and makes it fertile. Then life will rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

[00:48:21]One of the largest apocalypses that humanity has experienced happened about 74,000 years ago on the territory of modern Indonesia. It was an eruption of a super volcano on Mount Toba. It was also the biggest eruption on earth over the last 2 million years. Even the tragedy of Pompei when the volcano Vuvius destroyed the entire city was not so large scale.

[00:48:47]At the time of the Toba eruption, humanity was as close to extinction as ever. And the problem wasn't in the volcano itself, but in the consequences that came after. Some studies suggest that 3 to 10,000 people could survive the period [music] after the eruption.

[00:49:04]During the disaster, Toba released millions of tons of volcanic ash and soot. This cloud spread across the sky, blocking the sun in India, Indonesia, and over the Indian Ocean. Some scientists claimed [music] the world had been plunged into volcanic winter for several decades. Take a look out the window in cloudy weather. Do you see how gray clouds cover the sky? But still, clouds [music] let the sunlight pass through. It was much worse during the Toba eruption since sulfur [music] dioxide in the volcanic ash reflected sunlight.

[00:49:41]Dust and ashes didn't settle for a long time. Perhaps they flew all over the planet, destroying many living things. A lot of plants [music] couldn't survive because of the lack of sunlight. Also, Earth's temperature dropped by several [music] degrees which led to new disasters. In today's modern world, the temperature doesn't affect residents of our cities that much. But for nature, even minor changes may entail catastrophic consequences. [music] For example, plants and insects can live at the same temperature for thousands of years, but a [music] sharp cold snap destroys them. This leads to the fact that almost all animals don't get [music] enough food to feed their offspring. The population of all creatures in the wild [music] is dropping.

[00:50:29]The ancient people of that time survived by hunting herbivores and gathering [music] berries, fruits, and mushrooms.

[00:50:37]But the eruption destroyed almost all of it. Also, a lack of light caused a lack of vitamin D. As a result, people were starving and they also were pretty depressed.

[00:50:49]However, some scientists think [music] that many people survived this period quite easily, especially those who lived on the coast of South Africa. The ocean received the most minor damage from the disaster. The tribes who lived near the water caught a lot of fish. Both versions haven't yet been proven.

[00:51:06]Scientists still try to build an accurate picture of human development after this volcanic apocalypse.

[00:51:15]About 50,000 years after the Toba eruption, when the sun had finally passed through the gray clouds and the ash settled on the ground, nature and people began to restore the previous balance. But the warm times quickly didn't start as the ice age had already begun. And this problem was much more [music] severe as it lasted for thousands of years.

[00:51:39]Decreased solar activity and planet orbit [music] changes led to strong temperature drops. Eternal cold covered almost the entire globe, forcing all [music] living beings to migrate and struggle for survival.

[00:51:53]Such powerful animals as mammoths and saber-tooth tigers couldn't survive the ice age. But homo sapiens [music] were able to adapt to their new weather conditions. People hid in caves, made fires, and improved their hunting [music] skills. Therefore, in a sense, the ice age made humanity [music] stronger.

[00:52:15]In the modern world, such weather can cause significant problems for the global economy and create financial crisis worldwide. The last period similar to the ice age happened at [music] the beginning of the 19th century. Mount Tambbora in Indonesia exploded and released millions of tons of pummus, soot, and volcanic ash into the sky.

[00:52:38]People who lived on a volcanic island got the [music] most severe damage in the first few minutes. But then the eruption's consequences began to reach the whole world. Volcanic ash again [music] blocked sunlight and led to one of the coldest years in North America and Eurasia.

[00:52:55]This year 1816 is better known in history as the year without summer. The ash [music] cloud increased humidity and lowered the temperature in many areas.

[00:53:05]In the summer of 1816 in Central and [music] Western Europe and North America, a humid climate and cold destroyed the harvest. Prices for goods rose [music] and poor people lost access to food. Logistics and transport also suffered.

[00:53:22]People used horses to move around at that time and [music] since oats became expensive, many couldn't afford to keep these animals. Many believe these circumstances [music] inspired the inventor Carl Drace to create the world's first bicycle.

[00:53:37]Also, there's a theory that the Tambora eruption helped invent Frankenstein.

[00:53:41][music] Several writers, including Byron and Shel gathered in a villa in Switzerland where they began to write fantastic [music] novels. Bad weather and rain outside the window inspired Mary Shel to write a story about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

[00:53:59]Even now, this volcano is active, but it's not going to wake up anymore.

[00:54:05]But if it happens again, will we be [music] ready this time? Most likely, there will be fewer consequences since we have technologies, big incubators, and green houses where we grow livestock, vegetables, and fruits. Of course, winter will provoke a crisis all year round, but we can easily survive it.

[00:54:26]In the 1930s, another disaster occurred.

[00:54:29]But this time, it was caused not only by nature, but also by people. At that time, many countries were heavily dependent on crops. Vast territories were sewn with them. People were engaged in excessive farming. [music] Therefore, when a severe drought began, the soil was quickly depleted.

[00:54:49]The ground ran out of nutrients necessary for the growth of wheat and corn. This led to the fact that the top layer of [music] soil was turned into tiny dust. Then westtheasterly winds hit such states as Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma. They rose the dust into the air and formed thick clouds.

[00:55:11]This period is considered the most challenging time of the Great Depression. It's the dust bowl. It lasted 8 years and [music] forced many people to leave their homes and move to other states.

[00:55:22]Dust storms got so strong that they blocked the sun in Washington DC. Whole cities were covered with rain from sand which caused problems with breathing.

[00:55:32]Even the captains of ships sailing in the Atlantic Ocean reported polluted air.

[00:55:38]Powerful earthquakes, super volcano eruptions, floods, fires, and hurricanes swept whole species of animals off the planet. But a human has always survived in the most challenging conditions.

[00:55:51][music] So, don't worry about the next global catastrophe. People will handle it. We hope so. But what [music] if some global catastrophe happens? For example, a huge meteorite falls or the atmosphere gets poisoned. In this case, it'd be best to find a remote island or fly to the moon. The main thing is to have the opportunity to return. After all, sooner or later, the apocalypse [music] ends and Earth will be as good as new, probably. Another option is to live in an underground bunker with large reserves of food and oxygen. About 8 billion people are living in the world.

[00:56:25]For humanity to prosper again after the apocalypse and restore its population, 1 to 500 people will be enough. There have been cases in world history when small tribes numbering a few hundred people have lived for centuries and even millennia.

[00:56:40]However, to do this, you'd have to leave mega cities, big towns only import food.

[00:56:46]They're heavily dependent on farm fields and crops. During some global catastrophe, no one would give food to the cities. Hunger would lead to complete chaos. To live well, people would need to escape from their towns and repeat the practice of those who lived in the early Neolithic period.

[00:57:04]It was about 12,000 years ago, just after the end of the last ice age.

[00:57:09]People at that time lived separately in small [music] villages. The population of each of them was from a couple of hundred to a thousand people. They lived independently, provided food, and made big families. In fact, it's not such a bad option after the apocalypse to [music] grow vegetables on a small farm, eat healthy food, and enjoy nature.

[00:57:34]The latest super eruption of Yellowstone occurred 640,000 years ago and it was long before Homo sapiens saw the light of day. But we were around during another no less devastating natural disaster. This super eruption took place on the island of Sumatra [music] around 74,000 years ago.

[00:57:54]That's when an erupting super volcano wre havoc on huge territories, [music] sending up plumes of debris and ash that spread for thousands of miles and cause temperatures on the planet to plummet.

[00:58:07]The effects of this super eruption were [music] visible as far away as southern Africa. Experts believe they could have impacted early humans there. By the time the volcano erupted, [music] our ancestors had already been using stone tools and had likely known how to produce yarn. And some [music] specialists even think that the Toba super eruption was so powerful it could push our ancestors to the brink [music] of extinction.

[00:58:34]They claim that Toba might be the largest volcanic eruption to occur on [music] Earth within the last 2 million years. The eruption disgorged so much pyrolastic rock it would be enough to cover the entire United States to the depth of a one-story house. About a third of that deposit piled up on northern Sumatra, while a lot more ended up beneath the floor of the Indian Ocean. The super eruption left an elliptical crater lake around 60 mi long. The caldera is so large it's hard to feel that you're indeed in a volcano.

[00:59:09]Pummus deposits from the eruption remain in the canyon walls and go deep [music] below the ground.

[00:59:16]There aren't many arguments about the amount of pummus and ash involved in this disaster. At the same time, experts aren't [music] sure how much sulfur ended up in the atmosphere. Even some sulfur layers in the polar ice could be potential [music] candidates, but so far scientists haven't found any connection between them and Toba.

[00:59:36]But let's get back to the dramatic impact the super eruption had on early humans. It turns out some not only survived, but even thrived after this natural catastrophe, at least judging by the artifacts they made during and after the eruption. The disaster might not have posed a serious threat to those of our ancestors who took refuge along the coast. Genetic evidence hints that modern humans descend from a few thousand people that ventured out of Africa around 60,000 years ago. Why just a few thousand? According to some [music] experts, the rest of our ancestors could have been devastated by the Toba eruption.

[01:00:17]After all, the super volcano spewed out a thousand cubic miles of dust and [music] rock in a flash, leaving a scar in the ground that was dozens of miles wide. All that dust and sulfur Toba [music] sent into the atmosphere potentially cooled the surface of our planet, which led to the appearance of glaciers and the lowering of Earth's [music] sea levels. And since Toba might have had an important role in shaping humankind, scientists have been working hard trying to understand precisely how early humans reacted to this disaster.

[01:00:51]In 2011, several researchers [music] found an enigmatic soil sample in South Africa's Pinnacle Point, an archaeological site overlooking the Indian Ocean. This sample [music] contained some volcanic ash. After examining the layer, they found more than 400,000 artifacts left by early humans. Those ranged from heat treated [music] stone tools to signs of fire and animal bones.

[01:01:18]Based on this finding, the team suggested that early [music] humans on the South African coast thrived after the eruption, living in that area for thousands of years and improving their tools. The region might have served as a refuge during [music] and after the Toba eruption. A 2009 study suggested that the eruption could have lowered global temperatures [music] by 14° F. It would have made survival tough elsewhere in Africa. If there had been a volcanic winter, it wouldn't have been as cold along the coastline.

[01:01:51]On the other hand, newer studies claim [music] that Toba spewed out so much sulfur into the atmosphere that the resulting aerosols could have stuck together, which would have limited [music] their cooling effect in the long term.

[01:02:04]In other words, right after the eruption, temperatures would have plummeted, but only in some [music] regions. And after 3 years or so, the effects of the eruptions would have calmed down altogether, becoming not dangerous to [music] humans. Well, apparently more research is needed.

[01:02:21]Meanwhile, let's figure out if we should watch out for any volcanoes these days.

[01:02:26]Last year, thousands of small earthquakes shook the ground near Iceland's Fartsi geothermal power plant.

[01:02:33][music] Magma rose to the surface there and now it has opened wide fractures slicing through the small town of Grindavic.

[01:02:40][music] The ground there is still swelling and an eruption might happen with little [music] notice.

[01:02:47]But of course that's not all. Over the planet 45 other volcanoes [music] keep rumbling. For example, Italy's Vuvius, that infamous thing that finished the city of Pompei in 79 CE. Over the last 17,000 years, the volcano has experienced [music] eight explosive eruptions followed by powerful pyrolastic flows. Dense masses of super hot ash, [music] lava fragments, and gases flowing at high speeds. The volcano's last eruption happened in 1944.

[01:03:21]Mount Reineer is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the USA. its high elevation, chemical composition, and proximity to Washington's Seattle and Tacoma suburbs, and the volcano's ability to produce massive pyrolastic flows make Mount Reineer a threat to consider. [music] The heat from this volcano could potentially melt the ice and snow covering it, leading to rapid downstream flows of debris, mud, and rocks. The Novarupta volcano in Alaska's Catmy National Park and Reserve formed in a 1912 eruption, which was the world's largest in the 20th century.

[01:03:58]The volcano sent almost 7 cubic miles of ash and debris into the air. It also produced such a powerful ash flow that it created the valley of 10,000 [music] smokes.

[01:04:10]Mount Pinatubo is located in a populated region in the Philippines. It became [music] notorious after a 1991 massive eruption, which was the second largest eruption of the 20th century. More than 700 people lost their lives during that natural disaster. [music] Today, more than 21 million people live within 62 mi of Pinatubo.

[01:04:35]Mounted Gun, a continuously >> [music] >> erupting volcano in Indonesia, had its last major eruption in 1963. [music] It was one of the most tragic eruptions in the country's history. It lasted for 11 months, producing ashfall and pyrolastic flows that led to the loss of more [music] than 1,000 lives and serious property damage. People saw ash plumes above [music] the volcano throughout 2018 following the eruption in November 2017.

[01:05:06]Japan's Mount Fuji hasn't erupted since [music] 1707. That year, a massive earthquake likely set it off. In 2014, [music] experts warned that Fuji could be at risk of another eruption following the 9 magnitude earthquake that [music] shook Japan in 2011. Experts believed the earthquake had raised pressure below Fuji. The eruption in 1707 sent so much ash and debris into the air that all this mass even reached Tokyo. Should Fuji erupt again, [music] it would affect more than 25 million people in the surrounding areas.

[01:05:43]The eruption of Washington's Mount St. Helen in 1980 was one of the most destructive volcanic events in [music] US history. 57 people as well as thousands of animals lost their [music] lives during that natural disaster. The eruption also destroyed around 200 square miles of forest. Experts think that Mount St. Helen's [music] history of massive eruptions means that future catastrophes are bound to happen. The next explosive eruption might send large amounts of ash all over the Pacific Northwest. No wonder the volcano is under close [music] monitoring.

[01:06:20]One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, Mount [music] Marupi, has been erupting for centuries. NASA claims that the biggest risk of this volcano is pyrolastic flows [music] which can spread over vast areas and harm loads of people. For the last time, [music] Morappi erupted in January 2024, sending plumes of smoke into the air. These days, more than 24 million people live in the area surrounding this volcano.

[01:06:51]For 70,000 years, Taftton Volcano successfully convinced everyone it was extinct. But new satellite images show that its summit is rising. Like something inside is stretching it, rolling it over, and cracking its neck after the world's longest nap.

[01:07:08]Scientists aren't too happy about it.

[01:07:10]So, let's see if you have a reason to be worried, too.

[01:07:14]Volcanoes can wake up when earthquakes shake them awake or storms mess with underground water. But scientists checked. There weren't any big earthquakes or heavy rains in southeastern Iran where it sits. So it must be gas or magma pressure that's moving tough.

[01:07:32]It's like a sealed soda can heating up from the inside. Before you even hear a hiss, the pressure is building silently, waiting for a weakness. That's why tough tons movement is such a big red flag.

[01:07:46]Pressure changes mean new internal activity. Plus, [music] the source of pressure below its surface is at just around 1,600 to 2,70 ft deep. And that's not a lot for a volcano. When the source of [music] pressure sits that close to daylight, it can set off small explosions from steam or gas, even if no lava ever touches the surface.

[01:08:09]This type of explosion called friatic happens when water underground gets so hot so fast that it blows up like a giant pressure cooker.

[01:08:20]In Hollywood movies, volcanic eruptions always look like rivers of lava chasing people down the street. But steamdriven explosions are different, sneaky, and [music] unpredictable.

[01:08:31]One minute everything looks calm and the next minute rocks and superheated steam blast into the air like earth sneezed with the power of a jet engine. For tough ton, this is exactly the scenario scientists are afraid of. You don't need flowing lava to cause destruction. A steamdriven explosion can launch boulders the size of cars and shoot ash clouds thousands of feet up. Even if you don't live anywhere near Iran, tuftton isn't just a local issue. Volcanoes breathe out gases that travel with the wind. And tuftton produces sulfur heavy emissions when it's active. Sulfur dioxide doesn't just smell bad, but messes with air quality, irritates lungs, and reacts in the atmosphere to form particles that can dim sunlight and cool temperatures.

[01:09:22]That means neighboring countries might feel the effects even if they never see the volcano. And if a friatic explosion blasts ash high enough, it could drift into international flight paths like volcanic confetti nobody asked for. Even smaller eruptions can have ripple effects. Remember that time a volcano in Iceland with a name I won't ever pronounce correctly blew [music] up in 2010? It disrupted all the air travel across the Atlantic. And in our case, a modest ash plume drifting into major air quarters could ground flights across the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. You know, [music] gas emissions don't respect borders. They drift, mix, and settle wherever the wind decides to drop them. All right, all this sounds pretty creepy, but with all the modern sensors, scientists should find out about an eruption in advance, right? Not really.

[01:10:19]As Tan sits in a really remote region, setting up monitoring stations there is tricky, expensive, and frankly was never a priority because everyone assumed the volcano was done for. [music] So right now, satellites, not ground instruments, are doing most of the work. Satellites see the big picture, but instruments on the mountain add [music] detail. And that's why it was so important for Taftton to be reclassified from extinct to dormant. Because dormant volcanoes need eyes on them 24/7.

[01:10:54]When a volcano is labeled extinct, countries don't invest in evacuation plans, hazard maps, or monitoring equipment. Changing tough status forced everyone from local officials to global scientists to admit [music] it can cause trouble. And that means preparing for ashfall, gas emissions, sudden eruptions, and the long-term questions.

[01:11:17]questions like what if this awakening isn't temporary? [music] What if this is the beginning of a whole new activity cycle? Long-term, Taftton might settle down again, or it might be entering a period of renewed activity.

[01:11:33]Volcanoes don't run on human timelines.

[01:11:35]A short-term phase for a volcano could be days or years. And the uplifting summit might mean there's deeper magma movement, not just a surface burp. It has gone up by about 3.5 in over 10 months between July 2023 and May 2024.

[01:11:54]And a mountain rising is like earth inhaling. And if earth inhales too deeply, it eventually exhales. [music] And in volcanic terms, that exhale is nothing good. Right [music] now, Taftton is breathing in, and nobody knows when it plans to breathe out. This already sounds like too much drama, but there's more where it came from. Some of the biggest, angriest super volcanoes on Earth are starting to wake up. When one of these monsters erupts, the whole planet feels it. Even people living thousands of miles away. Scientists worry because a super eruption could move faster than our ability to prepare food, evacuate cities, or deal with the chaos afterward. That's what makes super volcanoes so scary. Not just the explosion, but how little time we might have to react.

[01:12:49]If you live near Naples, you already know at least one super volcano and how it acts. Streets crack, steam leaks from the earth, the harbor fills with sediment, and swarms of small earthquakes rattle windows like underground thunder. All of that comes from Campy Flagri, a massive super volcano caldera that last erupted in 1538.

[01:13:12]For years, scientists read these signals as classic warnings of magma rising. But two recent studies, one in 2023 and another in 2025, completely changed how we understand what's really going on.

[01:13:26]And surprisingly, they brought a bit of hope with the danger.

[01:13:31]In 2023, studies zoomed in on carbon dioxide, a gas volcanoes pump out when magma starts acting up. At Campy [music] Flegry, CO2 levels jumped after 2005 to about 4,000 to [music] 5,000 tons a day, which sounds like magma rising fast. But when scientists checked [music] other gases like nitrogen and helium, the chemistry didn't fit that idea at all.

[01:13:58]It turned out that the extra CO2 came not from rising magma, but from super hot fluids underground [music] cooking the surrounding rocks and releasing gas on their own. In the 2025 study, [music] lab experiments showed that the shaking comes mainly from a sealed underground water and steam reservoir. When that natural lid traps pressure, it eventually cracks and releases steam and sets off sudden quakes that people feel at the surface.

[01:14:28]That idea [music] also explains something that always confused scientists. The earthquakes usually start close to the surface and then [music] move deeper, which is the opposite of what rising magma would do.

[01:14:40]After the strongest [music] shaking, the ground often sinks a little, like a balloon slowly deflating after you let some air out. None of [music] this means Campy Flagry is suddenly safe, though.

[01:14:51]Magma still sits deep underground, and steamdriven explosions can still blast out rocks, ash, and scorching gas without any lava warning you first.

[01:15:03]What's really changed is [music] how scientists think about the danger. Just watching and waiting isn't enough anymore. If humanity only had [music] 12 months of warning before a super volcano eruption, we'd struggle badly.

[01:15:16]stockpiling food, relocating people, keeping supply chains alive. It would all feel almost impossible. But don't freak out yet because [music] super volcano eruptions are extremely rare.

[01:15:29]The last one happened about 26,500 years ago in New Zealand. On average, scientists think a super eruption happens roughly once every 100,000 years. But Earth doesn't follow neat schedules like a calendar. Sometimes these eruptions cluster closer together and then the planet stays quiet for a long time. Two massive super eruptions shook the planet within the last 100,000 years. About 74,000 years ago, Indonesia's Toba volcano blew up with such force that it [music] blasted ash across Asia, lowered the temperatures around the world, and may have pushed early humans to the brink of extinction.

[01:16:11]Then around 26,500 years ago, New Zealand's Topo volcano unleashed an eruption, covering huge areas in ash and reshaping the landscape we see today.

[01:16:24]There's always a chance another super eruption could arrive earlier than we expect. That uncertainty is what keeps scientists awake at night.

[01:16:34]Something enormous is hiding right below Hawaii, deeper than any drill could ever reach. This strange underground bubble almost 1,800 m down tells us impressive new details about the formation of the islands and could cause an eruption that will affect thousands of lives.

[01:16:53]Scientists call strange formations like this blob ultra low velocity zones. When earthquakes happen, they send vibrations through the planet and they move fast through most rocks, but they slow way down when they pass through certain deep layers. That slowdown tells geologists something unusual sits there. The giant blob beneath Hawaii belongs to the biggest category of these structures, a mega ultra low velocity zone. A massive chunk of material sitting right on the border between Earth's mantle and its core. To find out what this monster actually looks like, scientists track two different types of earthquake waves.

[01:17:35]The first type, pressure waves, compresses rock like squeezing a spring.

[01:17:41]Another type, shear waves, moves rock up and down like shaking a rope. When they combine both signals, researchers built a much clearer picture of what lies deep below Hawaii. Scientists used to think that this blob was soft and partially melted like thick lava slowly rising toward the surface. But this new seismic data showed that the blob isn't gooey at all. It's mostly solid rock, dense, heavy, and packed with iron. This discovery helps explain a real mystery that puzzled scientists for decades.

[01:18:17]Most volcanoes form along the edges of tectonic plates. But Hawaii doesn't sit anywhere near one of those boundaries.

[01:18:25]It floats right in the middle of the Pacific plate. Yet, the islands somehow form from some of the most active volcanoes on the planet. They used to explain this with a hot spot, a column of heat rising from deep inside the Earth like a blowtorrch slowly melting its way upward. But now it turns out that the giant ironrich blob anchors that heat plume in place, like the base of a lava lamp that keeps the flow [music] steady for millions of years.

[01:18:54]The material the structure is made of, could even be leftovers from a basil magma ocean, a gigantic layer of molten rock that may have existed deep inside Earth when the [music] planet first formed. When that ancient ocean cooled and crystallized, heavy elements like iron sank downward and created dense pockets. And the blob under Hawaii might be one of those survivors.

[01:19:21]Now, structures like this don't [music] just sit quietly forever. Heat constantly flows through Earth's mantle.

[01:19:28]And when those flows shift, they can tug on deep structures, redirect heat, and sometimes destabilize them. If the system beneath Hawaii ever changes in a major way, it could intensify the volcanic activity above. We already see hints of that restless energy. Hawaii has thousands of earthquakes every year.

[01:19:51]Most of them are tiny, so small that only sensitive instruments detect them.

[01:19:56]On average, Hawaii has about 100 magnitude 3 earthquakes per year. Those are strong enough for people to feel.

[01:20:04][music] Roughly 10 quakes reach magnitude 4 annually and about one magnitude 5 quake shakes the islands every year. Bigger events happen less often, but they still happen. Most of this activity is going on around the Big Island, which has several volcanoes. In early March 2026, Kilawea launched fountains of lava nearly 1,300 ft into the air. Bright red streams of molten rock blasted upward and ash and volcanic fragments rained down across nearby areas. Authorities temporarily closed parts of Hawaii Volcano's National Park and sections of Highway 11 because falling debris created dangerous conditions. The eruption didn't threaten homes directly, but it still caused real problems. Ash drifted across nearby communities and tiny rock fragments coated roads and rooftops. All that activity connects to the same deep engine, the hot spot anchored by that enormous iron ridge blob nearly 1,800 m beneath the islands.

[01:21:13]Now, let's travel north where something pretty scary lurks beneath the western edge [snorts] of North America.

[01:21:20]Something capable of reshaping the entire coastline. Scientists think that two giant earthquake faults, the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the San Andreas fault, don't just exist side by side, but may actually affect each other and act like giant dominoes. Cascadia stretches along the Pacific Northwest [music] and the San Andreas cuts through California.

[01:21:45]Scientists found evidence for this possible impact on the ocean floor. They pulled long cylinders of mud and sediment, and these cores are like geological history books that preserve layers of debris from ancient earthquakes. Inside those layers, researchers saw that pairs of earthquake deposits sit almost on top of each other. Geologists call them dublets. Two massive quakes struck [music] so close together in time that the ocean barely had time to settle between them. And that discovery points straight to one of the most chaotic tectonic zones [music] on the planet, the Mendescino triple junction. This is where three tectonic plates collide and grind together like crooked gears inside a machine. It's also the exact place where the San Andreas fault meets the Cascadia subduction zone. Now, when one fault ruptures, it sends shock waves of stress through the crust. That stress can destabilize the neighboring fault and push it toward breaking, too. A Cascadia megaquake alone could reach magnitude 9 or higher. That kind of earthquake could tear open 600 to 700 m of seafloor [music] and send a massive tsunami racing toward the Pacific coast. And if Cascadia ruptures first, the shifting stress might trigger the San Andreas shortly afterward. In the worst case scenario, people in California could feel one enormous quake, watch buildings sway and highways break apart, and then see a second disaster just minutes later. And the opposite sequence could happen, too.

[01:23:29]The San Andreas could snap first, redistribute pressure through the crust, and nudge Cascadia to failure. In this case, people living in the affected area might survive the first quake and then see the ocean suddenly pull away from the shoreline. And that's the chilling signal that a tsunami could arrive in about 20 minutes. Scientists know from analyzing the sediment [music] that this sequence has happened before. There were at least 10 paired earthquakes over the past 3,100 years. The scariest part is that a new massive earthquake isn't about if, it's strictly about when.

[01:24:09]Now, let's jump across the Atlantic to southern Italy. Just west of Naples, there's a massive volcanic system called the Cappy Flegre Caldera. It means something like burning fields. And it earned that title honestly. About 109,000 years ago, a huge eruption blasted ash and rock across the region.

[01:24:31]It removed more than 36 cubic miles of magma from beneath the surface. It's a volume close to the massive eruption that formed the Campy Flegre Caldera around 40,000 years ago. That earlier eruption carved a crater about 9 mi wide and spread volcanic ash across huge parts of Europe. Today, more than 400,000 people live directly inside that ancient crater. The soil there feels incredibly fertile because crops have grown on broken down volcanic ash for centuries. But the same geology that makes the land productive also hides enormous energy underground.

[01:25:12]Researchers recently studied ancient rock layers preserved in mountains and deep bore holes around the region.

[01:25:19]That's how they found out that flegra may produce giant eruptions more often than scientists previously believed.

[01:25:27]That doesn't mean a catastrophic eruption will happen anytime soon, but it does change how researchers see the long-term danger. When these eruptions occur, they don't behave as ordinary lava flows. They generate pyrolastic flows, and those are fastmoving avalanches of hot gas, ash, and rock that race across the ground at highway speeds. Some ancient deposits from that eruption more than 100,000 years ago reach more [music] than 6 ft thick in certain places, which proves just how violent the bang was. When you connect all these discoveries together, you once again see that our planet doesn't [music] just sit quietly beneath our feet. It moves, breathes, and occasionally reminds us who really runs the place. And most of [music] the time, the biggest forces shaping our world hide thousands of miles below where we stand.