A year on, we now know why the Tongan eruption was so violent. It’s a wake-up call to watch other submarine volcanoes

Phys.org  January 13, 2023 An international team of researchers (Tonga, New Zealand) studied the texture and chemistry of the erupted particles to find clues about the event’s violence. Isotopic “fingerprinting” showed at least three different magma sources were involved. Two magma bodies were older and resident in the middle of the Earth’s crust, the younger one joined shortly before the eruption. The mingling of magmas caused a strong reaction, driving water and other “volatile elements” out of solution and into gas. This created bubbles and an expanding magma foam, pushing the magma out vigorously at the onset of eruption. The […]