Small undersea volcanoes may unleash outsized tsunamis
Post-eruption imaging of the Hunga caldera gives new details of its collapse.
Post-eruption imaging of the Hunga caldera gives new details of its collapse.
The short version
- Krakatau, a volcanic island in Indonesia, killed more than 30,000 people when it erupted in 1883.
- One might assume that volcanic debris posed the major threat, yet many of the victims died from a tsunami caused by the volcanic eruption instead.
- To better understand these risks, an international team of researchers examined the 2022 Hunga eruption in Tonga, focusing on the rapid caldera collapse that may have amplified its powerful tsunami.
What happened
Calderas form when the ground above a magma reservoir collapses as the magma drains away. Comparisons of seafloor topography before and after the eruption showed that a roughly 4-kilometer-wide caldera sank by about a kilometer during the eruption.
Why it matters
The Hunga volcano’s eruption on January 15, 2022, ranks among the most powerful volcanic events this century.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.