AUGUST 7, 2023 Carbon dioxide, not water, triggers explosive basaltic volcanoes
Link to entire story with research conducted by Cornell University printed by PHYS.org
Geoscientists have long thought that water—along with shallow magma stored in Earth's crust—drives volcanoes to erupt. Now, thanks to newly developed research tools at Cornell, scientists have learned that gaseous carbon dioxide can trigger explosive eruptions.
A new model suggests that basaltic volcanoes, typically located on the interior of tectonic plates, are fed by a deep magma within the mantle, stored about 20 to 30 kilometers below the Earth's surface.
The research, which offers a clearer picture of our planet's deep internal dynamics and composition, with implications for improving volcanic-hazards planning, is published August 7, 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.