A volcano erupted in southern Iran, which is believed to have become extinct about 710,000 years ago.
New research published October 7 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters It found that an area of land near the summit of Taftan volcano rose 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) over a 10-month period between July 2023 and May 2024. The rise has not yet subsided, indicating gas pressure is building up beneath the volcano’s surface.
The study’s lead researcher said the results reveal the need for close monitoring of the volcano, which was not considered a danger to humans before. Pablo Gonzaleza volcanologist at the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology, a research center affiliated with the Spanish National Research Council (IPNA-CSIC). Volcanoes are It is considered extinct If it had not erupted in the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago. Given his recent activity, Gonzalez said, Taftan might be more accurately described as lethargic.
“It has to be released somehow in the future, either violently or more quietly,” Gonzalez told Live Science. He added that there is no reason to fear an imminent eruption, but the volcano must be closely monitored.
Taftan Volcano is a 12,927-foot (3,940 m) stratovolcano located in southeastern Iran, located among a group of mountains and volcanoes formed as a result of volcanic subduction. The crust of the Arabian Ocean beneath Eurasian continent. Today, the volcano hosts an active hydrothermal system and foul-smelling sulfur-emitting vents called fumaroles, but it is not known to have erupted in human history.
when Mohamed Hussein Mohamedneha doctoral student working under Gonzalez at IPNA-CSIC, examined satellite images of the volcano for the first time in 2020, and saw no evidence that it was doing anything. But then, in 2023, people started reporting gaseous emissions from the volcano on social media. Emissions can be smelled from the city of Khash, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) away.
Mohamed Nia took another look at satellite images from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 mission, which provide images of the Earth’s surface around the clock. Taftan is remote and does not have GPS monitoring like those found on volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens. Satellite images revealed a slight rise of the ground near the summit, indicating increased pressure below.
Muhammadiyah calculated that the driver of this height is 1,608 to 2,067 feet (490 to 630 meters) below the surface. Mohamed Nia told Live Science it’s impossible to know exactly what’s happening, but researchers have ruled out external factors such as nearby earthquakes or rainfall. The volcano’s magma reservoir lies more than 2 miles (3.5 km) deep — much deeper than anything forced upward.
Alternatively, the uplift is either caused by a change in hydrothermal pipes beneath the volcano causing gas to build up, or a small amount of magma may have migrated under the volcano, allowing gases to rise into the rocks above, increasing pressure in the rock’s pores and fractures, and causing the ground to rise slightly.
The next stage of research, according to Gonzalez, will be collaboration with scientists who monitor gas in volcanoes.
“This study does not aim to create panic among people,” he said. “It is a wake-up call for the authorities in the region in Iran to allocate some resources to look into this matter.”