Eruptions Newsletter #17 for August 8, 2025

This week’s newsletter is a little different. That’s because I’m off in New Mexico, so I am writing this ahead of time. Rather than skip a newsletter, I thought I could do a spotlight on something exciting in the volcano world. Our regularly-scheduled newsletter will return August 22, with a new 5 Minute Volcano coming out August 14.

This week’s Newsletter is the first mailbag edition, where I answer your questions about volcanoes (or whatever). If you want to submit a question for the next mailbag, send them to [email protected], leave them in the comments here or send me a message on Bluesky (@erikklemetti.bsky.social).

The Inaugural Eruptions Mailbag

Note: This was written July 30-August 1 (except for the brief note about the 8/3 eruption of Krasheninnikov), so forgive any answers where the intervening week has proven me wrong.

Q: How is Klyuchevskoy volcano related to the Kamchatka earthquake? […] a Livescience article […] claimed that the earthquake increased "the vigor of the eruption." — and — Q: Did the recent Kamchatka earthquake in any way trigger the Klyuchevskaya Volcano to erupt?

This has come up a lot since the M8.8 earthquake off Kamchatka and this question in a generic sense comes up after almost any large earthquake along the Pacific Rim. I think sometimes this question is one where human perceptions of scale can cause some problems.

Here is a quick & dirty figure (posted on Bluesky) I made after the earthquake to show the relative locations of the earthquake, where magma is formed and the volcanoes.

The volcano in question, Kliuchevskoi (aka Kyuchevskaya Sopka), is ~150 kilometers inland from the trench. The place where the magma is stored for the volcano might be 3-5 kilometers beneath the volcano and the source of the magma is almost 80 kilometers down. Although they all felt shaking from the earthquake, this wasn’t happening in the same place.

This all being said, Kliuchevskoi and Shiveluch further north are both erupting now in Kamchatka. The question is whether correlation means causation. Both of these volcanoes were more than likely to have erupted with or without an earthquake because they had been erupting anyway. There is some arm waving that the earthquake could have “intensified” the eruption, but I’m skeptical.

However, the eruption of Krashenninnikov on August 3 is more interesting. It erupted for what might be the first time in ~500 years. The volcano is not closely monitored … or monitored at all … as it is in the middle of nowhere — 800 people live within 30 kilometres of the volcano — and has been dormant in historic times for Kamchatka. We don’t have much idea at this point whether it was showing any precursory signs of activity. This kind of eruption from long quiet volcano within a few days after a M8.8 earthquake entered relatively nearby will take some close scrutiny.

How could you prove the two events are linked? That’s the tricky part. Without something like borehole strain gauges at the volcanoes to see how much strain the crust felt from the earthquake, there isn’t much to go on but timing. The strain gauges aren’t going to be able to tell us what’s happening deep in the crust, either.

Long and short: without more evidence of some specific change of eruptive state at these volcanoes, the most we can see is that they erupted during the days after the earthquake. Not much to build a strong theory of triggering.

Q: How realistic did you think the super volcano eruption in the StarGate Atlantis episode "Inferno" was?

As some of you know, I am a Stargate nerd. I miss the days when there were TV series that last 25+ episodes a season, weren’t too ponderous and heavy and featured space ships. Yes, I’m old.

I do admit, Stargate SG-1 is my favorite of the Stargate series, but Stargate Atlantis did have a volcano episode. Here’s the sypnosis: The planet of Taranis has been trying to contact planets with their gate because the shield protecting their society is failing. It was built by the Ancients that they only stumbled across it, so they don’t really know how it works. Thankfully, they got Atlantis, so the Atlantis teams gates to Taranis to help. Rodney figures out that the whole system is run by geothermal rather than a ZPM (don’t ask) but the Ancients built it on a supervolcano. Taranis had been running their shield at full power for too long so it was causing the supervolcano to awaken and erupt. Can the Atlantis team (they need a name like SG-1) save the people of Taranis?

Now, I could write an entire column on the ins/outs of the volcano stuff in this episode. However, I won’t at the moment. I do want to mention that Mika McKinnon — a geologist— was the scientific advisor for SG Atlantis. She clearly helped with a lot of the science here, but such things can only go so far when it comes to plot, production and story arc.

My biggest problems with the episode:

1. Why would running the shields using geothermal power cause the supervolcano to become more active? If anything, you might expect the opposite. Then again, I don’t know Ancient geothermal tech.

2. Rodney McKay is the worst science communicator ever, especially when it comes to volcanic hazards. Someone lock him up if the public shows up. And no, you can’t tell its a “harmonic tremor” by feel alone.

3. If the Ancients built on a supervolcano, why the heck did they not include any equipment to monitor the volcano? Would adding a seismometer or tiltmeter killed them?

4. Lava is hot. You knew that. So, if lava (~1100C) is, say, a few feet below you or on the other side of the door, you would notice long before the (1) crust founders beneath you or (2) you touch the door.

5. Now, I love Dr. Beckett, so it pains me to say: what the heck? You know you’re headed to a planet with a potentially erupting volcano and you bring no masks? I mean, they didn’t have a single one, dust or gas. Talk about needing a volcanologist in Stargate Command.

6. And again, as much as I love the Asgard: a countdown to the eruption? To the second? Puh-leeze.

7. Finally, the eruption itself. No, there is not a roiling lake of highly liquid magma just below a thin crust at a place that is supposed to be like Yellowstone. The explosive eruption would like have a source multiple kilometers down and erupt already fragment magma - aka, volcanic ash. However, I was deeply amused by McKay’s plan for getting the Orion off the planet.

Things they got right:

1. Evacuation is the best plan if a major volcanic eruption is going to happen. Major Sheppard wants to do the usual “let’s blow stuff up to release pressure” but that’s nonsense.

2. Peter DeLuise, the director of this episode, does a good job calling back to scenes from Pompeii, especially when Tayla and Ronon are trapped outside the base with the family.

Like I said, I could go on. Maybe I will in the future! Maybe I could do other episodes of other shows. If you have suggestions, let me know!

Q: I'm fascinated by the events at Krakatoa and read that the effects led to a global temperature cool down. If something similar was to happen again, would it be enough to reverse some of the effects of global warming?

A big eruption like Krakatau in Indonesia (1883) would definitely have an impact on global climate. All that sulfur in the upper atmosphere would trap here up there and cool the surface. However, these effects are temporary — maybe a few years at the most — so any respite from anthropogenic climate change would be brief and small. Remember, the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo in the Philippines only dropped global average temperatures by less than a degree (C) for a couple years.

Here’s the real kicker: what would the impact of the heating of the upper atmosphere by an eruption combined with the extreme heating caused today by our carbon dioxide emissions? It is hard to say! Humans have pulled so many levers on the planet’s climate we’re left with a lot of unknown scenarios if volcanism decides to add on.

Q: When was the last time there was a volcano/volcanic eruption in New England?

You have to go back a long way for the last volcanic eruptions in New England (for those of you unfamiliar, New England refers to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine). I think the most recent volcanism would have been in the Jurassic along what is now the Connecticut River Valley.

During the Triassic and Jurassic (~250 to 143 million years ago) that Atlantic Ocean began to form. The Connecticut River Valley is a failed rift arm in the breaking up of Pangaea — think of it a little like the East African Rift. Basaltic volcanism happened along the rift and that can be seen in some of the columnar basalt at in the Holyoke Mountains like Mount Tom in Massachusetts.

Since then, things have been volcanically quiet in New England. Give it another maybe 50 million years and we might find volcanoes again as the Atlantic begins to close.

Q: Why are volcanoes so awesome?

Go ahead, you tell me where else you find molten planet?

Q: Who is your pick for AL Rookie of the Year?

So, this will be a tough one for me. I went and checked out the Fangraphs stats page to see what the eligible rookies WAR (wins above replacement) landscape looks like at the moment. (By the way, if you don’t do Fangraphs, you should). Pitching-wise, there is nothing to see here. Will Warren? 4.30 BB/9? That’s the best you got?

Move over to the batters and I hit my conundrum. Nick Kurtz, first baseman for the Las Vegas Athletics of Sacramento leads the way (WAR of 3.1) and he has been nuts for 69 games: .305/.378/.671. That’s spicy. He’s on pace to hit like 35 HR. You’d think this would be slam dunk.

But… Carlos Narváez. This might be a bit of bias because he’s a Red Sox and he’s a “out of the blue” guy (unlike Kurtz who was a top 5 draft pick last year). Narváez has a 2.7 WAR as a catcher. However, unlike Kurtz, his batting line is .257/.327/.424.

This is the problem: Kurtz value is all offense. His Fangraphs offense rating above average is 27.3! The next highest rookie (teammate Jacob Wilson) is 8.5. Kurtz offense value is 3rd overall in the AL between Cal Raleigh and Byron Buxton. Narváez offense value is 0.5. That’s barely above league average.

Problem solved? No, because Narváez’s defense rating is 14.2! The next highest rookie is Denzel Clarke (also, the A’s) at 9.7. Narváez’s defense rating is 2nd in the AL, below Alejandro Kirk and tied with Bobby Witt, Jr. Kurtz defense rating is -7.3! So their defensive difference is almost as big as their offense difference, just in the different direction.

So, my answer is … undecided. My gut says that Kurtz’s hitting will have him pull away in terms of WAR. My heart would love to see Narváez win it. (In the NL, coin toss between Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin and Milwaukee’s Isaac Collins).

Q: There was an earthquake swarm recently at Mount Rainier. Do all active volcanoes experience these? Are they catalogued by USGS, Global Volcanism Program, etc.? Is frequency of swarms proportional to frequency of eruptions for each volcano?

Earthquake swarms at potentially active volcanoes are common. Even volcanoes that haven’t erupted for centuries will occasionally have a bout of earthquakes, sometimes related to magma moving under the volcano, hydrothermal fluids moving around or even cooling of the magma. Likely more swarms do happen at more active volcanoes because magma and fluids are moving around with more frequency, creating earthquakes.

The closest to a catalogue of seismicity like this at volcanoes might be the Global Volcanism Program’s Bulletin of the GVP. It isn’t just earthquake swarms, but it captures observed activity and unrest at volcanoes across the Holocene. Remember, swarms like that at Rainier have only been observed since we’ve had sensitive and robust enough seismometers at volcanoes — so maybe a century at best.

Q: Do you have a favourite piece of visual art (painting, sketch, cartoon etc.) featuring volcano(es)?

I thought this was going to be the easy one to answer, but wow, it turns out to be a doozy. The problem doesn’t lie in not knowing, it is in too many choices. There are so many classic works of art with volcanoes from across the globe. Some a very realistic, some are highly abstract, others might just show the results of volcanism. I even have a painting on my office wall of a volcano done by my aunt. My gut reaction was to think of this piece (below), a lithograph by Alexander Turnbull of the 1886 eruption of Tarawera in New Zealand. It feels very dynamic and I like that.

Q: Are volcanoes more likely to erupt with climate change, specifically changes in the distribution of Earth's mass because of glacier loss? If yes, where would those eruptions be more probable, near the poles, maybe?

There is a relationship between ice loss on volcanoes and the potential for eruptions. This is because rocks in the Earth’s mantle can melt when pressure is released (decompression melting).

If a mass of ice melts on the Earth’s surface like a glacier or ice sheet, the land will rise — something called post-glacial rebound. The mantle on which our continental plates sit is not rigid. Instead, it is a deformable solid, so it will flow back into the space created by the crust rising from the loss of ice mass. Maybe think of this like a stack of books (crust) on a trampoline. Take one book off, the rest will rise as the trampoline skin (mantle) no longer needs to support as much mass.

This lower pressure on the mantle causes melting, which the product is magma. In places where ice sheets once sat like the Cascades, there is evidence that volcanism did increase after the ice sheets/glaciers melted. However (and its a doozy) it does not appear to be universal to all the volcanoes and it might take thousands of years after the ice melts for the effects to be felt. It isn’t instantaneous! It also doesn’t make new volcanoes, just enhances activity at existing ones.

So, maybe we could expect more activity in Iceland, Alaska, Patagonia, Antarctica and other places with volcanoes and modern ice. However, it won’t likely be anytime soon.

Q: I recently found this piece of (I assume) granite in the west Cascades. Way above the elevation for erratics as well. WTF?

The West Cascades are weird. They are the ancestral volcanoes to the modern Cascades, but because they are on the now-”wet side” of the range, there are a lot of funky altered rocks.

Without actually handling the rock in question (above), I can’t say for sure. It sort of looks like a red sandstone or maybe a heavily altered basalt. The smooth parts could betray it was part of a fault system? My hunch is the heavily altered basalt, likely from hydrothermal fluids and placement in a fault zone … but like I said, identifying a rock from a picture like this can be tricky.

Sounds of the Week

So, maybe you can guess where I am this week. All these acts have a connection to the area. Enjoy!

I do adore this song. Shut up.

The baroque indie rock of the ‘00s was my jam, especially Beirut.

I swear that I have been disowned by friends because I admit that I don’t particularly like the Shins.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment, send me a note or follow me on Bluesky (@erikklemetti.bsky.social).

Be sure to check out my podcast, 5 Minute Volcano and the Patreon page for the Eruptions Newsletter/5 Minute Volcano Podcast.