By Marta SerafinkoApril 28 (Reuters) – For people living in communities in the shadow of a volcano, a long silence may give the impression that the geological beast is not merely sleeping but has gone extinct. But, as research detailing the life history of one in Greece shows, a volcano can slumber for more than 100,000 years before reawakening.The new findings involving the Methana Volcano, located roughly 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Athens, contradict the notion that most volcanoes may be considered “extinct” if they have not erupted for 10,000 years.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe scientists reconstructed 700,000 years of activity for Methana, marked by eruptions separated by long pauses. The findings show that its longest quiet period – lasting from about 280,000 to 168,000 years ago – was not a sign of extinction but rather a phase of substantial underground magma accumulation.”This long period of quiescence at Methana happened during the prehistory, so we are piecing it together based on the chemical evidence preserved in the rocks and minerals. To understand what happened under Methana, we need to picture the volcano as the tip of an iceberg: at the surface we see only a little bit of it, while most of the igneous system is underground,” said ETH Zürich volcanologist Răzvan-Gabriel Popa, lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances.Earth is made up of layers, including the outer crust we live on and the mantle immediately underneath, where magma forms. Volcanoes erupt when rising magma “floods” their underg …
