Scientists Blew Up Lava in a Backyard Volcano to Unlock the Secrets of the Most Violent Eruptions
Water can make a volcanic eruption much, much worse.
By Jill Kiedaisch
Dec 11, 2018
Dump some basaltic rock into an induction furnace, heat it up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit, pour it into an insulated steel box about 18 inches tall, and inject it with high-powered jets of water and you’ve made yourself a backyard volcano. Except we don’t recommend it. Best to leave it to the geohazard experts, like Ingo Sonder, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University at Buffalo.
Sonder and his team of six researchers have been doing just this to understand what conditions cause the most violent eruptions in hopes of someday being able to conduct risk assessments for people living in volcanically active regions of the world. Their findings, recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR): Solid Earth, are the result of 12 experiments funded by the National Science Foundation.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a25475725/university-buffalo-volcano-eruptions-water/
