A volcano in northeast China could be “recharging” for an eruption, with a vast amount of magma believed to be rising up underneath it.
The researchers say they discovered two huge magma chambers under Wei Mountain in the Wudalianchi volcanic field in Heilongjiang, near the border with Russia and North Korea.
Researchers say they discovered two huge magma chambers under Wei Mountain, which last erupted more than 500,000 years ago.
And according to their new results, this volcano in northeast China could be “recharging” for an eruption, with a vast amount of magma believed to be rising up underneath it.
The researchers say they discovered two huge magma chambers under Wei Mountain in the Wudalianchi volcanic field in Heilongjiang, near the border with Russia and North Korea.
Their modelling suggests the chambers dwarf the volcano, which is 100 metres (328 feet) tall and 5km (3.1 miles) wide.
It was a surprise discovery, since the volcano last erupted more than 500,000 years ago and was considered extinct. Geologists have been more focused on Changbai, or Paektu Mountain, to the south, whose eruption in 946AD was one of the most powerful volcanic events ever recorded:
But the volcanic fields of Changbai and Wei “would be linked to some degree”, according to the peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Geology this month.
2 giant magma chambers
Geophysicist Zhang Haijiang and a team from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui, visited nearly 100 sites across Wei Mountain for the study.
They used sensors to detect electromagnetic abnormalities deep underground. They were looking for magma – which usually has a lower conductivity than hard rock – and they found it: an unusual blip from 15km underground, followed by another one at 8km.
Their computer modelling suggested there could be two giant magma chambers with a combined depth of more than 9km. Those chambers were part of a bigger system that could be “linked with the Changbai volcano by secondary mantle convection,” Zhang wrote.
According to their calculations, 15 per cent of the upper chamber was now filled with molten rock. Some studies have suggested that a volcanic eruption could take place when a chamber fills to 40 per cent magma.
Wei volcano
Wei Mountain is part of the Wudalianchi volcanic field that has 14 cinder cones dotted over a 500 sq km plateau formed by lava. Previous studies have also found that Wudalianchi and Changbai could be connected.
Zhang and the team noted that seismic activity had increased at Changbai from 2002 to 2005, suggesting magmatic activity beneath the volcano was increased. Its most recent eruption was in 1903.
They concluded that volcanic activity in northeast China is likely to be in an active stage, and active volcanic monitoring is needed to further understand the magmatic systems in this region.
Mysterious volcanic history
Xu Jiandong, director of the volcanic research division at the China Earthquake Administration in Beijing, said the last eruption at the Wudalianchi field was in the early 18th century, forming two volcanic mountains – Laohei and Huoshao.
He said seismic stations had been monitoring the two young volcanoes for several decades.
“We have not detected any sign of active magma chambers under Laohei and Huoshao, which is very strange considering the recent eruption event,” said Xu, who was not involved in the study.
The findings of the Wei Mountain study added to that mystery.
“If there really are huge magma chambers in the area, we should have detected some related seismic activities – when the lower chamber recharges the upper one, there should be some movement,” he said. “But so far, after decades of monitoring on the site, we’ve picked up almost nothing. The whole area has been very, very quiet,” he added.
So did the researchers really detect giant magma chambers? While the abnormal signals detected by Zhang’s team looked like magma chambers, they could also have been caused by other substances such as water or rocks with high conductivity.
But what we know for sure is that the Wudalianchi region is active. It’s like congee boiling in a pot. But since numerous studies in recent years have suggested a low risk of immediate eruption in the area, the government had not set up seismic stations around. And I am sure they aren’t prepared and ready for a big eruption over there. More volcanic news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [Geology, SCMP]
AMEN
I hope it blows up in China’s face for the virus it gave mankind.
The 58 personnel that are at other hospitals have minor injuries, which is why “an optimistic time-frame of one week has been given for their recovery”, added the sources.
The Army had earlier clarified that all soldiers are accounted for after the violent clashes with the Chinese army.
Referring to a news report claiming that soldiers are missing in action, the Army said all Indian troops are accounted for. “It is clarified that there are no Indian troops missing in action,” the Army said in a statement.
There have been reports that several Indian Army soldiers were held captive by the Chinese Army following the Galwan Valley clashes in which 20 Indian Army personnel including a Colonel were killed. China has not yet released any casualty figures.
At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava also said no Indian soldiers were missing since the clashes on Monday evening.
Indian and Chinese militaries held a Major General-level dialogue on Thursday for the third consecutive day on disengagement of troops as well as restoring normalcy in areas around the Galwan Valley.
On Wednesday also, top Indian and Chinese military commanders talked at Galwan Valley over the violent clash but the three-hour dialogue remained inconclusive at the end of the day. The dialogue was to ensure that Chinese People’s Liberation Army pulls back all its troops from the Galwan Valley and removed all the military-grade tents which house them.
Both the forces have redeployed troops at the site of the clash. Sources said that India Army officials have made clear to Chinese counterparts that they have to move back.
Major General Abhijit Bapat, who is the Commander of the Indian Army’s 3 Division, raised several points with the Chinese officers with regards to the incident on the intervening night of June 15-16.
The clashes were the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region. World WAR 3 is shaping? Third Shaking of planet by the great spirit and this time with its two hands?
A
2020-06-18 16:11:40 UTC 5.5 magnitude, 10 km depth
South Pacific Ocean
B
2020-06-18 15:06:16 UTC 5.5 magnitude, 10 km depth
South Pacific Ocean
C
2020-06-18 14:07:04 UTC 4.9 magnitude, 616 km depth
South Pacific Ocean
D
2020-06-18 12:49:53 UTC 7.4 magnitude, 10 km depth
South Pacific Ocean
E
2020-06-18 11:43:43 UTC 5.1 magnitude, 10 km depth
‘Ohonua, ʻEua, Tonga
F
2020-06-17 06:24:18 UTC 5.6 magnitude, 280 km depth
Hihifo, Niuas, Tonga
I let you to be judge of my predictions? I said 5.4 to 8 plus by July 4 2020?
Well i told in my predictions Volcano’s and Super Storms with dusts or rain i said Ho bob and world war 3 because all nations in riots needs war to forget owns problems such as racism and religious strife’s and disunity is danger to all nations.
China brings in its big guns after troops fought to the death with rocks: Beijing puts on a show of force on Tibetan plateau as Indian PM warns of ‘befitting reply’ and hawks in Delhi demand retaliation for border clash
China today broadcast live-fire military drills on the Tibetan plateau as India warned of a ‘befitting reply’ after 20 of its soldiers were killed in bloody hand-to-hand combat at the disputed Himalayan border
Beijing announced it had suffered 43 casualties, but did not specify whether any of its men had been killed in the first deadly combat between the two nuclear-armed countries since 1975
As hawks in Delhi demanded retribution for the skirmish, Modi warned: ‘the sacrifice of the soldiers will not go in vain. India wants peace but if antagonized it can and will give a befitting reply’
China meanwhile broadcast images of intense military exercises involving 7,000 infantry and featuring some of the country’s most powerful weapons, including the Type 15 light tank and HJ-10 anti-tank missile
In Beijing, a spokesman said Monday’s clash erupted after Indians ‘crossed the line, acted illegally, provoked and attacked the Chinese, resulting in both sides engaging in serious physical conflict and injury and death’
According to the Indian account, what started out as an effort at disengagement after a month-long standoff along the frontier unraveled last week when Indian troops furiously dismantled a Chinese camp
On Monday, these skirmishes boiled over into a full-scale brawl atop a ridge-line above the Galwan River, with many men dying after being knocked unconscious by nail-studded clubs and plunging into icy waters
A big jolt will be shaking North West of USA July 4 2020 ? Wait until next predictions?
I like your predictions… Continue
How symbolic!
Yes everyone thought the Chinese volcano was extinct or at the very least at rest until “their new results, this volcano in northeast China could be “recharging” for an eruption”
Just by watching the mainstream news anyone could tell that the Chinese volcano was “ recharging for eruption” you don’t need a scientist to tell you that. There’s even been tremors & smoke making everyone around it very sick.
Yes sure! These assumptions are now backed up by science…
Volcanos are cool. I enjoyed climbing the ones in the Pacific Northwest. I camped alone one night just under the summit of Mt. Baker in the 1970’s. At that time Mt. Baker was rumbling a little. You could see steam leaving the crater and the snow was yellow. Currently I live only eight miles from the only Pacific Coast Volcano in the US which is not being monitored. Look up Mt. Edgecumbe. My house sits on six feet of volcanic ash from the last eruption.
The volcanic unrest is increasing around the world:
https://strangesounds.org/2020/04/volcanic-eruption-right-now-map.html