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New Delhi: A volcano has erupted in north-eastern Ethiopia for the first time after 12,000 years. It has sent massive plumes of smoke and ash drifting across the Red Sea towards Yemen, Oman, India, and northern Pakistan.
Ash clouds from the Hayli Gubbi volcano has hit flight operations across the world, including India. It entered the Indian subcontinent from the western side and reached the Indian capital on Monday night before spreading to other parts.
The Hayli Gubbi volcano has been a dormant volcano for 12,000 years, before its eruption on Sunday. The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) said the eruption started around 8:30 am GMT on Sunday. The volcano is located in the Afar region about 800 km northeast of Addis Ababa, near the Eritrean border. It erupted for several hours, covering the nearby village of Afdera in ash.
The ash cloud is travelling at altitudes between 15,000 and 25,000 feet, and in some layers it reaches up to 45,000 feet. It contains volcanic ash, sulphur dioxide, and tiny particles of glass and rock.
Experts believe that the volcanic eruption was highly unusual, and pointed out the region's volcanic activity was “understudied”.
Arianna Soldati, a volcanologist at North Carolina State University, was quoted as saying by Scientific American Magazine: “So long as there are still the conditions for magma to form, a volcano can still have an eruption even if it hasn't had one in 1,000 years or 10,000 years.”
The shield volcano sits within the geologically active East African Rift Zone, a region where the African and Arabian tectonic plates are gradually separating at a rate of 0.4–0.6 inches per year. A shield volcano is wide and gently sloping, resembling the shape of a warrior’s shield laid flat on the ground.
Juliet Biggs, an earth scientist at the University of Bristol in England, reportedly said, “I would be really surprised if (more than 12,000 years ago) really is the last eruption date.” He added that even though no confirmed eruptions occurred during this period, satellite images suggest the volcano may have recently given out lava.
Derek Keir, an earth scientist at the University of Southampton who was in Ethiopia during the eruption of the volcano, collected ash samples on Monday. These samples will help scientists study and ascertain the magma type and if the volcano had really been dormant for 12,000 years.
However, the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program points out that Hayli Gubbi volcano has had no known eruptions during the Holocene, the current geological epoch that started roughly 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.
Earlier, scientists had seen signs that an eruption at Hayli Gubbi could happen.
In July, the nearby Erta Ale volcano erupted, causing ground movement under Hayli Gubbi. It showed that magma was pushing up from almost 30 km below the surface. So, as the crust stretches and thins, magma from deep below begins to rise towards the surface.
Over time, the pressure built up, and finally forced an eruption after years of dormancy. Scientists say such long gaps are common in shield volcanoes like Hayli Gubbi. These volcanos can erupt very rarely but still remain active deep under the ground.
