Geologists Think They've Found an Alaskan Version of Yellowstone's Supervolcano

 Mount Cleveland sounds like the sort of volcano you made for a grade four science project and crammed with vinegar and bicarb. More geological zit than powder keg, it pops and oozes every decade about to thicken its igneous skin.

There are five more prefer it nearby, making up what's referred to as the Islands of 4 Mountains. Today, most of them are quiet. But geologists are wondering if together this innocent cluster of volcanoes off from the Alaskan mainland represents something much more Earth-shattering.

Researchers from institutions across the US are set to create their case at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2020 Fall Meeting, arguing that the mountains Cleveland, Carlisle, Herbert, Kagamil, Tana, and Uliaga are all tips of 1 big magma chamber.

Cone-like stratovolcanoes can blow their tops in impressive ways but tend to emerge from relatively small to modestly-sized pockets of magma.

A caldera may be a collapsed chunk of crust formed by the collapse of a magma chamber because it empties. Such a collapse is often a comparatively subtle sinking of rock crumbling into an empty hole. Under the correct conditions, bubbles of gas get caught within the viscous molten rock, forming an autoclave that sends rock flying when it erupts.

There's no single evidence as far as evidence of a hidden caldera here goes, but there are lots of hints. The make-up of certain gases escaping Mount Cleveland, as an example, and also the way vents on several of the mountains align point to the chance that a major chamber lurks deep underground.

"We've been scraping under the couch cushions for data," says Diana Roman of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC.

"But everything we glance at lines up with a caldera during this region."

If their predictions are right, Alaska's Aleutian Arc – the road of islands stretching across the sea towards Russia's coast – may well be harboring a monster on the size of Yellowstone's mighty supervolcano.

The entire chain contains around 80 volcanos in total. Dozens of them have erupted repeatedly in recent history, too, so it's no secret that it is a geologically active part of the world.

One of the foremost active volcanos within the area, Mount Cleveland has erupted quite 20 times within the past two centuries. a number of them haven't exactly been small affairs, either, with one in 1944 ranking at a 'catastrophic' level three on the volcanic explosivity index (VEI).

If a hypothetical supervolcano below were to let rip, the planet would realize it. At an 8 on the VEI, the fabric blown into the atmosphere would affect the worldwide climate for years to come back.

Just over two thousand years ago another Aleutian Arc volcano, Okmok, erupted with such ferocity it's speculated that the resulting changes to the climate half a world away could are the ultimate nail within the coffin of the Roman Republic.

The caldera beneath the Islands of 4 Mountains promises a far bigger display.

As concerning because it all sounds, there are plenty more data to assemble before we will sound any alarms.

"Our hope is to return to the Islands of 4 Mountains and appearance more closely at the seafloor, study the volcanic rocks in greater detail, collect more seismic and gravity data, and sample more of the geothermal areas," says Roman.

Even if confirmed, it'll take time to create a transparent understanding of the caldera's workings. Yellowstone's supervolcano is found during a rather convenient spot for geologists, providing much data all year round. And we're still debating just what is going on deep below Earth's skin.

Still, thoughts of apocalyptic explosions aside, knowing Mount Cleveland is tapping into a caldera could help volcanologists better understand the character of its eruptions. With plumes pushing quite five kilometers (3 miles) into the air, there's the threat to air therein a part of the globe to consider.

"It does potentially help us understand what makes Cleveland so active," says lead author John Power,  a researcher with the US Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

"It may help us understand what kind of eruptions to expect within the future and better indurate their hazards."