California, United States

The supervolcano of California, which carries the power of burying Los Angeles underneath more than 3,000 feet of ash, has been showing signs of activity.

More than 2,000 earthquakes were identified rumbling across the Long Valley Caldera in the last few years by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

A new investigation was conducted by the team to observe if the seismic activity was hinting at the volcano's massive eruption. Detailed underground images of the caldera of Caltech researchers were created to find how the recent seismic activity resulted from the gases and fluids released after the temperature of the area decreased.

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Speaking to Daily Mail, the study's author Zhongwen Zhan said, “We don't think the region is gearing up for another supervolcanic eruption, but the cooling process may release enough gas and liquid to cause earthquakes and small eruptions. For example, in May 1980, there were four magnitude 6 earthquakes in the region alone.”

Long-dormant volcano exploded around 767,000 years ago

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A critical examination of the images revealed that the magma chamber of the volcano is covered by a crystallised rock's hardened lid which gets formed after liquid magma cools down and solidifies.

Around 767,000 years ago, the long-dormant volcano exploded and released 140 miles of lava into the atmosphere, which resulted in the devastation of the land.

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Dozens of seismometers were placed by Zhan and his team across the Eastern Sierra region to capture seismic measurements through a process called distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). The team covered 62 miles of the caldera with cables for capturing underground snapshots.

For more than a year and a half, the cable was used by the team for measuring more than 2,000 seismic events. Those measurements were then processed by a machine learning algorithm and developed into a resulting image, which showed every quake's location.

An expert on the Long Valley Caldera Emily Montgomery-Brown, who was not part of the study, speaking to the LA Times stated that the swarms of earthquakes began in 2011.

After the quakes, a ground deformation occurred in which the land had risen and the tremors had dissipated in 2020, which left the region quiet and stable. In 2018, a study was carried out in which it was found that 240 cubic miles of magma was present below the surface of Long Valley Caldera.

“And so even if the Long Valley magma reservoir is moribund, there are other pockets of magma in the area,” stated Montgomery-Brown.

(With inputs from agencies)

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