NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — The California Institute of Technology is uncovering the secrets of seismic activity near the Long Valley Caldera in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. The results of this discovery were published in the journal Science Advances.
The Long Valley Caldera, which is located in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, was formed after a powerful eruption that released 650 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere.
Since then, researchers have observed earthquakes becoming more frequent and the ground rising by more than a centimeter per year since the 1980s.
To unravel the main mystery of the supervolcano, scientists resorted to modern technologies and created the most detailed images of the caldera, reaching a depth of ten kilometers.
To do this, they used data from distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), which recorded the propagation of two types of seismic waves – longitudinal primary (P-waves) and transverse secondary (S-waves) using a fiber optic cable.
It is important to note that the 100-kilometer section of fiber optic cable was so effective that its performance can be compared to the use of 10 thousand single-component seismometers.
Over the course of a year and a half of research, scientists recorded about 2,000 seismic events, most of which were invisible to the human eye.
What are the results? The cooling magma turned out to be a source of seismic activity, releasing liquids and gases.
Although the likelihood of a super eruption is low, scientists warn of possible earthquakes and smaller eruptions. The crystallized rock, like a cover, hides a magma chamber underneath, adding to the mystery of this volcanic place.
Scientists will continue to monitor the Long Valley supervolcano to ensure the safety of the region and better understand the nature of these potentially dangerous phenomena.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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