Earth Could be Left 'Uninhabitable' If Volcanoes Under Antarctica Ice Will Erupt

Researchers have cautioned that Antarctica could be at the center of the world's chaos if the volcanoes under the ice were to spew and reach up to a level that renders the Earth uninhabitable.

The frozen continent is native to several 5,000 researchers across the globe who discovered the unruined parts to learn more about the planet's history and the impacts of climate change.

But scientists got a surprise when they found over 100 dormant volcanoes beneath the continent's frozen layer, making it the biggest volcanic part of the world.

(Photo : Jordan Corrales)

The Scary Discovery

The discovery was especially crucial because the action of these volcanoes could have vital clues for the rest of the world. If one burst, it could proceed to destabilize several of the area's frozen layers, which have been impacted by world changes. 

Professor of Volcanology at the University of Leicester, John Smellie explained that the volcanoes would melt big caverns in the root of the ice and produce massive quantities of meltwater.

"Because the West Antarctic frozen layer is wet relatively than iced to its bed - visualize an ice cube on a kitchen table - the meltwater would function as a lubricant and could result in the overlying ice slipping and shift more quickly."

Read More: New Sensors Help Detect and Predict Volcanic Eruptions

Ice Stabilization

These volcanoes can also stabilize the ice, still, as they offer it something to hold onto - visualize that exact ice cube grasping onto a pile-shaped object. In any way, the quantity of water that would be produced by just a whole volcano is a little related to the quantity of overlying ice.

So a sole eruption won't have ample impact on the ice flow. What would give rise to a significant difference, is if some volcanoes erupt near to or below any of the prominent ice streams - West Antarctica

Eruption Under the Ice 

Over 80 percent of the world's clean water reserves are stocked in Antarctica - available to provide global sea level around 60meters if it melted - make the world unlivable - as researchers formerly indicated. And Prof Smellie explained that: "An eruption under the ice could activate a destructive speeding up of this event."

He further explained: "Frost streams are lakes of ice that flow much quicker than their environments. They are the regions along which much  ice in Antarctica is conveyed to the ocean, and hence instabilities in their speed can impact the sea level.

(Photo : Nick Wehrli)

Antarctica's Biggest Ice Shelf 

If the extra lubricant offered by numerous volcanic eruptions was transmitted under ice streams, the successive quick flow may toss out rare amounts of West Antarctica's hard interior ice into the ocean, resulting in sea levels rising.

Volcanoes under the ice are likely what activated a quick flow of very old ice streams into the caormous Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica's biggest ice shelf.

Around 2,000 years ago something similar may have happened with a little volcano in the Hudson Mountains that lay below the West Antarctica frozen layer - if it exploded too, today it could cause the close-by Pine Island Glacier to speed up. 

Related Article: Volcanoes Erupt Without Warning Because of New Findings

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