BrainStuff Classics: Could Humans Control Volcanic Eruptions?

Spoiler alert: Not yet. But researchers are working on it. Learn how in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogue Bomb and this this is
a classic brain Stuff episode. Volcanic eruptions can be one
of Earth's mightiest disasters, but we humans are pretty mighty too,
So we got to wondering could we one day control volcanoes?

(00:26):
Hi brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. When Alaska's Pavlof volcano
erupted in March of it ejected a cloud of ash
four hundred miles or sixty high. The stream of sharp,
powdered rocks shut down air travel and major highways. Then
twice in May and July, the U S Geological Survey
raised the alert level for Pavlov which seems ready to

(00:46):
do it again, but then they downgraded it in August.
Volcanic eruptions are notoriously unpredictable. Hans Lechner, a doctorial candidate
in geology and engineering sciences at Michigan Technological University, says
volcanologists have figured out the timing yet, He wrote via email,
a volcano may show all the signs of an impending eruption,
increased seismicity, high gas flux, surface deformation, but then never

(01:10):
actually erupt and over time return back to baseline levels,
or he says, it can show none of the signs
of an impending eruption and then erupt. There are those
in the field who muse about going on the offensive,
the volcanic preemptive strike, if you will. The idea is
humans somehow modify the eruption process, either by initiating an
eruption under controlled conditions, or by downgrading the energy of

(01:33):
an impending eruption to limit the resulting damage. The energy
involved in a volcanic eruption defies the imagination. Italy's infamous
Mount Etnas spewed about three cubic feet that's ten cubic
meters of lava per second during its four month eruption
in three lets Know reports that in nine, Mount Pinatubo's
initial blast ejected about two point four cubic miles or

(01:55):
ten cubic kilometers of material to an altitude of about
twenty five miles or forty kilometers. He says that magma
represents massive amounts of energy. It originates deep inside the Earth,
where extreme temperatures and pressures can melt rock. Molten rock,
or magma is lighter than solid rock, so it rises,
forming a magma chamber that moves upward through Earth's crust.

(02:16):
As the volume of magma grows, the pressure in the
chamber increases, forcing magma through the volcanoes vents tubes formed
by prior eruptions sealed at the surface by a lid
of rock. If the pressure gets high enough and Event
suddenly opens to the atmosphere, the rapid depressurization causes gases
to come out of solution, which causes the magma to explode.
It spews through the open vents, along with pulverized rock, steam,

(02:39):
and various gases. In the case of Mount Saint Helen's
in Lechener says that extreme pressure had forced Event lid
to bulge outward, a classic sign of impending eruption, and
a landslide took it off to modify that eruption. Lechner theorizes,
I suppose humans could have triggered the landslide or removed
the overburden lid through say excavation or even donating a

(03:01):
nuclear device. Of course, Newton, a volcano should not be
anyone's first plan, and drilling into the magma chamber to
release the pressures out too. Volcanologist Eric Cleametti, writing on
Wired in, likened that theory to trying to bleed to
death with a needle prick. But we couldn't avert an
eruption by slowly depressurizing the chamber either. Lechner wrote, we

(03:23):
have to get past the misconception that a magma chamber
is like a fluid filled balloon or soda bottle that
we can gently insert a straw and suck out the
lava and gas. We're talking about pressures and volumes of
material that are beyond the capacity of man made equipment.
He says, would have to drill down several kilometers with
massive pipes hundreds of meters in diameter to handle the
volcanic output that would rush from the chamber. The pipes

(03:45):
would have to withstand temperatures above three thousand, six hundred
degrees fahrenheit that's two thousand degrees celsius, and pressures quote
beyond our capabilities to manage and even comprehend. And then
he adds there would still be the gases held in
solution and by the pressure of the chamber that escape
violently when the chamber depressurized. Generally speaking, it seems the

(04:06):
main problem facing human modication of volcanic eruptions is that
it's laughably impossible. Volcanoes are too big and volcanic eruptions
are too powerful. Yet, says Janet Bab, geologist with the
U s GS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, humanity is not completely
without modification options. Bab rope via email. Humans cannot stop

(04:26):
or control an eruption, but we have taken some actions
to control products erupted from a volcano. Diverting lava flows.
For instance, Bab points to Mount Etna and that three
eruption mentioned earlier, which sent lava flowing into populated areas.
With the lava flow threatening to overrun three towns, hundreds
of workers desperately constructed a system of massive rebel barriers

(04:48):
to redirect it, and it worked. They successfully diverted the lava.
Attempts to guide lava flows by bombing them have generally failed.
Cooling them has shown promise, though. In Vree, the lava
from a volcano on the Icelandic island of Haymi was
flowing into towns. Officials built barriers to stop its progress
and dumped seawater on the lava to cool it. Down,

(05:09):
slow the flow, and help it harden the barriers held
against the lower energy lava flow. As for exerting control
before the lava starts flowing, Lechner says it's mostly science
fiction daydreaming. Volcanology research instead focuses on advancing methods of
monitoring and prediction. However, he writes, it's not absurd to
think that our own hubrists might encourage us to attempt

(05:32):
to modify a volcanic eruption. Humans have a history of
large scale engineering feats that have forever modified the service
of the Earth. Today's episode was written by Julia Layton
and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Playing. For more
on this and lots of other explosive topics, visit how

(05:53):
stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart
Radio or more podcasts. My Heart Radio visit the I
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