Topic description and stories

Magma erupting at the Holuhraun lava field in August 2014

‘Crystal clocks’ used to time magma storage before volcanic eruptions

18 Jul 2019

The molten rock that feeds volcanoes can be stored in the Earth’s crust for as long as a thousand years, a result which may help with volcanic hazard...

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Kiauea

‘Bulges’ in volcanoes could be used to predict eruptions

28 Jun 2017

A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a new way of measuring the pressure inside volcanoes, and found that it can be...

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Chasing the volcano

01 Jul 2016

In 2014, Cambridge researchers monitored a series of seismic shocks which preceded Iceland’s biggest volcanic eruption in 200 years. The dramatic...

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The Deccan Traps in western India

Did dinosaur-killing asteroid trigger largest lava flows on Earth?

12 May 2015

The asteroid that slammed into the ocean off Mexico 66 million years ago and killed off the dinosaurs probably rang the Earth like a bell, triggering...

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Luck and lava

06 Oct 2014

A team of researchers from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences have recently returned from Iceland where, thanks to a bit of luck, they have...

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Buccaneer Cove

In Darwin’s footsteps: the geology of the Galapagos

01 May 2009

How did a fragment of lava set in motion a journey to the Galapagos 170 years after Darwin’s epic voyage?

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