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Whether it ’s glowing lava snaking into the sea or lightning flower in billow ash tree clouds , the sight of an erupt volcano animate awe and wonder .
Now imagine 1,500 of these suckers all tear off at once . That ’s how many activevolcanoesdot the Earth , plus an obscure numberhidden under the ocean . Every daylight , between 10 and 20 volcanoes are break through somewhere on Earth , but scientist say the probability of every volcano on the planet erupting at once is so small that it ’s out of the question . But what if it did happen ? Would Earth as it we have sex it survive ?
Not likely , said Parv Sethi , a geologist at Radford University in Virginia . Even if only the volcanoes on land blasted in sync , the effects would trigger off an environmental domino mountain chain many , many time more powerful than a nuclear wintertime , Sethi said . " thing will become so bad that I would n’t require to survive on an Earth like this , " he order Live Science . [ Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth ]
The two heavy hazards from a worldwide volcanic cataclysm are ash and volcanic gases . ( While the explosions and outpouring of lava would be venomous to people living closely by , the telephone number of deaths would pale compared to those triggered by the ensuing climate modification . )
Plunged into dark
Sethi predicts that a thick stratum of ash would blanket the Earth , completely blocking incoming sunlight .
" The planet would be pitched into unadulterated dark , and that is run to devastatephotosynthesis , destroy crop yields and make temperatures to plunge , " Sethi said . The ash tree would mill around in the atmosphere for up to 10 years , he added .
Yet , not every vent on Earth is primed to pump out big amounts of ash ; some , like Hawaii ’s vent , commonly put out gentle lava flow rate . But the tilt of 1,500 potential active volcano , amass by the U.S. Geological Survey , includes whopper like theYellowstone supervolcano , which could overlay the adjacent United States in a thin layer of ash .
bite cold
Acid rain would wipe out any crops that survive burial by ash , Sethi said . Volcanic gases admit nasties such as hydrochloric superman , H fluoride , hydrogen sulphide and sulfur dioxide , which can become acidic rain when they condense richly in the standard atmosphere . That pane rain would pollute groundwater and the sea ’s surface . sea acidification would shoot down off corals and nautical creature with hard shell . The extermination would travel up the ocean solid food chain , wipe out fish and other marine animation .
researcher have documented a similar connection between ocean acidification , mass extinction in Earth ’s past and volcanic mega - eruptions called flood basalts . For illustration , these vast lava outpourings have beencorrelated to extinction at the end of the Permian Period252 million class ago , the Triassic Period 201 million years ago , and the end of Cretaceous Period 65 million age ago .
" Flood basalts and aggregate defunctness events are linked , " say Paul Renne , a geologist at the Berkeley Geochronology Center in California who specialise in figuring out the age of rock-and-roll .
volatile volcanic blast also shoot ash , detritus and gas into the stratosphere . These subatomic particle reflect sunlight away from Earth and can significantly cool the major planet , albeit briefly . For instance , the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 — one of the two largest eruption in the 20th century — cooled role of the domain by up to 0.7 degree Fahrenheit ( 0.4 degree Celsius ) for two years . [ Countdown : account ’s Most Destructive Volcanoes ]
Turn up the heat
Volcanic eruptionsdo release the greenhouse gasolene carbon paper dioxide , which could help offset orbicular cooling from ash and stratospheric speck . But Sethi wondered whether 1,500 simultaneous volcanic eruptions would overwhelm Earth ’s organisation .
" It ’s going to be like turning the knob on a gas range to the broiling place setting , " he allege . " The only head is whether it is in reality going to transfer the [ atm ’s ] composition so much that we have carbon copy dioxide poisoning in the atmosphere . Either way , we ’re sound to be cooked , so to speak , " Sethi articulate .
Ancient black shales , a case of marine tilt , indicate comparable calamities come about in Earth ’s account , say Sethi , who studies these Cretaceous Period careen . The rock ‘n’ roll criminal record suggests carbon dioxide levels soar in the Cretaceous , pop off nautical lifespan in some portion of the ocean and close down ocean circulation . During the Late Cretaceous Period , some 90 million years ago , carbon dioxide story in the atmosphere were around 2.5 times today ’s levels , scientists think .
The tiniest survive
So what life could survive this lethal volcanic outburst ?
" It will be the time of theextremophiles , " Sethi predicts . These organisms already live in super acidulent environments , such as Yellowstone ’s hot leap , or in thick undersea vents , protect from the control surface desolation . " It would be like a clean ticket for these organisms to do their evolutionary affair . "
The sci - fi scheme is also possible : A few world know on in celestial orbit or in deep underground dugout built by well - financed governments or copious moguls , hold off for the atmosphere to shed light on .
" The lucky single would be the bushed ones in this scenario , " Sethi said .
