What Happens When A Volcano Meets a Glacier?

Volcanoes might seem like an unstoppable force of nature - but there is at least one OTHER force on Earth that seems to be able to keep them down.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Decompression Melting: Mantle melting that involves the upward movement of Earth's mostly-solid mantle.
- Flux Melting: Melting that occurs when water and other volatile components are introduced to hot solid rock.
- Glaciation: the process, condition, or result of being covered by glaciers or ice sheets.
- Magma: Hot fluid or semifluid material below or within the earth's crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed on cooling.

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CREDITS
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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman and Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
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[diclonius]

Love how cute the volcanoes, magma, and glaciers look.

[VoIcanoman]

This is all true. But volcanoes do actually form subglacially. There are a few of them in Iceland right now (including the infamously tongue-twisting Eyjafjallajökull which caused all that chaos over a decade ago). And when they do, their lava meets ice and immediately flashes it to steam, which expands rapidly (explodes), shattering the lava and freezing it instantly, forming little shards of volcanic glass. Some of this glass is tiny enough to get carried away in the volcanic plume (preventing airplanes from flying in areas where the plume is drifting), while the heavier fragments loosely consolidate to form a volcanic deposit that is called hyaloclastite (which literally translates to "glass fragments"). The hyaloclastite builds up, until the glacier is completely melted above the volcano's location, and then molten lava flows atop the collection of glass fragments, making a flat-topped mountain that is only revealed when the glacier all around it completely retreats. These mountains are called "tuya" and you can see a lot of them in Iceland, but they are also present in other places, like northern British Columbia.

Subglacial volcanism also produces a rather unique hazard - the dreaded jökulhlaup, or flood of glacial meltwater (melted by the volcano) released all at once when an ice dam is broken (or melted) away, allowing what is essentially a subglacial _lake_ to rapidly drain. These floods can happen during an eruption, or even many months after one (say, if an earthquake shifts the ice enough to break the dam and release the water), which makes them especially dangerous and impossible to predict. Scientists can detect collections of meltwater, but when (and how quickly) they drain is unknowable (and frequently, there are multiple river systems into which they could drain, making it hard to know which towns are in danger when the jökulhlaup happens).

[DevSarman]

This is why ice type is super effective against ground type

[maggmagg]

Love how you added two volcanoes on the Reykjanes peninsula to indicate the two seperate eruptions that are currently happening

[Bxll_Bxll]

Thanks for working hard to educate us. I appreciate y’all in the minuteearth team! Thanks for edutaining us

[robertnull]

"It's geologic dance to a real song of ice and fire."
That quote. Just wow ❤

[Sir_Uncle_Ned]

Having the glacier as a thwomp is a nice little detail that I enjoy

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

We have our own volcano along our Chinese border called Mount Paektu, which is according to legend the origin of the Korean people. One of the most powerful eruptions in recorded history happened there in 946, and it's long overdue to erupt again. Everyone in the DPRK must make a pilgrimage to Mount Paektu and climb to the top. I prefer to do it on horseback. It was Moon Jae-in's dream to climb it so when he visited us, he did just that and we held hands at the summit.

[kayzeaza]

Very interesting. I’m my geology class we just learned about Glaciers. There’s a lot more too them then I originally thought

[lesussie]

Did this also happen during snowball earth or does it only apply to volcanos over continental plates, not oceanic ones?

[MapleRose]

aww the faces on the volcanos and glaciers are so cute! I like the thwomp face on the glacier haha

[blitzwaffe]

Admit it, many of you have that image of Aokiji and Akainu staring each other down...

[ducky]

Makes my day when I see another minute earth video pop up! ☺️

[thiquel.]

Hehe, that glacier has a thwomp face on it!

[Occam]

Great video as usual, thank you ! It brings me to a question :
I often read that snowball earth events were ended thanks to volcanism ("Global warming associated with large accumulations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over millions of years, emitted primarily by volcanic activity, is the proposed trigger for melting a snowball Earth", Wikipedia). But how can it be, if all the surface was covered with ice? (Maybe not all, and just a little bit with volcanos could suffice?)

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

I prefer the epic battle of volcano versus the Avatar. Avatar Roku was sleeping with his wife on his home island when suddenly the island's volcano started to erupt. His wife and the other villagers managed to escape the island on boats while he stayed to fight the volcano before the ash got to the boats. Initially he was winning until he felt it was hopeless to stop it...until his long-time friend Fire Lord Sozin joined and helped by heat-bending (as in eliminating the heat energy from the volcano by redirecting it), but it was becoming too gaseous and thus they chose to sprint. With Roku breathing in a lot of it, he was down on his knees. He begged for Sozin to help...but Sozin betrayed him so he could start his Fire Nation empire, an empire that Roku didn't want. Roku's dragon stayed with him till the very end.

[-hoopoe-]

2:22 FINALLY, ICELAND AUCTUALLY HAS ICE!

[attackemartin]

When you see the glaciers face and hear the Mario block "ugghhh" in your brain

[stonnacc]

Finally, admirals fight at punk hazard reveal.

[omartherandomguy]

One of the best channels where I can find answers to my shower thoughts.