Ancient Supervolcano Discovered Buried Beneath Eastern England
British geologists discovered an ancient supervolcano buried under eastern England, solving a 454-million-year-old mystery regarding vast ash layers across Northern and Eastern Europe.
British researchers have discovered an ancient supervolcano buried beneath eastern England, solving a 454-million-year-old geological mystery regarding vast ash layers found across Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
Tracing the Kinnekulle Tephra
Geologists from the British Geological Survey and the University of Oslo re-analyzed core samples from Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Tiny crystals within the samples were dated to approximately 454.4 million years ago, perfectly matching the ancient ash layer known as the Kinnekulle tephra, which has been documented in Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Belarus.
The researchers concluded that the volcanic ash originated from a colossal volcanic system currently buried beneath The Wash on the eastern coast of England. During the eruption, hundreds of cubic cubic kilometers of rock and ash were propelled into the stratosphere, traveling immense distances before settling.
Evidence of Subsequent Eruptions
The findings strengthen the assessment that eastern England was once a far more active volcanic region than it appears today.
Furthermore, the team identified younger zircon crystals aged approximately 453.7 million years. According to the researchers, these suggest a secondary eruption occurring relatively soon after the first event, associated with the collapse of the caldera following the depletion of the underlying magma chamber.
No Present Danger
While the British Geological Survey utilizes the term supervolcano, some volcanologists prefer to describe the event as a massive super-plinian eruption due to hundreds of millions of years of erosion. Citizens can rest easy, as the ancient volcanic system is completely extinct with zero chance of reawakening beneath the flat English landscape.
