Mercury found in prehistoric rock bolsters the idea that volcanoes caused a mass extinction 200m years ago.
Furious winds keep the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Anarctica free of snow and ice. Calcites found in the valleys have revealed the secrets of ancient subglacial volcanoes.
Stuart Rankin/Flickr
Melting ice from Antartica could feed vast plankton blooms, trapping carbon in the ocean. To understand this complex mechanism, researchers looked at volcanoes deep under glaciers.
The Noril’sk nickel deposits In Russia are unique: giant volcanic eruptions 250 million years ago released colossal amounts of nickel into the atmosphere, kickstarting the Great Dying.
A study is being done in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression - a natural environment like no other on earth - to understand how microbes thrive in extreme environments such as those found on Mars.
When Mount Sinabung erupted in Indonesia, researchers were already in the area to investigate how locals coped with the ongoing risk.
The incredible Blue Lake at Mount Gambier fills one of the craters from the last volcanic eruption just 5,000 years ago.
ian woolcock from www.shutterstock.com
Our planet is a hugely dynamic place – and the clock is ticking down to the next superdisaster.
Piton de la Fournaise or “Peak of the Furnace” on Reunion Island is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, shown erupting in August 2015.
AAP/NewZulu/Vincent Dunogué
What happens beneath the surface before a volcano erupts? Can we predict when one will blow? And how can typhoons and melting glaciers contribute to big eruptions?
Thirty five years after the devastating eruption of Mount St Helens, a volcanologist looks back on how it unfolded – and how it forever changed our understanding of how volcanoes work.
Gas and ash rise from the Calbuco volcano as seen from the city of Puerto Montt, Chile on April 22.
Stringer Shanghai/Reuters