Tavui contains an unusually massive submarine caldera. It’s recent VEI 5 eruption was clearly not the cause of its caldera, likely owing to a prehistoric combination of VEI 6s or a VEI 7 eruption. From what I’m told, scuba diving off the sheer cliff which forms Tavui’s caldera wall is quite scenic.
In a few thousand years it might create a continent the size of England. Until then they should re-re-name the island back to it's traditional name. And scuba diving the scenic area sounds like it could be a "hot" situation if you swim in the wrong area at the wrong time.
I am amazed by the sheer volume of factual (I hope) data is included in each one of these videos. I do realize that you have a 79,000 year headstart for a lot of them.
This video was actually quite difficult due to the small number of relevant scientific papers on this complex. Thus, I read each of them to help make today’s segment.
@@GeologyHub The fact that you go through scientific papers and actually *read* them to make the various videos has my utmost admiration. Wish more folks uploading "science" videos would actually do the research before posting.
My only complaint is that you dominate my search results GeologyHub. I have to switch off my subscription for a couple of weeks to more easily find others. Then I always come back...you're doing a nice job.
@@GeologyHub This region of the planet is fascinating and very geologically complex. Lots of micro plates, very high speed subduction zones, areas where subduction has reversed direction, back arc island chains being subducted, rift zones, thrust faults etc. Many examples of each interacting with the other as well. As you say, the whole region is not very well studied, but a fair amount of bathymetric exploration has happened in the region- most privately funded mineral exploration. I know someone who spent 8 months on a survey ship in the Bismarck sea. Although there is plenty of growing interest in the region by academia.
Tavui needs to be more well studied, as there is some many things unknown about it. Now, I am curious if the 79,000 year old eruption of Tavui was a so-called “Ha’apaian” eruption due to having water near it like Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, because both are mostly submarine volcanoes, and thus when an eruption occurs, the interaction between water and magma causes the eruption column to go to ridiculous heights, 50-60 kilomters high. That eruption column height is so tall that only superuptions can do them, and that is if they are violent enough and had interactions with water already. I know the maximum column height is 55 km, but some research papers, along with the recent Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption suggest that eruption columns higher than that are possible, though rare.
Is it possible for you to look at the massive Emi Koussi volcano in northern Chad? There are also a huge number of other extinct/still active volcanoes all around the Sahara. I run around google earth all the time and I check them out often and wonder about them. The volcano is also surrounded by what looks like an absolutely massive volcanic field that's visible from space.
If its instinct, not building up anymore. You can find out by measuring if there's a magnetic field. If it's different to its surrounding it's still active.
Hey GeologyHub, is there a minimum size of eruption that you'd say would guarantee caldera formation? That is, "at VEI X or below, you might have a caldera but you might not, but at VEI Y or above, it's guaranteed". If I had to guess, I'd think the threshold would be the high 5, low 6 range.
See I'd say that is tricky as an eruption of a vei6 or 7 could actually be slow over years or decades of continuous eruption rather than a single massive bang. I mean a vei 7 over 10 years would still be like a vei4 every single day for 10 years but still. You might get away with a lack of collapse as as the eruption slowed magma would harden within the chamber over time
DIfficult as there are obviouly different types of calderas. Those big ones are obviously formed by strong eruptions, like VEI6 or above, but even far smaller eruptions can form calderas. A prime example of this would be Kilauea which has some ridiculously small calderas which even overlap as a result of magma chambers or tubes emptying.
@@nick3805 But that's exactly my point. Yeah, small explosive eruptions or even large effusive ones can create calderas, but I'm curious as to what the guarantee limit is, specifically for explosive eruptions (hence me referencing the Volcanic Explosivity Index).
@@tcp3059 If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say VEI7 basicly guarantees it. I don't know of any VEI7 eruption where it wasn't the case, but from what I can tell, Veiðivötn in Iceland is a part of the Bárðarbunga volcanic complex and produced a non-caldera-forming VEI6 eruption. From my research, such a thing is rare, but obviously not impossible. Edit: I obviously meant Iceland, even through I accidentually wrote Island which happened as Island is the name of that nation in German. I corrected it.
simpson harbour in Rabaul is a caldera itself but I never knew there was another monster so closely nearby. Tavurvur and Vulcan are both considered vents of a larger system occuring in New Britain. Diving there is fantastic being in the west pacific, its volcanics and world war history.
Thank you for your work. I always learn something new. Like 2 tectonic plates I never heard of. I was wondering how many tectonic plates are there on Earth?
volcano and eq are interessing, but i would like more videos about type of minerals crystals found in crust, what different origin they can have, and where are the main mines and potential ones....by example i know gold/silver are mainly fond witrh old hydrothermal activites like near quartz, or with intrusion of it, etc...but i have no idea what kind of geologic activities can bring to surface uranium or mercure or lead etc...
I wonder if the Tavui eruption 79 kya was related to the near extinction event when the human population was reduced to perhaps just thousands around 75 kya. Maybe there is a dip in the equatorial temperatures about that time. Your wording is very careful. Thank you for this video.
Love the channel. I studied for a BA degree with the Open University in the 1980s, mainly in Earth sciences so I understand many of the terms you use but something mystifies me about todays post: you quote authorative dates for this underwater caldera, of some 79000 yrs BC and I can't imagine how this conclusion is arrived at. Is there a easy or short answer, please?
It depends on the type of seismic activity. Seismic activity can be caused my magma pressing it's way upwards towards the surface which will have the harder material above slowly breakig from the pressure, resulting in earthquakes, but there are also seismic activities with no relation to volcanos at all. However, the places where volcanoes are and where earthquakes happen overlapping is common as volcanic activity is mostly the result of the movements of the tectonic plates while earthquakes have the same origin, especiallly if plates start to overlap.
Can you speak on how a pyroclastic flow would work with an underwater volcano? Does it happen underwater or come out and travel across the surface? I love geology related stuff and never thought about what that would look like so i'm curious. :)
How can we have such a precise year for the 4946 BC eruption? Is this an average of several estimates? I would have thought that dating an event that happened almost 7,000 years ago would come with a non-negligible error margin. Also, at 1:16 it's mentioned that this eruption sent pyroclastic flows to several population centers. Do we have not only evidence of settlements in these places that far back, but also evidence that they were affected by this eruption? I find it pretty surprising that we'd know so much for an event this old…
Tavui contains an unusually massive submarine caldera. It’s recent VEI 5 eruption was clearly not the cause of its caldera, likely owing to a prehistoric combination of VEI 6s or a VEI 7 eruption. From what I’m told, scuba diving off the sheer cliff which forms Tavui’s caldera wall is quite scenic.
do rabaul next please
but yeah thanks for making this awesome content . now i don't have to search the web for hours just to get real info
In a few thousand years it might create a continent the size of England. Until then they should re-re-name the island back to it's traditional name. And scuba diving the scenic area sounds like it could be a "hot" situation if you swim in the wrong area at the wrong time.
@@adriennefloreen England is not a continent it is part of the continent of Europe.
1:20 villages found where Solomon & Bismarck meet?
I am amazed by the sheer volume of factual (I hope) data is included in each one of these videos. I do realize that you have a 79,000 year headstart for a lot of them.
This video was actually quite difficult due to the small number of relevant scientific papers on this complex. Thus, I read each of them to help make today’s segment.
@@GeologyHub The fact that you go through scientific papers and actually *read* them to make the various videos has my utmost admiration. Wish more folks uploading "science" videos would actually do the research before posting.
He’s not that old! Maybe only 10,000 to 15,000 tops XD
My only complaint is that you dominate my search results GeologyHub. I have to switch off my subscription for a couple of weeks to more easily find others. Then I always come back...you're doing a nice job.
@@GeologyHub This region of the planet is fascinating and very geologically complex. Lots of micro plates, very high speed subduction zones, areas where subduction has reversed direction, back arc island chains being subducted, rift zones, thrust faults etc. Many examples of each interacting with the other as well.
As you say, the whole region is not very well studied, but a fair amount of bathymetric exploration has happened in the region- most privately funded mineral exploration. I know someone who spent 8 months on a survey ship in the Bismarck sea.
Although there is plenty of growing interest in the region by academia.
Fascinating. The Rabaul Caldera was well known to me, but I never would have guessed that another caldera was just lurking so close nearby.
Tavui needs to be more well studied, as there is some many things unknown about it. Now, I am curious if the 79,000 year old eruption of Tavui was a so-called “Ha’apaian” eruption due to having water near it like Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, because both are mostly submarine volcanoes, and thus when an eruption occurs, the interaction between water and magma causes the eruption column to go to ridiculous heights, 50-60 kilomters high. That eruption column height is so tall that only superuptions can do them, and that is if they are violent enough and had interactions with water already. I know the maximum column height is 55 km, but some research papers, along with the recent Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption suggest that eruption columns higher than that are possible, though rare.
Some scientists believe Tavui was actually a very tall stratovolcano that was above sea level.before it’s largest eruption.
Is it possible for you to look at the massive Emi Koussi volcano in northern Chad? There are also a huge number of other extinct/still active volcanoes all around the Sahara. I run around google earth all the time and I check them out often and wonder about them. The volcano is also surrounded by what looks like an absolutely massive volcanic field that's visible from space.
There is already a video of GeologyHub about the Emi Koussi volcano
@@francisbaring6500 oh crap I missed that, thanks!
It rains everyday at sunset in New Guinea , we’ll it did when I was there. Hot and humid too.
I was waiting for this video since you ask how to pronounce Tavui on twitter. Amazing as usual.
Good video. I would love it if you did a video on Tavurvur.
Interesting discussion as always.
If its instinct, not building up anymore. You can find out by measuring if there's a magnetic field. If it's different to its surrounding it's still active.
Hey GeologyHub, is there a minimum size of eruption that you'd say would guarantee caldera formation? That is, "at VEI X or below, you might have a caldera but you might not, but at VEI Y or above, it's guaranteed". If I had to guess, I'd think the threshold would be the high 5, low 6 range.
See I'd say that is tricky as an eruption of a vei6 or 7 could actually be slow over years or decades of continuous eruption rather than a single massive bang. I mean a vei 7 over 10 years would still be like a vei4 every single day for 10 years but still. You might get away with a lack of collapse as as the eruption slowed magma would harden within the chamber over time
DIfficult as there are obviouly different types of calderas. Those big ones are obviously formed by strong eruptions, like VEI6 or above, but even far smaller eruptions can form calderas. A prime example of this would be Kilauea which has some ridiculously small calderas which even overlap as a result of magma chambers or tubes emptying.
@@nick3805 But that's exactly my point. Yeah, small explosive eruptions or even large effusive ones can create calderas, but I'm curious as to what the guarantee limit is, specifically for explosive eruptions (hence me referencing the Volcanic Explosivity Index).
@@Aztesticals I'm not sure that's how it works though. Would that 10 year event be considered a single eruption, or a series of smaller eruptions?
@@tcp3059 If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say VEI7 basicly guarantees it. I don't know of any VEI7 eruption where it wasn't the case, but from what I can tell, Veiðivötn in Iceland is a part of the Bárðarbunga volcanic complex and produced a non-caldera-forming VEI6 eruption. From my research, such a thing is rare, but obviously not impossible.
Edit: I obviously meant Iceland, even through I accidentually wrote Island which happened as Island is the name of that nation in German. I corrected it.
simpson harbour in Rabaul is a caldera itself but I never knew there was another monster so closely nearby. Tavurvur and Vulcan are both considered vents of a larger system occuring in New Britain. Diving there is fantastic being in the west pacific, its volcanics and world war history.
Superb coverage as always. Thank you, sir.
Thank you for your work. I always learn something new. Like 2 tectonic plates I never heard of. I was wondering how many tectonic plates are there on Earth?
Wait... there is a volcano called Billy Mitchel?
Okay Geology hub you gotta do a video on that one.
On top of this, I’d love a video on Lamington in PNG.
volcano and eq are interessing, but i would like more videos about type of minerals crystals found in crust, what different origin they can have, and where are the main mines and potential ones....by example i know gold/silver are mainly fond witrh old hydrothermal activites like near quartz, or with intrusion of it, etc...but i have no idea what kind of geologic activities can bring to surface uranium or mercure or lead etc...
Thanks!
Thanks for the continued donations! Do you really enjoy the volcanoes in Papua New Guinea specifically?
I wonder if the Tavui eruption 79 kya was related to the near extinction event when the human population was reduced to perhaps just thousands around 75 kya. Maybe there is a dip in the equatorial temperatures about that time. Your wording is very careful. Thank you for this video.
The main cause of that is probably the VEI 8 Toba eruption in Indonesia
@@aron1332 Yes, that's sounds reasonable. Thanks.
Hargy and Pago are just up the road from me! We get tremors every month or so.
Could you do a video on geothermal energy nearby volcanoes? there are plans to do geothermal energy in New Britain PNG.
Love the channel. I studied for a BA degree with the Open University in the 1980s, mainly in Earth sciences so I understand many of the terms you use but something mystifies me about todays post: you quote authorative dates for this underwater caldera, of some 79000 yrs BC and I can't imagine how this conclusion is arrived at. Is there a easy or short answer, please?
Can you make a video about "Tengger caldera" in indonesia?
Would you do a video on the sisters volcano in Oregon? Thanks
Is there a correlation between the seismic activity in a specific area and the potential for volcanic activity? Just curious...
It depends on the type of seismic activity. Seismic activity can be caused my magma pressing it's way upwards towards the surface which will have the harder material above slowly breakig from the pressure, resulting in earthquakes, but there are also seismic activities with no relation to volcanos at all. However, the places where volcanoes are and where earthquakes happen overlapping is common as volcanic activity is mostly the result of the movements of the tectonic plates while earthquakes have the same origin, especiallly if plates start to overlap.
@@nick3805 thank you for your great explanation! Very clear and succinct. 🙏
Is there any chance you will cover lamington
Can you speak on how a pyroclastic flow would work with an underwater volcano? Does it happen underwater or come out and travel across the surface? I love geology related stuff and never thought about what that would look like so i'm curious. :)
Yes, it travels across the surface of the water, and at a very fast rate too.
Can you please Cover Rotorua?
I feel like im gonna have to bribe you to cover things like garden of the gods and colorados great sand dunes.
Grand Canyon volcanos pls 🙂
he did that one just over a year ago
@@bobbuilds4622 thanks, will dig for it
I’m curious why you don’t do anything about Central America and Mexico area’s?
How can we have such a precise year for the 4946 BC eruption? Is this an average of several estimates? I would have thought that dating an event that happened almost 7,000 years ago would come with a non-negligible error margin. Also, at 1:16 it's mentioned that this eruption sent pyroclastic flows to several population centers. Do we have not only evidence of settlements in these places that far back, but also evidence that they were affected by this eruption? I find it pretty surprising that we'd know so much for an event this old…
Dig a hole in the ground. Find an ash layer. Date it. Then find human activity below the ash.
"The" There is only tje one is there ?
I think its extinct. A small magma chamber wouldn’t leave such a large or caldera at all iff its located deep. Right?
😁👍✌️
I don’t think it is extinct
Now do Pico de Orizaba