posted on Apr, 1 2014 @ 11:16 AM
During the late night, there was a large phreatic explosion near the northern shore of Lake Dellen in Sweden, long thought to be the result of an
ancient meteor strike. Fortunately it was in an unpopulated area and no casualties have been reported. The eruption cloud rose to more than 12 km in
height and it has forced a major rethink about the origin and immediate future of the Lake Dellen formation, says Professor Einar Pall Sigurdurson and
Professor Bödvar Reynirson of the Institution of Geosciences at Uppsala University.
Because lamellar quartz similar to shocked quartz has been found in the area, it was assumed a meteorite strike was responsible for the formation of
the 12 by 17 km structure. This ignored the substantial amounts of obsidian found on and near the resurgent dome dividing Lake Dellen into North and
There is more at article, including gravity field measurements, which apparently confirm a 12 x 12 km area that they think is a magma chamber.
It would seem we have had a significant magmatic intrusion going on right under our nose, Professor Sigurdurson continues.
Yesterday’s phreatic explosion proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the feature is volcanic and Professor Sigurdurson says it is most likely a
caldera system, a supervolcano, that may be in the last stages before an eruption. The size of the body of magma is many times larger than that which
caused the original caldera.
Hmm but wait. How does he know this means it's in the last stages before eruption, if we have never witnessed the eruption of a caldera before? At
Yellowstone for example they have evidence of hydrothermal explosions, but those have not led to eruptions. I'm definitely curious on that one.
In any case, I'd say we'd better keep an eye on this one, for sure. While not the size of something like Toba or Yellowstone, that is still HUGE, and
potentially very threatening!
So let's get to work ATS, and see what more we can dig up on this.
edit on Tue Apr 1st 2014 by TrueAmerican because: (no reason given)