Well it’s 2012, supposedly the year of the apocalypse (again), and the stories of potential sources of all-encompassing disasters this year have already started flowing it seems. It only took until January 2nd. The Daily Mail has reported that a “sleeping super-volcano in Germany is showing signs of waking up”. Let’s take this with a grain of salt for the time being, shall we? No doubt there is a supervolcano there, but…
Apparently this supervolcano, the Laacher See volcano, tends to erupt every 10,000 to 20,000 years, and it’s about due to blow again. This volcano is reportedly around the same size as Mout Pinatubo in the Philippines, which erupted back in 1991. It was the largest eruption in the 20th century.
Unnamed volcanologists reportedly believe this supervolcano is still active, becuase carbon dioxide is bubbling up in the lake, indicating a magma chamber below is releasing gas. There’s a video and everything.
Again, unnamed experts believe that if the volcano erupted as Mount Pinatubo did, it would cause widespread devastation in Europe, huge evacuations and even short-term global cooling from the massive ash cloud. There’s your 2012 apocalypse right there, at least for Europe and beyond.
Volcanoes do erupt from time to time, it has to be said. Will this one make it through the 2012 without blowing its top? We’ll have to see.
What do you make of this story?
Image CC licensed by Holger Weinandt: Laacher See
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