Ever been tempted to touch lava? Probably not — but here's what would happen if you did.
News flash, people: If a volcano is going to erupt, don't be nearby. Just ask folks on La
Palma, the north-westernmost Canary Island, off the west coast of Morocco. In 2021,
La Palma's volcano erupted for months straight, coating the landscape and
homes in lava, suffocating the island in ash, spilling molten rock into the ocean,
and generally ruining the lives of the island's 80,000 inhabitants.
"The police came, and we had to go, we had to go, we had to go, and we left everything."
Shockingly, no one was killed or injured. The Spanish government
has since allocated 225 million euros to the island's recovery.
Such horrors aren't anything remotely new when it comes to volcanoes, however. The
ancient Roman city of Pompeii provides us with the clearest, most well-preserved example of what can
happen to people caught in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. In 79 C.E., Mount Vesuvius
spewed out enough ash to bury the entire city of Pompeii; it wouldn't be rediscovered for
over 1,500 years. Vesuvius' destruction was so rapid and thorough that the remains of Pompeii's
12,000 inhabitants were encased in death poses, and many can still be seen today.
Volcanoes are a perfect example of the fragility of human bodies, lives,
and civilizations. They're also just another natural geological phenomenon that have,
along with earthquakes, formed the very ground we step on. But for the living,
volcanoes spell pain, and death, and destruction in any number of ways.
If you were standing face-to-face with a caldera's bubbling cauldron when it started to drop flecks
of 2,120-degree lava past your head, you'd freak out, and you'd be right to do so. But
if those flecks started to geyser, or even ooze — well, how fast can you run? Because if it's
not faster than a 30-mph lava flow, you're going to be consumed from the feet up, right down to
the bone. And yet, thousands of tourists flock to get glimpses of active volcanoes every year.
Of course, it's worth knowing that one touch from lava wouldn't instantly dissolve your flesh. You'd
probably get a nasty burn, but further injuries would depend on the amount of lava "coverage" and
length of contact with your skin. Lava starts to cool when it's expelled and develops a hard
outer skin that can trap things inside, so you don't want to be touching it for long. Meanwhile,
fully-fledged lava flows basically devour everything in their path, and the ramifications
of such devastation can far outweigh the destruction of direct contact with lava.
And then there's the ash. When folks think of ash, they're usually envisioning combustive ash,
the soft, powdery stuff left behind when you burn something. It's made of calcium carbonate,
nitrogen, potash, and minerals and oxides. Volcanic ash, on the other hand,
is composed of coarse, rough little chips of whatever stony materials
get blasted out of the Earth during an eruption. It's insoluble, meaning
it doesn't dissolve in contact with water, and therefore can't be washed away. Ashfall,
as it's called, has to be scooped up bit by bit and properly disposed of.
Humans caught in ashfall can develop chronic breathing and throat problems. This is especially
true if someone already has a lung disorder like asthma. In fact, the American Lung Association
advises assuming "that your lung condition may deteriorate" and lists several dos and
don'ts for those caught in an eruption. This includes staying inside and not relying on
masks for complete protection. Volcanic ash can also cause inflammation, lung fibrosis,
and even cancer, because the silicates you inhale become stuck in your lungs.
And volcanic eruptions can have far more serious, far-reaching consequences on human life beyond
the initial eruption. In fact, some volcanic eruptions can be so strong and so severe that
they alter the Earth's climate. Most of the ash shot into the atmosphere falls to the
ground within days, maybe weeks, but gasses released into the stratosphere? Not so much.
Of all the gasses released from the guts of the planet during a volcanic eruption,
two can have powerful, and contradictory, effects on Earth's climate. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse
gas that heats up the atmosphere, compounding problems such as global warming. Sulfur
dioxide condenses into a fine mist that reflects sunlight and decreases Earth's temperature. Plus,
the shorter-term cloak of gray sky ash can reduce the Earth's temperature even further.
This might affect crop yields on an annual basis, which is trouble enough for many people.
But what if enough volcanoes go off, or spark particularly severe eruptions? There's a much
more serious risk — not only to our life and civilization, but to all planetary life.