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Supervolcano discovery off England's east coast

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2026-09-01 01:56 UTC → 2026-09-04 02:29 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Geologists have identified a massive, extinct supervolcano located beneath The Wash, an estuary off the east coast of England. The structure spans at least 65km and extends into parts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Researchers from the British Geological Survey and the University of Oslo reached their conclusions by re-examining zircon crystals from deep boreholes. By analyzing uranium-to-lead isotope decay, the team dated the eruption to approximately 454 million years ago. This single massive event is believed to be the origin of the Kinnekulle tephra, a vast layer of volcanic ash found across Norway, Sweden, the Baltic region, Belarus, and Poland. The eruption is estimated to have ejected tens to hundreds of cubic miles of material into the stratosphere, with a force described as “comparable to thousands of hydrogen bombs.” While the discovery solves a long-standing geological puzzle by matching the age of ash layers found in the Oslo Region, scientists emphasize that the volcanic system is long extinct and poses no modern eruptive threat.

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