Is this sacred North Korean volcano about to erupt?

A sacred volcano in North Korea that is revered by many as the birthplace of the nation contains a layer of partially melted rock beneath its surface, and this layer of melted crust may be a potential source of magma responsible for eruptions over the past few thousand years.

The mountain in question is called Mount Paektu (or Changbaishan, in Chinese), and according to Science and National Geographic, it is somewhat of a mystery because it managed to grow to a massive size despite being located more than 600 miles from the volcanic ‘Ring of Fire’ where tectonic plate collisions caused most of the world’s largest volcanoes to form.

As part of the study, which was published Friday in the journal Science Advances, researchers from the North Korean Earthquake Administration and the US Geological Survey, along with a team of colleagues from the UK and China, stationed six broadband seismometers in the region surrounding the volcano, and recorded seismic waves from nearby earthquakes for two years.

Since the speeds of seismic waves vary based on the type of rock that they travel through, the study authors were able to determine that there was softer, most likely melted rock buried under the surface of Mount Paektu. In short, they found a mixture of liquid, gas, rock, and crystals that may have been responsible not just for past eruptions, but also for seismic activity that occurred between 2002 and 2005.

“We’re looking at where the melt – the stuff that could erupt from the surface – we’re imaging where that’s stored beneath the volcano,” study co-author and University of London seismologist James Hammond told National Geographic. His colleague, Kayla Iacovino of the USGS, added that the findings “sort of confirms the idea that the volcano is quite active. But how much of it is ‘eruptable?’ That’s a big question.”

Historic study suggests that future eruptions may be possible

In addition to being informative, the research is somewhat unique as well, as Science noted that it is one of the few papers with a North Korean lead author ever published by a scientific journal in the west, and it also marks the first time that geophysical instruments of Western origin had been deployed on North Korean soil.

Accomplishing that was no easy feat, according to Nat Geo. Hammond and his fellow scientists had to endure “years of negotiations and bureaucratic wrangling” before they were finally given permission to enter the country and study the volcano’s subsurface in 2013, where they placed a series of six solar-powered seismometers in a 37-mile line, the publication said.

Questions still remain, Hammond said. His team remains uncertain how much magma is buried beneath the volcano, and they are equally uncertain if there could be any future eruptions. The partially melted layer of magma suggests that such an event is a possibility, and based on some of the eruptions of the past, it could have catastrophic effects.

Hammond told the website that he would like to eventually return to Mount Paektu for additional research. “It is a volcano with a dramatic past… and we do not know much about it,” he said.

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Image credit: Science

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