Melting Ice & Volcanoes in Antarctica

[GordMay]

Melting Glaciers In Antarctica May Encourage More Volcanic Activity
More about ➥ https://cleantechnica.com/2025/01/13...anic-activity/

Accelerated melting of ice in Antarctica, could activate hidden volcanoes beneath its surface, scientists warned, in a recent (Nov 2024) study [1], published in the scientific journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
Melting ice is intensifying the activity of subglacial volcanoes*, increasing the risk of eruptions, in previously stabilized regions, beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.

These subglacial volcanic eruptions may not be visible on the surface, but they have a significant impact on the ice sheet.
The heat released from these subglacial volcanic eruptions could intensify melting at depth, weakening the ice above, and triggering a feedback loop.
This process occurs slowly, over hundreds of years; but the feedback loop could persist for decades.

* There are more than 100 volcanoes scattered across Antarctica, some visible on the surface, and others hidden under kilometers of ice.

[1] “Magma Chamber Response to Ice Unloading: Applications to Volcanism in the West Antarctic Rift System” ~ by A. N. Coonin et al
➥ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley....9/2024GC011743

“... Key Points
• During deglaciation, the evolution of a crustal magma chamber beneath kilometers of ice is sensitive to the rate at which ice is removed
• A critical rate of unloading can trigger additional eruption events
• Ice unloading expedites the onset of volatile exsolution, with consequences for magma chamber pressurization and eruption size

Plain Language Summary
In regions like West Antarctica, volcanic eruptions occur underneath ice sheets. When hot magma comes in contact with ice, it can accelerate the melting of the ice cover. Beyond this, as climate change causes ice sheets to shrink, the decreasing weight on a volcano may affect its likelihood of erupting. The effects of ice loss above volcanoes on the underlying volcanic activity are not well understood. We conducted computer simulations to explore how gradual ice loss affects magma stored in the Earth's crust. We find that volcanoes beneath shrinking ice sheets are sensitive to the rate at which the ice sheet shrinks. As the ice melts away, the reduced weight on the volcano allows the magma to expand, applying pressure upon the surrounding rock that may facilitate eruptions. Additionally, the reduced weight from the melting ice above also allows dissolved water and carbon dioxide to form gas bubbles, which causes pressure to build up in the magma chamber and may eventually trigger an eruption. Under these conditions, we find that the removal of an ice sheet above a volcano results in more abundant and larger eruptions, which may potentially hasten the melting of overlying ice through complex feedback mechanisms ...”

[Johan Leopard51]

Never mind the effect of a lot of melted ice : one wonders what ancient life form, virus, bacteria, whatever have been dormant for millions of years under 2 miles of ice! Imagine the pressure under 2 miles of ice.

2 miles of ice is very difficult to comprehend. That is 4 times the height of that Kalifa building in Dubai - double the deepest part of the Grand Canyon.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Johan Leopard51

Never mind the effect of a lot of melted ice : one wonders what ancient life form, virus, bacteria, whatever have been dormant for millions of years under 2 miles of ice! Imagine the pressure under 2 miles of ice...

Indeed.
In addition to phototrophic and simple chemotrophic metabolisms, both symbiotic, and predatory, lifestyles may exist.

An international team of polar researchers has discovered a community of microorganisms [microbiota called superphylum Patescibacteria] living beneath the permanently frozen ice cover, of Antarctica’s Lake Enigma.
Their findings [1], detailed in a December 3 study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, reveal a previously unknown ecosystem, and hint at a lake once thriving with life, before it froze over.

More about: “Ancient Life Discovered in Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake”
Scientists thought the lake was completely frozen. They were wrong.
➥ https://gizmodo.com/ancient-life-dis...ake-2000535086

[1] “The perennially ice-covered Lake Enigma, Antarctica supports unique microbial communities” ~ by Michail M. Yakimov et al
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01842-5