What made the volcanic eruption in the Pacific so destructive?
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, and the ensuing tsunami, packed a devastating punch
MOST OF THE world’s volcanism takes place underwater. This is not just because most of the world’s surface is underwater. It is because plate tectonics has placed the seams where the Earth’s crust is created and destroyed: in the ocean’s depths. The volcanic activity associated with creation is slow and steady, and it takes place a long way beneath the waves, all of which makes it very benign. That which accompanies the destruction is a lot more troublesome.
Witness the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga at 04:15GMT on January 15th, which created a huge cloud of ash and a potentially devastating tsunami.
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