Yet another warning of Mt. Baekdu's full-scale eruption
Chonji, the 850-meter-deep crater lake on top of Mount. Baekdu. / Korea Times file
By Lee Jin-a
Is the volcanic eruption of Mt. Baekdu really imminent?
Several geologists at home and abroad have warned of an eruption of the dormant volcano on the border between North Korea and China. And the warning recently had additional resonance following a research by scientists from the United Kingdom, the U.S. and North Korea.
The research, released in the international science journal “Science Advances,” confirmed that there is an extensive magma region, more than double the size of Seoul, under the volcano.
The presence of magma means underground temperatures and pressures are escalating and molten rock could break through the surface when it flows under a layer of land too weak to endure the pressure.
For the latest research, the international team installed six seismometers at distances up to 60 kilometers from the volcano, observing the seismic activity of Korea’s highest mountain since 2011. The team discovered a sizable storage of molten rock about 20 kilometers east of the mountain’s top, at a depth between five and 10 kilometers.
This was the first multinational geological research of its kind and included James Hammond, a seismologist at the Imperial College, London and seven North Korean scientists from a state body specializing in earthquake research and the Pyongyang International Information Center of New Technology and Economy.
In April last year, readings from a Russian satellite showed the mountain’s surface temperature had risen significantly since October 2006.
According to a Chinese volcanic observatory, the temperature of Chonji, the 850-meter-deep crater lake on top of Mount. Baekdu, has constantly increased by a few degrees since 1999.
The mountain is believed to have had a full-scale eruption nearly 1,100 years ago. An average 270 minor tremors were detected in and near the mountain each month between 2002 and 2005.