Volcano dormant for 700,000 years could erupt

A volcano that has been dormant for hundreds of thousands of years could be gearing up for a massive explosion, according to new research. Scientists have measured signs of unrest at the Taftan volcano in eastern Iran, near the Afghanistan border, despite no eruptions in the last 700,000 years, according to a paper published earlier this month in Geophysical Research Letters . Rapid uplift was detected near Taftan's 13,000-foot-tall summit between July 2023 and May 2024, while an analysis method to reduce random noise due to atmospheric condition indicated that neither rainfall nor earthquakes triggered the unrest. Therefore, an explosive eruption is likely imminent, the researchers said. Changes in gas permeability within the shallow part of the volcano, as well as undetected deep magma m