Can climate change cause increased volcanic activity?

Question

Please explain in depth why or why not.

Answer 1

No it can not. Only under ground forces can such as plates moving beneath countrys. Also, valcano's eupt from under ground, and climate effects above the ground. So unless you are talking about like tital waves or something. No.

Answer 2

What possible way could a 1 degree air temperature change cause thousand degree magma thousands of feet underground to behave differently?

Answer 3

Actually there is a way in which climate change can cause increased volcanic activity. If sea levels rise, the increased weight of water presses down on the ocean floor putting more pressure on magma chambers beneath them and potentially increasing the chance that they might break through to the surface. Another way is when glaciers melt off of volcanoes. This can change the pressure dynamics inside the magma chamber and may trigger an eruption. However, since volcanic eruptions tend to cool the earth, this might be the earths way of self regulating temperature. Recent studies have shown that relative sea levels do affect the frequency of volcanic eruptions. Even the annual changes associated with seasonal melts and freezes at the ice caps have an effect.

Answer 4

I don't think i can. I don't really remember where I learned it but I think climate/weather and geological activities don't have anything to do with each other. They are two completely different system.

I think I learned it from the local weatherman in san jose (ca) in response to the recent earthquake here.

Answer 5

As the oceans swell, the pressure on the crust will cause more volcanic especially in the pacific rim.  Today here is what we know:  many of mankind’s advancements cause earth surface to warm, destroy the ozone layer, kill off endanger species, heat cities, and in some way cause more destruction.  Blacktop (roads and parking lots), buildings, air pollution (causes lung and other diseases), deforestation, duststorms (which increase hurricanes and cyclones and cause lung diseases), fires (cause pollution, mud slides, and deforestation), refrigerants (like CFC's), solvents (including benzene destroy the ozone layer raising skin cancer rates) and plastics; cars, airplanes, ships and most electricity production (causes pollution including raised CO2 levels) are human problems we need to fix to keep life on earth sustainable! That is why I founded CoolingEarth.org, a geoengineering web sight. The federal government needs to adopt a pollution surcharge to balance the field and advance new technologies. We must pay the real price of oil (petrochemicals) including global warming, cleanup and for health effects. But with that we must understand we have never seen what is now happening before. CO2 has never lead to temperature change, but temperature change has led to increases in CO2. The models have to be made as we go along with little evidence! The result is:  change is on the way, we just do not know what changes. But again adding a small amount of CO2 to the atmosphere enlarges the earths sun collection causing warming; increase water in the atmosphere and they form clouds cooling earth but causing flooding. Even natural events are warming earth and causing destruction. The sun has an increased magnetic field causing increases in earthquakes (more destruction), volcanoes (wow, great destruction), and sun spots. Lighting produces ozone near the surface (raising air pollution levels). But humans have destroyed half of the wetlands, cut down nearly half of the rain forest, and advance on the earths grasslands while advancing desertification which increases duststorms. The USA Mayor's have taken a stand and I believe are on the right track, we can have control and can have economic growth. With the peak of oil in the 1970’s, the peak of ocean fishing in the 1980’s, humans must stop procrastinating and make real changes to keep earth sustainable including in the energy debate, finance and regulation. The sun is available to produce energy, bring light to buildings and makes most of human’s fresh water. Composting is the answer to desertification. New dams are the answer to fresh water storage, energy and cooling earth by evaporation, we need many small one all over (California needs 100 by 2012 and has not even started).

President Bush has made a choice of energy (ethanol) over food and feeding the starving people around the world; this is a choice China has rejected.

Answer 6

well the climate cannot usually change to a different zone, if you get what i mean, but around the volcanic activity, i think the temperature can go up. Though big erruptions, i mean HUGE eruptions, can probably heat the area loads although i don't know if it's permanent or if it's temporary. Smaller ones can probably heat a little bit around the cities near the volcano.

Answer 7

I think its the other way around.  Volcanic activity determines the Earth's temperature a lot more than humans do.

Answer 8

NO the climate will not change the earth core temperature and how the tectonic plates move...so it wont increase volcanic activity.

Answer 9

use your common sense...does mars have alot of volcanic activities???

Answer 10

Probably not unless we are talking about the extremes of the circumstances of climate change.

In a "Snowball Earth" situation where 90+ percent of the planet would be covered in a ice-sheet, the pressure upon the continents could cause volcanic activity by virtue of run-off from a sub-glacial volcano displacing/melting the ice above, causing massive melting which could strip the surrounding surface terrain - possibly exposing more geothermal or volcanic fissures - This happened in Iceland about 10 years ago. Otherwise, overall the tectonic stresses on the continents and lowered continental shelves would increase geological stress, possibly leading to increased volcanism but more likely just leading to more earthquakes.

In a runaway greenhouse effect, yes it could definitely effect volcanic activity, not necessarily in an increase though.

In the event the planet were to heat uncontrollably, due to CO2 and then methanates, there would be a similar vast planetary sea, with large parts of the surface of the continents underwater, volcanism would change dramatically, as volcanoes submerged in this way would come under much more pressure.

The mega-volcanic structures certainly in Eritrea/Ethiopia and possibly at Yellowstone or elsewhere, might become inundated, and it's unclear what effect this would have.

But a such deep sea fissure system / caldera eruption or event would probably be significantly different depending on whether it occurred under water or above-water. If it was sufficiently submerged, such a caldera explosion event would vaporize vast quantities of water but this would also probably allow for much of the ash and debris to be washed out of the system, averting a global cooling due to ash and sulfur.

On the other hand, the water, CO2 and sulfides would mix immediately making for increased rainfall which was MUCH more acidic due to the sulfides.

Answer 11

No.  Climate changes occur on the Earth's surface.  Volcanic activity depends on the geological processes that take place deep under the Earth's surface.

Now, the revers isn't the case. A volcanic eruption can cause climate changes --though these are almost entirely short term. The main way this happens is when you have a really big eruption. The ash blown into the atmosphere can take months--even a couple of years--to settle out of the atmsphere. While its in the air, it will block sunlight and cause a short-term drop inn the Earth's temperature--which can leade to a colder than normal winter or similar effects.

Answer 12

No but increased volcanic activity can cause climate change. The ash and dust thrown into the air reduces sunlight and the planet cools causing climate change.

Answer 13

It can't because all geological activity occurs because of plate tectonics, which are in turn caused by the earths mantle being kept in a liquid state by the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium in the core..

Thats not to say some GWA hasn't blamed it on climate change, they blame everything else on it.