Which comes first ? The Global Warming or The Volcanic Activity ? Think before answering !?

Question

It seems to me that global warming melts ice caps, which alters the pressure on the flattened North and South Poles, which causes the tectonic plates to move, which leads to increased earthquake and volcanic activity. The Earth isn't round, it is flattened at the poles. It would become rounder without the large sheets of ice pressing down on the poles, causing plate movement. Most info that I see suggests global warming leads to volcanic activity, and than significant increases in volcanic activity would in turn lead to global cooling as large amounts of volcanic ash can be maintained in the air for 6 month periods. I theorize that melting poles could lead to monthly or weekly volcanic explosions and more deadly earthquakes, followed by a cooling period as clouds of ask block sunlight. I see a cycle of global warming and cooling throughout our history. Ice ages aren't fiction, our planet cools, warms, and cools. Opinions ?

Answer 1

Major groupings of volcanic eruptions may be closely linked to dramatic cooling of the world's climate, as when we have a sudden increase in reflectivity that leads to global cloud cover with further increase in reflectivity.

Thus, if we proposed that volcanic activity preceded or caused global warming, we would have to assume that the volcanic activity had also caused some major increase in global temperature itself, or a major increase in greenhouse effect.

Neither of those assumptions is entirely unreasonable. Neither is entirely necessary.

When we have had a melt off of glaciers that blanketed Canada, Northern Europe and Asia, we might reasonably expect changes in tectonic plate pressure. This is of course in the past, and precedes this recent spate of rapid warming.

But it was during a period of warming that caused those glaciers to melt.

Would that compare with the large shift of ocean water as the tides move round the earth each day? Yes, its local magnitude would be greater, but stretched over thousands of years, it would be so gradual as to be imperceptible

Answer 2

Global Warming comes first because we are experiencing it now. Of course Earth has it's cycle where it physically changes but Global Warming is not one of them.  The Ozone layer is no more like it use to be it is now broken, with holes punched in it. Which exposes everything to more intense UV Rays that can damage  stuff without the full protection needed from the Ozone layer. Before we never faced the problem that it is not healthy to be outside without SPF anymore.

Answer 3

Its not just ice melting that causes tectonic plates to move. Your model is way to simple.  

The sun and the moon exert a gravitational influence on the earth.

Just the rotation of the earth around its axis causes all kinds of strain. Witness the bulge at the equator.

Just to name a couple of items.

Answer 4

Without realizing, Widget maker almost answered your question the flattening of the poles is caused by the spin of the Earth not ice, if and when Antarctica melts there may be a small lifting of the landmass underneath. The Arctic is completely different there is no contact between the North pole and the ground because apart from Greenland almost all the ice is floating on the sea and is only 4-8 meters thick Antarctica has by comparison an average depth of 7000ft and is 15000ft thick on the plateau (south pole) and even with the high end predictions for GW Antarctica would take centuries to disappear and given that the sea level rise of 150-200 feet that would go with Antarctica melting this much I don't think anyone would be worring about a few volcano's.

Answer 5

No,  most of these items are mutually exclusive.  If a volcano erupts and the hot lava mixes with oceanic waters then there is a heat exchange but that exchange is mitigated as that parcel of air rises.  Once it rises enough it becomes a cloud, then rain and then evaporates.  With that you get evaporational cooling.  That is where the air releases it's heat and then cools the adjactent air.

Then that air descends by the act of subsidence and pattern of circulation develops until the airmasses becomes no different than the surrouding airmass.  

There is no change in the amount of latent energy.  It may sublimate even but that energy is still operating by the laws of physics.   For each action,  there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Volcanoes are not affect by global warming of course. But  Mt St. Helens affected the weather for almost 20 years but even though sun wave radiation is somewhat hindered by the dust cloud,  a lot still passes through.

Afterwhich a lot of it remains trapped below the cloud layer.  It works both ways plus the surrounding airmasses compensate for the change under and above that dust layer.

All this silliness about global warming and particularly it being manmade is nuts.   It is called the ebb and flow of weather systems as they traverse along long wave patterns of high and low pressure.