Does a lack of recent volcanic rocks rule out the possibility of a volcanic eruption in the near future?

Shannah

Hi Shannah,

It depends on how lacking in volcanic rocks you are. If you are in a region where there are no volcanic rocks for hundreds of miles (such as in Kansas, Florida, New York, Iowa, Ireland, or even Delaware, the chances that you'll get an eruption are very small. Of course you may have some very old volcanic rocks, but if they are not younger than a million years or so then you're probably safe.

However, there are such things as monogenetic fields, where instead of some tall volcano made up of hundreds of eruptions, you have many many vents spread out over a big area, often with non-volcanic rocks between them. You might say that there is a lack of volcanic rocks in your particular yard or cornfield, but if you went over to the next hill you might find that it is a cinder cone. In this case the chances that another vent in the monogenetic field might pop up are pretty good.

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland

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