Canberra, July 6 (ANI): Volcanoes in western Victoria and South Australia are overdue for an eruption, that would affect thousands of local residents in the regions, a research has claimed.
University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences and the Melbourne School of Engineering have calculated the ages of the small volcanoes in the regions and established the recurrence rate for eruptions as 2,000 years.ith the last volcano eruption at Mt Gambier occurring over 5,000 years ago, scientists said the areas are overdue for an eruption.
Professor Bernie Joyce of the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences will present the research.
"Although the volcanos in the region don't erupt on a regular sequence, the likelihood of an eruption is high given the average gap in the past has been 2,000 years," Professor Joyce said.
"These are small eruptions and very localized but depending on the type of eruption, they could cause devastation to thousands of people," he added.
Professor Joyce said there are several kinds of eruptions, which can cause damage and harm to local communities.
"The long lasting and often extensive lava flows can travel for tens of kilometres, and so would be hazardous to modern infrastructure such as bridges, roads and railways, powerlines and pipelines, as well as being a major fire hazard on the dry grassland plains of summer in Western Victoria," Joyce said.
"In some cases rising magma can meet ground water and cause steam explosions. This can form wide craters and produce a lot of ash," he said.Depending on where the eruption occurs, ash can cause huge damage to people who are down wind, clogging up streams, road and rail transport and perhaps affecting local air travel," he added. (ANI)
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