How can volcanic eruptions lead to earthquakes

Where do we find the oldest continental rocks and the oldest seafloor? What are the different types of rocks? What is a fossil and what are they used for? What are hydrothermal vents, and why do we find them along mid-ocean ridges? Seismology What is a seismic wave? What is the difference between body waves and surface waves, and between P-waves and S-waves?

Why can't S-waves travel through liquids? How far can seismic waves reach? Why do P-waves travel faster than S-waves? Why is the interior of the Earth hot? What is the magnetic field of the Earth? Earthquakes and Faults Why do tectonic plates move?

Brief history of the plate tectonics theory Before colliding with Asia, where was India? What is an earthquake? What is the highest magnitude an earthquake can reach? What are the biggest historical earthquakes? Why do earthquakes happen in clusters? Where are earthquakes expected in the world, especially in Asia?

What is a supercontinent? Are all the faults on Earth active? How can human activities cause climate change? Less buoyant fluids moved sideways or downward, which in a real volcano would make an eruption less likely.

But bubbly fluids at shallow depths ascended, something that could lead to an eruption. However, Eleonora Rivalta , group leader of earthquake and volcanic physics research at GFZ Potsdam, suggests that the mood may be slowly shifting toward the possibility of a connection.

She emphasizes, however, that the smoking gun is still missing—specifically, a clear demonstration of how exactly an eruption was triggered at a specific volcano by a specific earthquake. There are other avenues to explore outside statistics and lab simulations. Pyle suggests that if certain volcanoes are thought to be triggered by quakes, then the volcanic debris they eject could hold clues about the state of the magma reservoir prior to their outburst.

That may reveal if the quake really did make a significant difference, or it may show that they were primed to erupt anyway and the quake just accelerated the countdown.

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However, most earthquakes are caused by the interaction of the plates not the movement of magma. Most earthquakes directly beneath a volcano are caused by the movement of magma. The magma exerts pressure on the rocks until it cracks the rock. Then the magma squirts into the crack and starts building pressure again. Every time the rock cracks it makes a small earthquake.

These earthquakes are usually too weak to be felt but can be detected and recorded by sensitive instruments. Once the plumbing system of the volcano is open and magma is flowing through it, constant earthquake waves, called harmonic tremor, are recorded but not felt.