Researchers have identified an ancient volcanic system beneath Norfolk and Lincolnshire in eastern England that produced at least one massive eruption millions of years ago. The discovery required three decades of analysis to determine the volcano’s true scale, as erosion has significantly obscured its remains. Scientists examined zircon crystals extracted from boreholes drilled 40 miles apart, which revealed that volcanic ash from this eruption traveled across an ancient sea to settle in what is now Scandinavia during the Ordovician period, approximately 450 million years ago.
Despite the volcano’s enormous power, volcanologists debate whether it warrants the “supervolcano” designation. The term lacks scientific precision, with experts preferring to classify eruptions by the volume of material they eject. The eruption that formed the Kinnekulle tephra would be classified as an ultraplinian event—the most violent eruption type—with ash columns potentially reaching over 25 miles high.
Poor preservation of the ancient deposits makes calculating exact eruption volumes difficult. Most material ejected during the original explosion has been destroyed by erosion or buried over millions of years, complicating efforts to definitively assess its magnitude. Geologists identified evidence of an earlier eruption from this volcanic system occurring 453.7 million years ago, though no surface traces remain today.
Originally reported by Livescience →
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