Because of what wake up volcanoes? Why does the cosmos act like an alarm clock? And what organisms live in boiling water?
Apparently, our planet is experiencing another peak of volcanic activity. Fire-breathing mountains now and then demonstrate their "explosive nature" in the most diverse corners of the Earth. The massive awakening of seemingly long sleeping volcanoes made scientists again think about the reasons for their increased activity.
SLEEPING GIANTS
The leaders in terms of the number of volcanoes are the USA and Russia. On the territory of our country the bulk of the hills are concentrated on the Kuriles and Kamchatka. Almost half of them are active. A lot of fire-breathing giants in Indonesia, Japan and Chile. At present, 20 giants woke up, as volcanologists say, and can show their character. Among them are Merapi on the island of Java and Sinabung in Sumatra. In 2016, erupted Nyiragongo, one of the most dangerous volcanoes in Africa, and in 2017 in Guatemala, the volcano of Fuego flared up.
The eruption of the volcano is due to the degassing of magma - liquid rock in the bowels of the Earth. It is possible to show how this happens by using a bottle of soda. Shake well, then open it. It looks something like this, only much more terrible and destructive.
COSMOS AS ALARM SYSTEM
For a long time scientists are worried about the question: why are volcanoes active sometimes, and at other times they sleep with a sweet dream? According to one version, the eruption can cause processes not only inside the Earth, but also beyond its limits, in space, namely the motion of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. The researchers found that, flying past the Earth, gas giants slow the movement of magma in its bowels. The sun, on the contrary, acts on volcanoes like an alarm clock. According to statistics, the peaks of volcanic activity often coincide with the periods of the excited state of the star, when so-called flares occur on it.
Is it possible to survive in a volcanic environment if the lava flows turn everything that meets them on the way to ashes? However, a number of microorganisms, the so-called extremophiles, can easily do this. Alkalis, boiling water, acid and sulfur - these guys all do not care.
LIFE IN THE SAME
For the first time scientists found bacteria living at a temperature exceeding the boiling point of water in the late 70's. Then it seemed incredible, because already at 80 degrees, proteins and DNA chains are destroyed, and these microorganisms not only feel great, but even die if they are placed in cold water. For life extremophiles need rare earth metals, which are present in volcanic boilers. Quite a stormy life boils next to the volcanoes in the ocean. The temperature in these places is 300 degrees, the pressure is colossal, and the water is saturated with heavy metals and hydrogen sulphide. Nevertheless, around the volcanoes live about 500 species of different organisms: worms, shrimps and even crabs. The sun's rays, which are necessary for photosynthesis, do not reach this depth, so the bacteria get energy in another way - splitting the sulfur compounds. By the way, according to one of the hypotheses, it was thanks to the underwater volcanoes that life began on the Earth.
