This part of Indiana I live in is pretty flat. Dull, right? So I figure, why not have a volcano? Now… I get my magic drill machine that can drill as deep as I want it to drill.

If I drill a deep enough hole, say through the crust of the Earth, will it turn into a volcano?

  • geogle@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Probably still won’t work unless there is serious overpressure in the area from some dynamic loading in the mantle. First off, no part of the mantle is naturally fluid at depth. The closest is the asthenosphere, at around 200 to 400 kn depth. This is still solid, but more like a soft wax. That too, the material is made of peroxides and has a density of between 5 to 15 percent higher than the granitic crust at depth and limestone that makes up the shallower crust of Indiana. Thus, it would be analogous to a whole in a wooden plank floating on a sea of dense soft wax…the wax won’t likely push through.

    However, if you add water to the system while maintaining the heat, you can start to fluidize the gooey rock, and eventually it will reduce density enough to start creeping upwards. If you mix it deep enough and we’ll enough, you can start creating small steam bubbles within that will continue to grow as the rock ascends, further increasing the pressure (like a bubbly bottle of champagne). This will drive further upward pressures allowing for a surface eruption and formation of a volcano.

    Source: am geophysicist and play(work) on volcanoes…just not in Indiana

      • geogle@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Still would be quite difficult. We think about 90% of accessing magma never makes it to the surface simply because it loses overpressure. It mostly comes down to how vicious the mama is and what it’s overall volatile content. All is which is dependent on the magma temperature, access to water, and silicate composition.