Volcano in Tenerife, the highest point in Spain
The Icelandic volcano, even when it stops puffing all over Europe, will remain in the annals of the history of civilization. After all, he made a fair part of humanity stop in its daily bustle and think: and, in fact, how unshakable is our civilization? If we do not disturb the peaceful ashes of dinosaurs with speculative theories of their death, but restrict ourselves to evolutionary periods closer to us, then we will see that catastrophic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur much more often than is commonly thought. And the fantasy of Hollywood screenwriters pales in comparison with what nature has prepared for us (or who we call this euphemism).
The Toba volcano in Indonesia exploded 75,000 years ago. Now it is a giant caldera - an oval-shaped lake with a maximum diameter of about 300 kilometers. This monster, as shown by modern studies, lowered the temperature on Earth by an average of 16 degrees. In fact, it gave rise to the next glaciation. If something like that happens now, and for several months only the equatorial part of our planet will remain habitable. Man as a species will survive, however, in the person of his most advanced part - the inhabitants of the states of equatorial Africa.
Is it too long? Please, here are more recent events: the main thing is almost nearby. Only 25,000 - 50,000 years before the glaciers covered a large part of the planet thanks to the self-sacrifice of Toba, the volcano Santorini was born. This volcano, which is located in the sea now called the Aegean, broke through a thick layer of sedimentary deposits, and began to grow, periodically exploding, because due to the peculiarities of the composition of the magma, the channels of eruption were periodically blocked. That is, the safety valve in the steam boiler from time to time "shut up" and …
We are interested in the eruption of 1460 BC, when a grandiose explosion simply wiped out the so-called Cretan civilization from the face of the earth. A powerful tsunami hit the shores of the Mediterranean - more or less the same Atlantis.
And recently they began to associate the Santorini horror with the biblical "Egyptian executions." That is, if there had not been an eruption, there would have been no exodus of Jews from Egypt, the faith of Moses would not have developed, Christianity would not have appeared … well, and so on. Contemplative? Sure. But this is what archaeologists confirm: the explosions of Santorini (and he was not alone) changed the economic orientation of this part of the Mediterranean, which stimulated the development of navigation and trade. Where something happens all the time, food is the main commodity.
The highest peak in Russia - the Elbrus volcano last erupted 1770 and 900 years ago. The ashes of its eruptions are found even in the Astrakhan region, and in a very thick layer. There are suspicions that the activity of Elbrus contributed at first to the flourishing of the Khazar Kaganate, and then to its final decline. And the fall of the Khazar Kaganate greatly changed the arrangement of figures on the political board of that time.
Well, if Elbrus starts working today, then there is every reason to believe that many interethnic conflicts in the North Caucasus will simply become irrelevant: more than 10 cubic kilometers of ice have accumulated on the slopes of this five-kilometer giant. I don't even want to imagine what will happen "when the sleeper wakes up." These will be some kind of "super-Pompeii". Ashes and massive mudflows.
The explosions of Tambora and Krakatoa in the 19th century, which led to global cold snaps, crop failures and the invention of the bicycle, demonstrate to us that a global catastrophe is not an abstract event that happens “not with us and not in this life,” but a reality on our planet.
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Nowadays many scientists are very suspicious of the Canary Islands. The islands are volcanic, so regular eruptions are not unusual here. Another thing is more dangerous. The volcano Cumbre Vieja threatens to split, and then its western part will simply slide into the ocean. About a trillion cubic meters of rock will create a water bubble about a kilometer high, which will rush to the shores of America at the speed of a jet plane.
Europe will also get it - although here the wave will be “only” 12 meters. This is three times more than in Indonesia during the 2007 Christmas tsunami. Well, I don't even want to talk about the White House and the Statue of Liberty … they simply won't be found …
If we imagine the life of our planet not as the history of man, but as the geological history of the Earth, then all these earthquakes, eruptions and other nightmares will look like ordinary sneezes and coughs. This is the natural state of our planet, and it really is not to blame for the fact that we are now living in the intervals between two "apchi". And the fact that the next sneeze will be - this, if you please, doubt. And this should be treated accordingly.
Moreover, we also have experience. When we were preparing for an atomic war, our civilization learned to plan the consequences, prepare for trouble, and stockpile. A nuclear war, thank God, is not foreseen, but this is not a reason to eat pork from strategic reserves without making new ones, or to arrange nightclubs from good bomb shelters.
We must be prepared for the fact that someday it will be necessary and weaned from the good. And thanks to the Icelandic volcano for the fact that he quite delicately reminded us of this truth.