Scientists from the University of Cambridge and researchers from Switzerland independently concluded that erosion of rocks and melting of ice leads to a significant increase in volcanic activity. Moreover, during the transition from the glacial epoch to the interglacial, the rate of erosion of rocks increases.
Using digital modeling, the researchers found that erosion not only contributes to the increase in volcanic activity as much as the melting of ice, but plays a key role.
The fact is that climate warming provokes the melting of glaciers. They, in turn, reduce the pressure on the Earth's mantle. With the melting of glaciers, the land is significantly eroded - about 10 cm per year. As a result, the pressure on volcanoes decreases and the likelihood of their eruption increases.
Awakened volcanoes emit large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, creating a cycle that accelerates the warming process. As a result, the Ice Age, which on average lasts about 100 thousand years and consists of two periods: the formation of ice in 80 thousand years and their melting in just 20 thousand years.
Previous theories attributed the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age to an increase in volcanic activity due to the process of freeing the land from the ice cover. In addition, it is believed that the Earth's climate change depends on its orbital parameters. But the scientists concluded that the much faster rates of warming, compared to the cooling, cannot be caused solely by changes in the earth's orbit. In their opinion, erosion, contributing to the "unloading" of the earth's surface and activation of volcanic CO2 emissions, can be considered the main factor explaining the constant climate change on our planet.
The results of the scientists' research have been published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.