“It can be in three months as in 5,000 years” according to a volcanologist.
France is the country of Europe – ex aequo with Iceland – which has the most active volcanoes. There are more than 100 volcanoes, including 19 active volcanoes according to data from Global Volcanism Program. These active volcanoes are all in the overseas departments and territories, such as the Soufrière in Guadeloupe, the Pélée in Martinique Mountain, the Comoros in Mayotte, the Mehetia in French Polynesia or the Piton de la Fournaise in Reunion, the last eruption of which dates from 2023. The latter is closely monitored because it is erupting once a year, but it does not present immediate for the population.
In mainland France, there are no “active volcanoes” but only volcanoes “extinct” or “asleep”, as is the case of the beautiful volcanoes of Auvergne near Clermont-Ferrand (including the Puys chain which has more than 80 volcanoes). The last eruption, having formed Lake Pavin in the Massif Central, dates back 6,700 years. However, sleeping volcanoes, like those of Auvergne, could wake up brutally, have proven Hungarian volcanologists of the Eötvös-Lorand University (ELTE) in a recent study published in the journal Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. “”The eruptions of volcanoes – regardless of their magnitude – represent a significant risk, but often underestimated, for modern society“, Explain the researchers. Among the” geophysical anomalies “identified in the region, the researchers advance a coat temperature estimated at 1,300 ° C, 30 km deep while in normal times, this hot area should be 900 ° C, which could induce the presence of a gigantic reservoir of magma or lava.
The possibility of an upcoming eruption of Auvergne volcanoes remains real, in particular at the level of the chain of Puys, in the north of the region, however there is no immediate risk of such a cataclysm and it is almost impossible to predict a possible next eruption. “”It can be in three months as in 5,000 years“, Observes one of the vulcanologists.”It has already happened, for example in 2006, a sleeping volcano for 14,000 years has erupted in Alaska“, A volcano yet 2 times older than that of Lake Pavin.
Responsible for the surveillance of the sites, the scientists of the Clermont-Ferrand observatory want to reassure: for the moment, the local volcanic activity remains weak. The frequency of earthquakes does not suggest the awakening of these volcanoes. There is also no mounted magma, geological deformations or harmful gas emissions. The proof, if one had one, that there is therefore no fear to visit and discover the impressive and magnificent volcanic site of the Massif Central.