Volcano World Cup – Group F

Remember to cast your vote for Group F at the bottom of this post!

Netherlands – 3/2/0/0

The Quill, a volcano in Lesser Antilles, is technically part of the Netherlands. Credit: Walter Hellebrand / Wikimedia Commons

There are a number of European countries that only lay claim on volcanoes thanks to centuries-old colonies. The Netherlands has two volcanoes that have active over the past ~11,000 years and both of those are in the Lesser Antilles. The most recent eruption belongs to Saba that saw activity in 1640 CE but The Quill (one of my favorite volcano names) erupted in 250 CE as well. As long as the country keeps these distant islands there is still a chance of a volcanic eruption in what is technically the Netherlands.

Japan – 282/118/62/40 – Suwanosejima, Aira

Sakurajima in Japan erupting in 2009. Credit: Kimon Berlin / Wikimedia Commons.

Talk about a heavy hitter. Japan has nearly 300 known volcanoes that have been active over the last 2.5 million years and forty eruptions since 1960. Forty! Can you imagine if the Cascades had erupted 40 times since 1960? Now, the volcanoes of Japan are spread over a long distance, running over 1,700 kilometers from Hokkaido to Kobi-Sho near Taiwan. Tack on the volcanoes that also run from Izu-Oshima to Nikko towards the Mariana Islands and you can see how unfair my comparison to the Cascades is. Japan is packed with volcanism, no doubt about it.

Sweden – 0/0/0/0

You can find the ancient plumbing systems of volcanoes in Sweden but no recent volcanism. Credit: Thomas Eliasson / Wikimedia Commons

Feel a little whiplash? That is the result of going from Japan to Sweden. The Scandinavian nation might sometimes feel the impacts of volcanism drifting across the North Atlantic from Iceland, but in terms of the rocks, it has been a long time. From what I could find, there are volcanic deposits that date from the Middle Ordovician, a mere ~465 million years ago. There are some rich zinc/copper/gold/silver deposits linked oceanic volcanic island deposits that are ~1.9 billion year as well. I wouldn’t be too worried.

Tunisia – 0/0/0/0

The Romans would mine marble in Tunisia but had to ship in their own volcanic rocks. Credit: Anouar Mahjoubi / Wikimedia Commons

For some reason I was surprised how devoid Tunisia is of any geologically-recent volcanism. Apparently Tunisia is so devoid of volcanic rocks that the Romans shipped them in by boat in order to built structures! There are a few studies that mention volcanic rocks from the Triassic (251-201 million years ago) and that is all we got.

ERUPTIONS