Welcome to the knockout rounds of the Volcano World Cup. Starting now it will be country versus country and the winner moves on. The loser? Well, they slink home and think of ways to get more volcanoes for 2030. I’ve broken the Round of 32 into 4 posts that will come out this week. Check out the full knockout round bracket here.

I have also added some more stats for each country — look for the percent of people living within 30 and 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano (meaning it erupted in the last ~11,400 years).

Match 1: Ecuador v. Jordan

Ecuador: 29% (4.35 million) live within 30 kilometers of a Holocene volcano; ~49% (7.39 million) live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

Quilatoa is one of those underrated volcanoes. Most people wouldn’t know it from a hole in the ground (pun intended), but it produced a truly giant eruption. Although it is considered a “small dacitic volcano,” the ~1280 CE blast was a VEI 6 — think the scale of the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo. However, the amount of magma that erupted was ~18 cubic kilometers, which is more than Pinatubo. For people living in the region at the time, this eruption must have been terrifying, with an ash plume that likely reached ~35 kilometers (~115,000 feet). The modern lake at Quilatoa is the result of the collapse during the blast.

Jordan: 0% live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

In some sense, I used up much of what I could say about the volcanism in Jordan in the group stage. I dug around some more about Harrat Ash Shaam, the largest volcanic field in the Arabian Peninsula. The tectonics of the Arabian Peninsula are complicated (aren’t they all) and one of the influences is the Afar Hotspot. This might be the sort of thing that would drive volcanism in the middle of a tectonic plate. Turns out Harrat Ash Shaam is not likely to be related to this nearby hotspot at least according to isotopic analyses of lavas. Instead, it might be more like the basaltic volcanic fields in the Basin & Range where extension is the driving mechanism.

Match 2: Norway v. Haiti

Norway: <0.1% (1 person apparently?) live within 30 kilometers of a Holocene volcano; <0.1% (that same 1 person?) live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

Jan Mayen is likely the most well known Norwegian volcano. It is the most northerly potentially active volcano on the planet. Now, technically Jan Mayen is the name of the island and the largest volcano is Beerenberg. This is a basaltic stratovolcano with a caldera (a little on the odd side). There are also some other volcanic features across the island that are more silica-rich, thus maybe more explosive. Beerenberg is no slouch with a VEI 4 eruption only ~194 years ago.

Haiti: 0% live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

As I mentioned before, Haiti faces hazards (hurricanes, earthquakes, instability) more likely than volcanism. The few geologically recent volcanoes are not closely studied. Thomazeau is a prime example where we know that it has likely been active since 1.5 million years ago but beyond this, we just don’t know much. We can just hope that volcanic eruptions stay off the hazard menu for the beleaguered nation.

Match 3: South Korea v. Bosnia-Herzegovina

South Korea: ~1% (538,000) live within 30 kilometers of a Holocene volcano; ~8.2% (4 million) live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

Halla is located on Jeju Island. This island is between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. There is evidence that people have been living on Jeju for thousands of years, so the four known eruptions at Halla were all likely seen by human inhabitants. That gives us about 3,000 years of volcanism that people observed on Halla, which is pretty cool for any one location. Of course, these days Halla and a bunch of nearby lava tubes are much more of a tourist destination as a UNESCO Global Geopark.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 0% live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

I’m trying hard here to find anything that might add to the volcanic legacy of Bosnia-Herzegovina. I did run across some nice looking tuff deposits related to volcanic eruptions near the Duga waterfall, but those are Devonian. Our great x [large number] ancestors were still figuring out whether they wanted to hang out on land.

Match 4: Japan v. Morocco

Japan: 7.4% (9.38 million) live within 30 kilometers of a Holocene volcano; ~48% (61 million) live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

The clear captain of Japanese volcanism is Mount Fuji. It is clearly the most painted, photographed and discussed volcano in the country … which is funny considering it has been quiet since 1707-8 (the Hōei eruption). There have been many more eruptions in Japan since them, some of them quite dramatic and destructive. When Fuji did erupt over 300 years ago it did so with remarkable force. The eruption was a VEI 5, on the same scale as 1980 Mount St. Helens. Imagine that sort of blast happening with modern Tokyo so close? Fuji still reigns over them all, like the Godzilla of mountains.

Morocco: 0% live within 100 kilometers of a Holocene volcano.

I still feel like Morocco should have more volcanism. However, its location on the western side of Africa means that without hotspots or continental extension there isn’t much chance of volcanoes. I had no idea that people ski on some of the Pleistocene volcanoes near Azrou, not an activity commonly associated with Morocco.