Before It’s News – by Live Free or Die
With Yellowstone now venting helium, Dahboo7 explains to us via why this is so crucially important. Helium is one of the most accurate ways to determine whether or not a volcano is becoming active. Helium in fact is considered one of the most ideal geochemical indicators of anticipating when a volcanic eruption might take place.
“We believe that helium can anticipate the detection of magmatic movement even before those movements can be detected by seismic activity,” said Eleazar Padrón, a geochemist at Spain’s Technological Institute for the Renewable Energies, who led the work.
An almost ideal gas
Researchers have been using gas emissions to forecast volcanic eruptions for at least 30 years, but they usually focus on carbon dioxide, the second most abundant gas (after water vapor) in volcanic eruptions. Helium, a noble gas, is a better candidate for tracking and forecasting eruptions, Padrón explained, because it doesn’t react with rocks or groundwater and microorganisms don’t consume or produce helium.
“Because of these properties, helium has been considered by geochemists as an almost ideal geochemical indicator,” he told OurAmazingPlanet.