Volcano has been "sleeping" for 100,000 years, but has been saving magma all this time - study
Scientists have concluded that the Methane volcano in Greece was not truly extinct, even though it has not erupted on the surface for more than 100,000 years. This is important because a volcano's long silence does not necessarily mean safety.
The study was conducted by an international team led by ETH Zurich. The scientists reconstructed the history of the Methane volcano over the last 700,000 years and found that magma under it continued to accumulate even during the period of very long absence of eruptions. To do this, they analysed more than 1,250 zircon crystals, which preserve information about when and under what conditions the magma formed.
The details
The most unexpected thing is that the peak of growth of these crystals came just during a period of "silence" of more than 100 thousand years. That is, the volcano looked dead from the outside, but inside its magma system continued to work.
Scientists believe the cause is very water-saturated magma. When such magma rises upwards, it becomes saturated with bubbles faster, begins to crystallise, becomes thicker and loses mobility. As a result, the magma as if itself prevents itself from breaking through to the surface: the system continues to be fuelled, but eruptions do not occur.
The authors suggest that a similar mechanism may occur at other volcanoes in subduction zones, not just Methane. They estimate that such "too wet" magmas may be much more widespread than previously thought.
Why it matters
The main conclusion of the study is that a very long pause in eruptions should not automatically mean that a volcano is extinct. On the contrary, a large magma reservoir may be growing underground at this time, which could later make future activity more dangerous.
This has direct implications for services that assess volcanic risks. The authors of the paper explicitly point out that such volcanoes can be underestimated by focusing only on the absence of recent eruptions. They cite seismic monitoring, surface deformation measurements, gas observations and geophysical surveys as important tools.
Background
Methane is located in Greece and belongs to the volcanic systems of the Aegean region. The study is published in Science Advances on 22 April 2026. The authors describe this volcano as an example of how a "dormant" volcano can actually undergo a latent growth phase of a magmatic system.
Source
Răzvan-Gabriel Popa et al, A volcano reawakens after more than 100,000 years of "silent" magma reservoir growth, Science Advances (2026). A further explanation of the results is published by ETH Zurich.