Washington's Mount Rainier to Erupt? Scientists Map Volcano's Giant Lava Reservoir to Find Out

Scientists recently completed a project that mapped the magma reserves beneath Washington's massive volcano, Mount Rainier.

A team of researchers from Norway and the United States worked together using special seismic imaging technology combined with knowledge of the Earth's magnetic fields to not only estimate the size of the reserve, but also to predict the path the lava might travel when it next comes pouring down the mountain side. 

According to the Daily Mail, scientists have determined that the magma reserves beneath the Washington volcano are estimated to be "five to 10 miles thick and wide."

This new revelation won't help researchers determine exactly when the mountain might next explode; however, it does provide us with the most detailed report of what is underneath the tallest volcano in the contiguous United States. 

Located 60 miles outside of Seattle, it's been over a century since Rainier's last eruption in the 1890s, and one of its previous episodes was so massive that it formed a gigantic crater, which means "the volcano is also at risk of collapse," and could "send walls of glacier ice, mud and rock, cascading on to surrounding areas," if it does collapse, reports the Daily Mail. 

In order to obtain this new view of the volcano's underside, scientists embedded sensors in the area surrounding the volcano, which measured volcanic activity and revealed that at least some of the magma pool lies some 10 miles northwest of the mountain (nearly 30 miles from Seattle and Tacoma).

The sensors provided researchers with this underground map by looking at the seismic imaging and variances in the electromagnetic fields in the region. 

The team's report based on the new data that was gathered was published in the journal Nature, and is meant to aid researchers in comprehending the "inner workings" of the volcano in order to possibly predict when it could next erupt. Magma is created within the Earth's "mantle," or the portion in between the inner core of the planet and the outer crust. 

Scientists may not be able to predict exactly when Mount Rainier may next erupt, but thanks to this new research they do better understand better the path the magma flow may take, and therefore can better prepare for it before it occurs.

The lead researcher for this study, R. Shane McGary stated, "I would regard Mount Rainier as a much more serious short-term threat than Mount Jefferson in Oregon, which lacks a flow path."