Mount Peaktu is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain in the Changbai and Baekdudagan chains located on the border between China and North Korea. Koreans assign a mythical quality to the volcano and its caldera lake, since they consider that it is the spiritual home of their country and that the mountain plays an important cultural role in the Korean states, mentioned in their two national anthems and represented in the national emblem. from North. Korea. A large crater, called Heaven Lake, lies in the caldera at the top of the mountain, formed by the “Millennium” eruption of 946, which sent about 30 cubic miles of tephra into the sky in one of the largest and most violent eruptions in the last 5,000 years.
The volcano had been silent since its last major eruption, until 2002, when there were a series of mini-earthquakes caused by seismic activity within the volcano for several years.
Although silenced again after 2005, the brief activity alarmed the North Korean authorities and forced them to put aside their policy of isolation and secrecy.
They contacted neighboring countries, including China, contacted the best scientists from western countries, and requested technical assistance to study the volcano.
The disclosure led to a rare collaboration in 2013 between a team of North Korean experts led by Ri Kyong-Song of the Earthquake Administration in Pyongyang and a team of Western scientists led by James Hammond of the University of London.
Despite Kim Jong-un’s bitter dispute with the West, the North Korean government granted the team of international scientists, including experts from the United Kingdom and the United States, access to North Korea to help local experts study the supervolcano and assess the risk of an eruption.
The study results were published in the journal Science Advances in April 2016 and could be bad news for Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the future.
Data collected by experts showed that Mount Paektu was still active and could erupt.
But scientists said they would like to return to North Korea for more detailed studies to improve their ability to predict when and how the volcano could erupt.
READ MORE: China Fears: Scientists Warn 500,000-Year-Old Extinct Volcano “Appears to be Recharging”
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) seismologist Kayla Iacovina, co-author of the 2016 study, data collected during two years of monitoring Mount Paektu indicated the presence of partially melted magma in the volcano.
This indicated to the researchers that the volcano was still active and that it could erupt in the future.
Ms Iacovino said: “That confirms the idea that the volcano is quite active.
“But how much of that is rash? That’s a great question.
Seismologist Stephen Grand of the University of Texas at Austin told National Geographic: “I think the risk of a destructive eruption here is very real.”
The data collected by Hammond and his team was solid, said seismologist George Zandt of the University of Arizona, and the results, while not particularly surprising, are informative.
Scientists said it was too early to determine if a future eruption is safe, but they sent a warning about the possibility.
Ms. Iacovino added: “It could certainly influence things like international trade routes and commercial airline traffic, at least.”
