The secrets of the great phenomena coming from the depths of the planet

This planet that we call home is far from calm with its earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. The Earth is a dangerous and unpredictable planet, and we will take a tour with researchers from the Paris Institute of Earth Physics on a mission to monitor natural phenomena from the creation of the Earth to the present day.

Scientists all over the Earth and in their laboratories are trying to better understand how our planet functions and how it develops and study natural hazards to warn of imminent dangers lurking on planet Earth and beyond.

In the documentary film “In the interior of the Earth.. Earthquakes and volcanoes” (a two-part series) presented by Al Jazeera Documentary, we share the daily lives of scientists from the Institute of Physics and share their passion for earth and planetary sciences. Their mission is to monitor and study natural phenomena, especially seismic and volcanic events.

Their main mission is to understand how the Earth works and discover its future dangers and development, even going as far as sending missions to Mars.

The documentary deals with the scientific and detailed study of two natural phenomena, earthquakes and volcanoes, and works to discover their causes and avoid their dangers in the future.

Pacific Plate Slippage.. Huge Volcanic Activity in Eastern Russia

A team from the Paris Institute of Earth Physics traveled to Kamchatka Province in eastern Russia to study this volcanic province that includes a large number of active volcanoes. Georges Boudon, a volcanologist at the institute, says: The mission requires preparation and mobilization to collect as much scientific data as possible, because Kamchatka is a volcanic province that includes a large number of active volcanoes in eastern Russia, and this activity is due to the slippage of the Pacific Plate under the Eurasian Plate, and it occurs at a very high speed, generating a huge amount of magma and huge volcanic activity.

This area is interesting, and this study is part of a broader study, part of which is being conducted on the infamous French volcano Pele, which was active in the Martinique Islands, which suffered a volcanic eruption in 1902. Before the eruption, explosions occurred that killed more than 30,000 people within minutes and destroyed an entire city. It is considered the deadliest volcanic eruption in history.

“The role of the Paris Institute of Geophysics is to monitor these volcanoes, better understand their activity and accurately predict any new eruptions. That is why we study them on site and link them to the most active volcanoes,” says Hélène Balcon, a geochemist at the Sorbonne University.

“We came to collect samples of interesting volcanic rocks from specific sites, grind them to remove crystals (minerals that crystallized in magma chambers), study the activity of the volcanic magma and its ascent to the surface, and trace the history of its movement.” These crystals reveal whether magma is stored in intermediate chambers within the Earth's crust, or rises directly to the top, and the most important result we are looking for is to reach a better way than the existing one to monitor the volcanoes of Kamchatka.

Examining the rocks.. The secrets of the processes that occur in the depths

Volcanologist George Boudon believes that everyone dreams of coming to Kamchatka, although its volcanoes can only be reached by helicopter, due to its desolate nature and the large spread of volcanoes, some of which are covered with snow, due to its height of about 5,000 meters above sea level.

He says: The first site we are studying is the Bezymian volcano, in 1956 this volcano erupted violently after a long period of inactivity, and what prompts us to study these volcanoes is their great similarity to Mount Pele and the formation of its domes, the Bezymian volcano is small, and its height is 3,000 above sea level. In this area, there is no vegetation or human presence, so it is an amazing place.

As for Caroline Martel, a petrologist, she says: What interests me in these rocks is understanding the processes that occur in depth, in particular the storage of magma in chambers and its ascent to the surface. The properties of these rocks allow us to understand whether the eruption that occurred on the surface was explosive or flowing? The aim of going to the field is to ascertain the climate around the volcano, and the different workers in various fields, but above all it is a way to verify the validity of the samples that we study in the laboratory later.

She comments on the study process in the laboratory, saying: Given the size of the crystals, we conclude that the growth was slow. What we do in the laboratory is to reproduce those crystals based on the speed of decompression in the autoclave (a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes that require high temperature and pressure).

Saskia Erdmann, a petrologist at the New Orleans Institute of Geosciences, talks about the laboratory experiments, saying: “In our experiments, we use natural or raw materials, and put them in ovens and ovens, then raise their temperatures and pressures to approach the conditions of their natural environment, then make slight changes to the conditions of the experiment, but within certain restrictions to simulate the conditions of their natural environment, and we compare the results of these studies with the samples we collected from the ground.” But this enjoyable journey is hindered by difficulties and challenges, according to Thibaut Dagostin, a petrologist at the Sorbonne University, who says: “Sometimes we had to carry 20 kilograms in our bags, and the longest distance we traveled was 110 kilometers, and its difficulty was represented by the terrain of the steep, rugged path full of gravel and ash. We collected samples from unique places that are difficult to reach, and it is worth carrying rocks from them, and we brought 150 kilograms of rocks, and we had to sort them, because it is not possible to keep them all.”