Speaking as someone who's generally willing to consider beyond-the-
horizon technologies (asteroid capture for example) I have to say I
see no way we could plausibly trigger an eruption.  The sheer amount
of rock rules out simple removal, and likewise any in-situ
modification of the whole mass of rock.  Making cracks would be
something that affects only a small portion of the rock, but it isn't
a solution: some magma follows cracks, but cracks aren't a limiting
factor.

On Apr 22, 4:05 am, Alvia Gaskill <[email protected]> wrote:
> There is no way to cause a volcanic eruption or for that matter, to
> prevent one.  The forces that control magma movement are miles below
> the surface and beyond the reach of any human technology.  When a
> volcano erupts, that is the end of a process, not the beginning.
>
> Undersea volcanoes would only produce aerosols if the gases reached
> the surface.  I doubt most of them have much of an effect as they are
> not explosive enough to send gases into the stratosphere.  Here is an
> article about the recent eruption of an undersea volcano in 
> Tonga:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/19/undersea-tongan-volcano-d_n_...
> The impacts are mostly local.
>
> On Apr 21, 8:54 pm, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Bearing in mind that volcanoes seem to do a pretty good job of cooling the
> > planet, could you trigger them artificially?  Perhaps drilling holes in
> > them, moving scree off their cones or just blowing them up would do the
> > trick?
> > Here's some thoughts on the 
> > subject:http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/questions/question/2019/
>
> > I couldn't find any 'serious' research on this with a brief spot of
> > googling.
>
> > As an aside, do undersea volcanoes help cool the planet by altering the
> > sulfur cycle and creating aerosols?
>
> > A
>
>
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