杏吧原创

South-eastern Australia鈥檚 long-dormant volcanic province is overdue an eruption, but the nation is completely unprepared for such an event.

So says from the University of Melbourne, who has documented the region鈥檚 volcanic history over the past 5 million years. Over that time there has been an eruption roughly every 12,500 years, Joyce says 鈥� but recently, the region has been more active. 鈥淔or around 20,000 years an eruption has occurred every 2000 years.鈥� The last volcano to erupt was mount Gambier, some 5500 years ago.

While a future eruption is likely to be small, 鈥渋t could cause devastation to thousands of people鈥�, Joyce says. Several towns, including Colac 鈥� where 10,000 people live 鈥� lie within the danger zone, and Melbourne lies near historically active areas.

鈥淪o far we have no action plans in place if eruptions occur,鈥� he told says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 quite reasonable to think the area is still active,鈥� says a volcanologist at Monash University in Melbourne, who was not involved in the study. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a leaky volcanic system that is not well understood.鈥�

The results were presented at the in Melbourne this week.