PLANET EARTH
Supervolcano ‘megabeds’ point to catastrophic events in Europe every 15,000 years
WORDS HANNAH OSBORNE
Huge ‘megabeds’ from ancient supervolcano eruptions are hiding at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Their discovery points to a cycle of catastrophic events that appear to hit the region every 10,000 to 15,000 years. Megabeds are huge sub-marine deposits that form in marine basins as a result of catastrophic events like volcanic eruptions. The researchers found the beds while investigating deposits at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea, near the coast of Italy, close to a large underwater volcano. Previous research into geohazards in the area using sediment cores and imaging indicated something was hidden beneath the ocean, but the resolution was not high enough to see the megabeds.