Origin, effects of Masaya Volcano's continued unrest probed in Nicaragua

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Abstract
An international team of researchers is hoping to pin down the origin and determine the effects of 6 years of continued unrest at Nicaragua's Masaya volcano. With the country's capital, Managua, close by, several million people are at risk if a large, explosive eruption were to occur.Masaya is distinctive not only for its explosive basaltic eruptions of the past, but also for its postcaldera activity. Combined geophysical and geochemical surveys are improving understanding of volcanic activity there, and new techniques are providing exciting inroads into deciphering the atmospheric chemistry in its plume dispersal, addressing the nature of relatively rapid variations in its gas emission rates, and monitoring its gas hazards. Many issues remain to be resolved, however.