The flanks of many island volcanoes slide very slowly towards the sea. Whether these landslides are forewarnings of a catastrophic collapse or, on the contrary, even reduce its risk, is not yet understood. Geophysicists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel have now published a study in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, which shows that sporadic, slow landslides on the small volcanic island of Ritter Island in New Guinea preceded a catastrophic collapse.
Source: EurekaAlert, https://www.eurekalert.org