For the district named after this region, see
Vulkaneifel.
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (
German: Vulkaneifel), also known as the East Eifel Volcanic Field (EEVF),[1] is a region in the
Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its
volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this
volcanic field are its typical explosion
crater lakes or
maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic
tuffs,
lava streams and
volcanic craters like the
Laacher See. The Volcanic Eifel is still volcanically active today. One sign of this activity is the escaping gases in the Laacher See.
Geographical location
The Volcanic Eifel stretches from the
Rhine to the
Wittlich Depression. It is bordered in the south and southwest by the
South Eifel, in the west by Luxembourg and Belgian
Ardennes and in the north by the
North Eifel including the
Hohes Venn. To the east the Rhine forms its geographical boundary, with no volcanicity immediately beyond it.
The Volcanic Eifel is divided into three natural regions:
The centre of the Volcanic Eifel is the region around Daun and Manderscheid and the areas within the
Mayen-Koblenz district.
The landscape of the Volcanic Eifel is dominated by recent volcanism. Volcanic craters, thick
pumice and
basalt layers and maars create a diverse landscape that clearly witnesses to very recent events in geological terms.
The entire Volcanic Eifel covers an area of about 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi) and as of 2007[update] has a population of about 200,000.
The
tephras deposited by past eruptions of the Volcanic Eifel are lithological deposits that are radiometrically dateable via
argon-argon dating of
K-feldspar grains. These have in turn been utilised to ascertain the ages of climatic changes such as transitions from
glacial to
interglacial states during the
Pleistocene.[1]
Future activity
There is thought that future eruptions may occur in the Eifel, as:[3][4]
Each year the Eifel rises by about a millimetre.
Geophysicists found that crust under the Eifel is thinner than most continental crust, suggesting that under the Eifel is a hot zone where magma is rising.
Persistent small earthquakes and underground heating.
In 2020, Professor Kreemer noted that Eifel was the only region within an area of Europe studied where
ground motion happened at significantly higher levels than expected.[5] It is possible that such movements originate from a rising
magma plume.[5] This activity does not imply an immediate eruptive danger, but might suggest an increase in volcanic and seismic activity in the region.[5]