The Ring of Fire

Nico’s foot wouldn’t stop bouncing. He stared at the computer in amazement as the 3D model of the seismological scan shifted on the screen. His agitation sought another outlet and he began tapping his pencil on the side of the desk, making a rhythmic tik-tik-tik sound in the quiet lab. Even the entrance of his professor Annalise with her niece Arwen didn’t break his focus. The two watched him for a second before Annalise adjusted her thin framed spectacles.

“Hey, Chad Smith,” she said sarcastically, “How’s the new song coming?”

Nico’s attention snapped like a rubber band and he jerked his head around to look at them.

“Come check this out,” his voice broke slightly.

Annalise noted his uncertainty and crossed the beige linoleum floor, placing a hand on the back of Nico’s chair as she leaned forward to look at the screen. Arwen gazed around the coffee stain colored walls of the university lab with interest. She might actually be working here with her aunt next year, and her face glowed at the thought.

“Wait,” an unsettled tone had crept into Annalise’s voice, “Is this real?”

“Yeah,” Nico swallowed, drumming on the desk with anxiety again, “I input the latest readings from USGS.”

“USGS? The US Geological Survey?” Arwen asked approaching the desk to stand behind her aunt.

“Yeah,” Annalise said absently, analyzing the screen.

“What’s that?” Arwen inquired looking at the 3D model that had both geologists captivated.

Neither answered. Nico kept looking from his professor to the screen and back to his professor as his pencil tapped persistently on the edge of the desk. Tik-tik-tik.

“Stop,” Annalise instructed.

Nico stopped.

“What’s that model of?” Arwen asked again.

Nico had been so distracted he hadn’t noticed the entrance of the attractive young woman a few years his junior and he briefly stared at her.

“This is a model of the LLSVP beneath the Pacific,” he finally explained, clearing his throat.

“LLSVP?”

“It stands for Large Low Sheet Velocity Province,” he continued, “It’s a giant structure inside the Earth’s mantle.”

“Oh cool,” Arwen said with growing excitement, “Are you studying it?”

Annalise straightened slowly and put a hand on her forehead. Her face weighed with concern.

“Yeah,” Nico looked from Annalise to Arwen, “I’m doing my thesis on it. There's one beneath the Pacific and there's one right under Africa.”

“This is what you modeled?” Annalise asked looking at Nico, scanning his face as if for confirmation.

“Yeah, I just input the latest numbers from USGS,” Nico almost began tapping on the desk again but stopped himself and tossed the pencil down instead, “This is what came out.”

“Jesus Christ,” Annalise said turning away from the screen and pushing her hands through her dark tied-up hair.

“What?” Arwen asked in confusion, “What came out?”

“”The LLSVPs are two structures just above the Earth’s core that don’t react to seismic waves the way the rest of the mantle does,” Annalise explained, “Until recently the scientific community believed that they might be remnants of Earth’s collision with Theia.”

“That's the collision that made the moon right?” Arwen asked.

“Yeah,” Nico answered, “People thought these two masses were left over from that. But they’re not.”

“Nico and I think that they’re subducted continental plates,” Annalise continued.

“You think plates from the Earth’s crust can be pulled that far down into the mantle by subduction?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, “That’s my hypothesis.”

“The geological make up of the structures supports it,” Annalise started to pace slowly, “They have different compositions and ages which refutes the idea that they both have the same origin.”

“I’ve been mapping the plumes that come from them,” Nico explained, “These things have a direct statistical relationship with the production of extremely large volcanic eruptions within the last 300 million years.””

“That’s so cool,” Arwen exclaimed.

“I can even link them to a few extinction events,” Nico continued, “When the asteroid hit for example, the impact caused these to give off what we call super plumes of magma which caused a huge amount of volcanic activity on the surface. That’s what we think killed the dinosaurs.”

Annalise continued to pace as the room grew silent and Arwen looked at her with concern.

“Is everything all right?”

“No,” she responded, pointing at the computer, “That model is suggesting there’s a super plume heading towards the Earth’s crust right now.”

Nico looked back to the screen, his leg began to bounce again.

“Didn’t you say those could cause extinction events?”

Nico looked back to her, his sad eyebrows conveying the answer before he could.

“Yeah.”

The lab was quiet aside from the gentle squeak of Nico’s shoes bouncing on the linoleum floor and the quiet steps of Annalise’s pacing.

Arwen looked from one to the other.

“So what,” she asked with growing concern, “What’s going to happen?”

Annalise turned and looked at her sadly, pitying her youth and the future she faced.

“It means there is going to be an incredible amount of volcanic activity in just a few days,” she said, “An amount the world hasn’t seen for millions of years.”

“Where?”

“The Ring of Fire,” Nico answered looking back to the screen.

On it was a transparent 3D model of the Earth and core depicted, with two large shapeless blobs resting right on the outside of the core sphere. Each had several reaching tendrils that rose toward the surface of the Earth. He pointed to several particularly long and thick ones that all seemed to be stretching to different areas.

“This is right below us,” he explained looking back to Arwen, “When these hit the crust, volcanoes all around the pacific are going to blow.”

“What?” Arwen started to understand the tension in the room.

“We’re looking at the end of the world,” Nico said.

Arwen started to panic. She looked from sad face to sad face.

“This can’t be,” she gasped.

“I’m afraid so,” Annalise admitted sadly, “The volcanic eruptions could last for decades, filling the atmosphere with smoke and starving the plant life below. Entire ecosystems will collapse. Rising temperatures, lack of food, poisonous air. This…this might be the end for humanity.”

She pushed her hands through her hair again in disbelief and looked up to the ceiling, processing the moment as best she could.

“There’s nothing we can do?” Arwen asked.

Nico silently looked to Annalise, but he knew what the model meant.

After a moment Annalise exhaled slowly and looked at her niece.

“You can call your parents and tell them you love them.”

Arwen took a step back in horror, looking from her aunt to Nico and back. Then she turned and ran from the room.