‘Dormant for all of recorded history’: Ethiopian volcano suddenly awakens after at least 12,000 years of silence, what happened next has air traffic controllers scrambling

A volcano that has been sleeping for longer than recorded history just woke up. The Hayli Gubbi volcano in northern Ethiopia’s Afar Region suddenly erupted early Sunday morning local time. This marks its first known activity in at least 12,000 years.

According to ABC News, this is not just a regular eruption. We are talking about a volcano that was previously listed by the Smithsonian Institution as having an “unknown” last eruption date. Geologic evidence suggests that the last time this thing blew its top was more than 12 thousand years ago.

Seeing something sleeping for so long suddenly spring to life is absolutely fascinating. But it immediately created a huge headache for air traffic control across the region. The eruption sent enormous clouds of ash and smoke high into the atmosphere, along with large amounts of sulfur dioxide. This immediately threw a massive wrench into regional air travel. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Toulouse, France, quickly released an advisory because the ash reached an absolutely wild height of 49,000 feet.

This eruption caused major problems for flights

That’s high enough to mess with nearly any commercial flight path. This is why air traffic controllers as far away as India were bracing themselves for possible flight disruptions as that huge cloud of ash started drifting. Satellite images clearly showed the massive cloud moving right over the Red Sea and heading toward the Arabian Peninsula.

If you’re flying in that area, you can expect some serious delays until things clear up. Speaking of incredible journeys, one man recently completed an amazing 27-year walking adventure through some of the world’s most challenging conditions.

This volcano is located near the Eritrean–Ethiopian border and is the southernmost volcano in the Erta Ale range. The whole range sits right on a critical spot where three tectonic plates meet in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression. This area is already known for active shield volcanoes and persistent lava lakes, but Hayli Gubbi had been the quiet one until now.

While flight delays are annoying, the real impact is local. Local officials told The Associated Press that thankfully, there were no casualties, which is incredible news considering the scale of the sudden eruption. However, the livelihoods of nearby communities of livestock herders are seriously impacted. In other news involving authority figures, what police really want during traffic stops was recently revealed by a former FBI agent.

Villages have been covered in thick ash, which means there’s almost no land left for the animals to graze on. That’s awful for those families who rely completely on their animals for survival. Hayli Gubbi itself is described as a broad, dome-shaped volcano with gentle slopes, reaching a summit height of more than 1,700 feet.

It features a symmetrical scoria cone with a 650-foot-wide crater. It really shows you that even the most seemingly stable geological features can change instantly. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center confirmed that the volcano continued erupting as of Monday evening local time, but has since stopped.

Scientists will certainly be keeping a close eye on this area now. Because when a volcano wakes up after 12,000 years, you know it’s going to be interesting.