> He suspects the explosion was triggered by a sudden change in the subterranean plumbing, which caused seawater to flood in.
> "When you put a ton of seawater into a cubic kilometer of liquid rock, things are going to get bad fast," he says.
Seems like a catastrophic failure.
The Big Island of Hawaii constantly has lava and sea water mixing on small scales. Makes me wonder if it’s at risk of a subterranean breach as well.
It seems like this Tonga explosion took nearly everyone by surprise.