Certainly, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an entertaining movie, and one filled with a surprising number of references to the US President. Saying that, we regret to inform you that the spectacular volcanic eruption that kicks off the events of the movie – among other things – is broken as hell. Spoilers ahead.
Right. Let’s get this out of the way before the angry emails flood in: I love volcanoes, even if they can be destructive or deadly sometimes. At the same time, I like squeezing out as much science as I can out of pop culture, from Star Wars to Jurassic World.
This isn’t a rant about the Fallen Kingdom, especially as the volcanic eruption sequence looked amazing. The stratovolcano, which looks a bit like Mount Fuji, Mount St. Helens, Volcan de Fuego and many others, was, however, weird beyond belief. Volcanic eruptions producing pyroclastic flows and surges are terrifying and deadly enough as it is, but it looks like the creators of the movie just thought give me all of the volcano stuff in one go.
There’s a lot to rant about this particular Frankenvolcano over on Isla Nublar, a few hundred kilometers west of Costa Rica. From this point onwards, there are plenty of spoilers so avert your eyes if you’ve yet to see it unfold yourselves.
At the start of the movie, a bizarrely expositional BBC News broadcast informs us that the island’s volcano – Mount Sibo – which is currently erupting a small plume of ash, is set to cause an “extinction level event” and kill all the dinosaurs and pterosaurs on the island. Hence, the rescue attempt.
Let’s go through it, step by step, with the help of volcanologist Nathan Magnall of Lancaster University.
When Pratt et al. arrive on Isla Nublar, the volcano is already flinging out the occasional lava bomb, very sizable chunks of freshly cooled lava. Then, as shenanigans ensue, there’s a bit of a double cross involving the mercenaries and Blue, the super-smart “Velociraptor”, some tranquilizer darts, and Pratt falls to the ground, unconscious. Meanwhile, Bryce Dallas Howard’s character is trapped inside a building nearby.
With impeccable dramatic timing, the volcano then goes apeshit. Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), those superheated mixtures of ash, gas, lava blebs, and debris, form through small summit blasts. Fissures form with incredible speed, covering what appears to be several kilometers instantaneously on the flanks of Mount Sibo, spewing lava all over the place.