After reportedly 700,000+ years of no eruptions, Iran's Taftan volcano recently showed distinct signs of unrest. This included a period of volcanic uplift, a sulfur smell detected in some nearby communities, and episodes of strong degassing from its summit fumaroles. However, there is a problem which is causing many people to misinterpret these claims. As for once, Taftan last erupted far more recently 7,000 years ago, and its "reactivation" may have been occurring for centuries or millennia beforehand. Thumbnail Photo Credit: iStock.com, ArefBarahuie, https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/the-view-of-taftan-volcano-in-iran-gm1196302330-341222597. This image was overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo). Do note that the unrest episode discussed in today's video ended in late 2024 and is not still seemingly ongoing. If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: http://patreon.com/geologyhub) (YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeGh5VML5XPr5jYnzh3J6g/join) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image): Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Sources/Citations: [1] Mohammadnia, M., Yip, M. W., Webb, A. A. G., & González, P. J. (2025). Spontaneous transient summit uplift at Taftan volcano (Makran subduction arc) imaged using an InSAR common-mode filtering method. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2025GL114853. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL114853, CC BY 4.0. This paper was used to cite the uplift total, length of uplift, start and end of uplift, possible triggers of the volcanic unrest, and dates of strong degassing vents from the Taftan volcano along with showing a slightly modified diagram in the video I made. [2] Biabangard, H., Moradian, A. Geology and geochemical evaluation of Taftan Volcano, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeast of Iran. Chin. J. Geochem. 27, 356–369 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-008-0356-z [3] Khaiatzadeh, Ahmad, Abbasnejad, Ahmad, & Ranjbar, Hojatallah. (2016). Tephra, Lava Flow and Nuee Ardente Hazard Zoning of Taftan Volcano, SE Iran. Geography and Environmental Hazards, 5(18), 7-10. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/355863/en [4] U.S. Geological Survey [5] Wicks, C.W. et al., 2002 0:00 Reawakening Volcano? 0:16 Taftan Volcano 0:47 Last Eruption 3:21 Cause of Unrest 3:56 Strong Degassing Events 4:40 Prior Unrest Episodes