'Zombie' volcano believed to be extinct for 710,000 years shows signs of activity

Deep in Iran’s remote southeast, surrounded by rugged mountains and desert plains, sits a volcano most people have probably never heard of, but could be on its way to rising from the afterlife.

Mount Taftan, an ancient giant rising nearly 13,000 feet into the sky, has long been considered dead. Its slopes are bleached white with sulfur, its vents hiss lazily, and for hundreds of thousands of years, it seemed to have gone silent forever. But now, this so-called ‘zombie volcano’ appears to be stirring.

Over the past year, scientists noticed that the ground around Taftan’s summit has been rising. It’s not by much, but enough to get the attention of volcanologists.

According to research published in Geophysical Research Letters, the area has swelled by around 3.5 inches (9 cm) between July 2023 and May 2024, and crucially, that uplift hasn’t gone away. The finding suggests something is building pressure beneath the surface.

Sulfur coming out of Mount Taftan (Getty Stock Images)

Pablo González, a volcanologist with Spain’s National Research Council, told Live Science: “It has to release somehow in the future, either violently or more quietly.”

He added that while there’s 'no reason to fear an imminent eruption', the volcano should be watched carefully.

That sense of unease wasn’t there a few years ago. When González’s PhD student Mohammadhossein Mohammadnia first looked at satellite data from Taftan back in 2020, it seemed lifeless.

But then, in 2023, locals began posting videos on social media showing thick gas clouds rising from the summit: fumes strong enough to be smelled from the city of Khash, 50 kilometers away.

As for how this could be happening, using European Space Agency satellite imagery, Mohammadnia found evidence that something had changed underground.

His analysis suggested the driver of the uplift sits just 490 to 630 meters below the surface.

The cause could be shifting magma or pressure from gases trapped within the volcano’s hydrothermal system — the same vents that constantly belch sulfur dioxide and steam into the sky.

Once thought extinct, Iran’s 'zombie' volcano now shows signs of life stirring (ArefBarahuie/Getty Images))

Taftan hasn’t erupted in 710,000 years, and by most definitions, that makes it extinct. But González argues it’s time to reconsider that label.

He said: “Given its recent activity…Taftan might be more accurately described as dormant.”

While no one is predicting a cataclysm any time soon, the research team says it’s a wake-up call.

González explained: “This study doesn’t aim to produce panic in the people…It’s a wake-up call to the authorities in the region in Iran to designate some resources to look at this”.