June 26, 2025 by Sarah Johnson
In France, Puy de Dôme is not only known as a department but primarily as a volcano approximately 11,000 years old, with its last eruption occurring in 5760 BC. Since then, no lava has flowed within France. However, this might not be a permanent situation, according to Guillaume Boudoire, a volcanologist at the Laboratory of Magmas and Volcanoes at Clermont Auvergne University. Interviewed by the Journal Du Net in an article published in April 2025, Boudoire spoke about a very likely “volcanic reactivation” in the Central Massif.
While the expert is certain of this reactivation, it’s crucial to note that forecasting future eruptions is extremely challenging. However, volcanic activity tends to follow cycles, alternating between active and dormant phases. The activity in the Central Massif is not extinguished but merely slumbering, having been dormant for 7,000 years.
As explained by Guillaume Boudoire, the region experienced a significant cycle of activity about 40,000 years ago, followed by a pause lasting several thousand years. Activity resumed about 15,000 years ago and ceased after the last eruption of Puy de Dôme. Thus, it is expected that this activity will recommence, although it’s difficult to predict whether this will happen in 500, 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 years. Meanwhile, the expert maintains that if the volcanoes in Auvergne do not reactivate, it would be considered a significant anomaly.
Between the end of 2021 and November 2022, scientists recorded exceptional seismic activity in the area around the town of Mont-Dore. During this period, more than 400 microseisms occurred in a specific area, namely around Lake Chambon. Though significant seismic activity might suggest the onset of a volcanic eruption, this hypothesis was dismissed by Guillaume Boudoire. At the time, he clarified that there was no ascending seismicity, indicative of rising magma. Subsequent analyses of the water sources and their gases confirmed the absence of shallow magma.
The volcanoes of the Central Massif are expected to awaken someday, but another question arises: what would this reactivation look like? The most likely scenario involves primitive magma being stored in the mantle. This would result in effusive eruptions characterized by the flow of fluid lava, with most of it spreading across the surface of the volcanoes. However, the possibility of explosive eruptions—pyroclastic flows and volcanic projections—cannot be completely ruled out.
