New Delhi, July 8 -- As climate change speeds up glaciers retreat, hundreds of dormant subglacial volcanoes worldwide - particularly in Antarctica - could become active, leading to more frequent and explosive eruptions, warned scientists during a presentation at the Goldschmidt Conference, an international meeting on geochemistry being held in Prague.

Volcanoes can also erupt under ice sheets and glaciers. These sub-glaciated volcanoes are present in currently and formerly glaciated regions of the world, particularly Iceland, British Columbia and Antarctica.

Antarctica is the largest glaciovolcanic province globally, with volcanoes occurring all the way from the sub-Antarctic South Sandwich Islands, through the Antarctic Peninsula and M...