They discover the largest volcano on Earth under the waters of the Pacific

2013/09/11 Zubia Gallastegi, Bego - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

A group of researchers from the University of Houston has discovered the largest volcano on Earth under the Pacific waters. The journal Nature GeoScience has just published that the volcano Tamu Massif has an extension of 650 square kilometers, that is, a surface similar to that occupied by Britain.

The volcano, located 1,500 kilometers east of Japan, has been off for the last 140 million years. Four kilometers from the bottom of the sea, its volcanic origin was known. However, so far geologists considered it due to the eruption of several volcanoes. Hawaii and Iceland are created in this way.

Marcus G. The research ship Langseth was upstream of Mount Tamu, carrying out research that aimed to describe the volcano structure, and the measurements surprised scientists. Compressed air tools were used to send seismic waves through the mount. Measuring the reflection, the researchers knew that all lava flows were far from the top of the volcano, suggesting a single main exit of the magma. “From any angle, lava flows seem to come from the center of this thing,” the marine geologist of the University of Houston, William Sager, told Nature magazine.

The discovery of Mount Tamu Massif has been the result of a pioneering research in the study of the internal geometry of the submarine mountains and it is not ruled out that the result of this new line of work is the discovery of new giant volcanoes. Sager noted that “they can also be greater.”

The largest volcano in the solar system is Mount Olympo of Mars. It has a diameter of 625 kilometers. According to the authors of the research that has been released, the discovery makes it possible that on Earth there are such large volcanoes.