Tag Archives: volcanoes

Minnesota report: Proposed tar sands oil pipeline would harm tribes.

That’s all kinds of scary. If there’s one place on Earth that would be the worst possible spot for a giant volcanic chain, it’s beneath West Antarctica. Turns out, it’s not a great situation to have a bunch of volcanoes underneath a huge ice sheet.

In a discovery announced earlier this week, a team of researchers discovered dozens of them across a 2,200-mile swath of the frozen continent. Antarctica, if you’re listening, please stop scaring us.

The study that led to the discovery was conceived of by an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, Max Van Wyk de Vries. With a team of researchers, he used radar to look under the ice for evidence of cone-shaped mountains that had disturbed the ice around them. They found 91 previously unknown volcanoes. “We were amazed,” Robert Bingham, one of the study’s authors, told the Guardian.

The worry is that, as in Iceland and Alaska, two regions of active volcanism that were ice-covered until relatively recently, a warming climate could help these Antarctic volcanoes spring to life soon. In a worst-case scenario, the melting ice could release pressure on the volcanoes and trigger eruptions, further destabilizing the ice sheet.

“The big question is: how active are these volcanoes? That is something we need to determine as quickly as possible,” Bingham said.

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Minnesota report: Proposed tar sands oil pipeline would harm tribes.

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Dynamic Planet: Under the Volcano in Papua New Guinea

Three views of a violent volcanic eruption in Papua New Guinea. Link to article:   Dynamic Planet: Under the Volcano in Papua New Guinea ; ; ;

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Dynamic Planet: Under the Volcano in Papua New Guinea

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Papua New Guinea Volcano Erupts, Locals Evacuate

Several communities were evacuated and some international flights were diverted Friday after a volcanic eruption on Papua New Guinea. From:  Papua New Guinea Volcano Erupts, Locals Evacuate ; ; ;

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Papua New Guinea Volcano Erupts, Locals Evacuate

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Dot Earth Blog: How to Survive a Mass Extinction – Even One Caused by Us

Handy tips for surviving the next mass extinction — even if it’s our own doing. Read this article: Dot Earth Blog: How to Survive a Mass Extinction – Even One Caused by Us Related Articles How to Survive a Mass Extinction – Even One Caused by Us Dot Earth Blog: Encouraging Results Seen in First Nationwide Look at Gas Leaks from Drilling Boom Unlocking the Potential of ‘Flammable Ice’

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Dot Earth Blog: How to Survive a Mass Extinction – Even One Caused by Us

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An Underwater Volcano the Size of New Mexico Is the World’s Largest

A 3-D image of Tamu Massif on the sea floor. Photo: Will Sager

A massive volcano the size of New Mexico or the British Isles lurks deep beneath the Pacific, about 1,000 miles east off the coast of Japan. Called the Tamu Massif, scientists just confirmed that it is not only the world’s largest volcano (sorry, Manua Loa) but also one of the largest documented volcanoes in the solar system.

Researchers began studying the Tamu Massif, which is part of an underwater mountain range, about 20 years ago. But until now, they couldn’t determine whether it was a single giant or a cluster of multiple smaller volcanoes. A team from Texas A&M University (“Tamu”—get it?) confirmed the Tamu Massif was a single volcanic entity by studying its past patterns of lava flows and analyzing geochemical samples from the volcano.

National Geographic describes what we know about the volcano:

Tamu Massif is a rounded dome that measures about 280 by 400 miles (450 by 650 kilometers), or more than 100,000 square miles. Its top lies about 6,500 feet (about 2,000 meters) below the ocean surface, while the base extends down to about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) deep.

Made of basalt, Tamu Massif is the oldest and largest feature of an oceanic plateau called the Shatsky Rise in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The total area of the rise is similar to Japan or California.

Luckily for us, the volcano was only active for a few million years, NatGeo points out, going “extinct” about 145 million years ago.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Underwater Volcano
Volcano Obsession

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An Underwater Volcano the Size of New Mexico Is the World’s Largest

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