Huge Volcanoes May Be Erupting Under Arctic Ice

New evidence deep beneath the Arctic ice suggests a series of underwater
volcanoes have erupted in violent explosions in the past decade.

Hidden 2.5 miles (4,000 meters) beneath the Arctic surface, the
volcanoes are up to a mile (2,000 meters) in diameter and a few hundred
yards tall.

They formed along the Gakkel Ridge, a lengthy crack in the ocean crust
where two rocky plates are spreading apart, pulling new melted rock to
the surface.

Until now, scientists thought undersea volcanoes only dribbled lava from
cracks in the seafloor. The extreme pressure from the overlying water
makes it difficult for gas and magma to blast outward.
But the Gakkel Ridge, which is relatively unexplored and considered
unique for its slow spreading rate, is just the place for surprises.

Robert Reeves-Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in
Massachusetts and his colleagues discovered jagged, glassy fragments of
rock scattered around the volcanoes, suggesting explosive eruptions
occurred between 1999 and 2001.

They hypothesize that the slow spreading could allow excess gas to build
up in pockets of magma beneath the oceanic crust. When the gas pressure
gets high enough, it pops like a champagne bottle being uncorked.

With news this week that polar ice is melting dramatically, underwater
Arctic pyrotechnics might seem like a logical smoking gun.

Scientists don't see any significant connection, however.

"We don't believe the volcanoes had much effect on the overlying ice,"
Reeves-Sohn told LiveScience, "but they seem to have had a major impact
on the overlying water column."

The eruptions discharge large amounts of carbon dioxide, helium, trace
metals and heat into the water over long distances, he said.

The research, detailed in the June 26 issue of the journal Nature, was
funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and WHOI.

http://forums.myspace.com/t/4047752.aspx?fuseaction=forums.viewthread

++++++++++++++++

Funny, the same thing that has been contributing to Global Warming for
Billions of years, still is! The Ice is Melting, the Ice is Melting . .
. and those who have adopted the new Global Warming Religion believe
it is evil man to blame, when it turns out it is naturally what has been
going on before man was even a life form to exist upon the earth!

Mr. 101

http://www.myspace.com/greenxmas