Author: Heat MiserHeat Miser Date: Jul 3, 2008 22:36
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.
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