Off The Record
Massive Underwater Volcano On Brink Of Eruption, Scientists Caution
Scientists warn that a massive underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean might explode “any day now.”
Off the coast of Oregon, the Axial Seamount, a sleeping monster, appears to be preparing to blow.
The public isn’t really concerned about it because it is approximately 5,000 feet below the surface and 300 miles from dry land.
But if the mile-wide undersea volcano erupts and spews lava, as it did in 2015, 1998, and 2011, it might reshape the sea floor.
Ten years ago, the Axial Seamount erupted, causing the ocean floor to dip by over eight feet and altering the hydrothermal vent fields—crevices where magma-heated water escapes.
The Pacific Ocean may now be getting ready for yet another change, according to boffins who have been keeping an eye on the undersea volcano.
In addition to an increase in seismic activity in the region, experts have seen expansion of the sea floor, a critical indicator that an eruption may be close.
All of this suggests that the Axial Seamount is set to explode very soon; while we don’t yet have a precise date to mark in our calendars, it might happen “any day now.”
“Over time, the volcano inflates due to the buildup of magma beneath the surface,” William Wilcock, a marine geophysicist and professor at the University of Washington, said. “Some researchers have hypothesised that the amount of inflation can predict when the volcano will erupt, and if they’re correct it’s very exciting for us, because it has already inflated to the level that it reached before the last three eruptions.”
“That means it could really erupt any day now, if the hypothesis is correct.”
Wilcock is also in agreement with Deborah Kelley, director of the Regional Cabled Array and professor at the UW School of Oceanography.
Axial Seamount ‘has already reached the inflation’ seen prior to the 2015 eruption, she noted, but seismic activity is still ‘very modest’ at the moment.
“We’re seeing 200 to 300 earthquakes per day, with some spikes around 1,000 per day due to the tides,” Professor Kelley explained. “If what we learned in 2015 is correct, I would expect to see more than 2,000 per day for a few months before the eruption.”
Because underwater eruptions are so difficult to observe, much remains unknown about them; therefore, any developments regarding the Axial Seamount will serve as a learning opportunity for both scientists and the general public.
“Whatever it does, we’re going to learn something new,” Wilcock continued.
However, marine geophysicist Maya Tolstoy says we do know that this volcano is currently “under a state of critical stress.”
Discussing the expected increase in earthquakes in the surrounding area as a possible eruption looms closer, she explained, “At high tide the weight of the ocean presses down on the crust, and when that weight is ever so slightly decreased at low tide, the number of earthquakes increases.”
“What will be really interesting to see is whether those factors also affect the likelihood of an eruption by putting additional stress on the magma chambers.”
The good news is that specialists say there is no concern to human safety from the Axial Seamount’s increased activity—in fact, it is so intense that you wouldn’t even notice if it exploded.
Fortunately for us, boffins like Wilcock, Kelley, and Tolstoy will be closely monitoring it nevertheless.
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