Underwater volcano's fiery eruption captured in detail by seafloor observatory

A sensor array off the Pacific Northwest coast has captured the cracking, bulging and shaking from the eruption of Axial Seamount, a nearly mile-high undersea volcano, in more detail than ever before.

Axial Seamount, located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Image credit: UW Center for Environmental Visualization

"Axial volcano has had at least three eruptions, that we know of, over the past 20 years," said Rick Murray, director of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences. "Instruments used by Ocean Observatories Initiative scientists are giving us new opportunities to understand the inner workings of this volcano and the mechanisms that trigger volcanic eruptions in many environments. The information will help us predict the behavior of active volcanoes around the globe."

Most of Earth's volcanism takes place underwater. Axial Seamount, one of countless undersea volcanoes, rises seven-tenths of a mile off the seafloor some 300 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast, and its peak lies about eight-tenths of a mile below the ocean's surface.

The submarine location presents advantages for scientific studies.

The crust below an undersea volcano is usually just four miles thick, roughly five times thinner than the crust that lies beneath land-based volcanoes. That means the magma chamber of an undersea volcano is not buried as deeply. The hard rock of ocean crust also generates crisper seismic images.

Once lava emerged, it flowed along a newly formed crack inside the volcano's two-mile-wide by five-mile-long opening, or caldera.

The activity continued throughout May, 2015. Then lava stopped flowing and seismic vibrations ceased. Within a month, the earthquakes had dropped to just 20 per day. The volcano has not yet started to produce more quakes. (NSF)

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