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Volcanology

Vulcan rule beneath the sea

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 251–253 (2017)Cite this article

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Over 70% of the volcanism on Earth occurs beneath an ocean veil. Now, robotic- and fibre-optic-based technologies are beginning to reveal this deep environment and identify subaqueous volcanoes as rich sources of sulfur, carbon dioxide and life.

Seafloor is created by magmatism along the mid-ocean ridge system that, at roughly 70,000 km in length, wraps around the entire planet. New ocean crust is also formed at arc volcanoes above subduction zones, and at seamounts and ocean islands such as the Hawaiian island chain and Iceland, which form above mantle hotspots. Satellite data reveal more than 100,000 extinct and active seamounts that mark sites of past and present volcanic activity1. At the American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference2 titled 'Submarine Volcanism: New Approaches and Research Frontiers', held in Hobart, Tasmania in January 2017, geoscientists gathered to discuss how observations from submersibles, robotic vehicles and cabled observatories have revolutionized our understanding of oceanic eruptions.

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Figure 1: White microbial floc streams at the summit of Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge.

UNIV. WASHINGTON, NSF-OOI, CSSF

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  1. Deborah Kelley is at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA,

    Deborah Kelley

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  1. Deborah Kelley
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Correspondence to Deborah Kelley.

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Kelley, D. Vulcan rule beneath the sea. Nature Geosci 10, 251–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2929

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