Video shows deepest eruption of undersea volcano

William Atkins
Friday, 18 December 2009 20:01

Science - Climate

The hi-def video was recorded onboard the U.S. Jason robotic submersible while it was over 1,100 meters (3,610 feet) underwater, and southwest of the Samoan Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean.


The high-definition video, taken by the remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) Jason, shows lava spewing into the water from the West Mata submarine volcano.

The West Mata volcano is located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the Samoas.

The volcanic eruption occurred in an area bounded by Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.

U.S. chemical oceanographer, Joseph Resing, from Oregon State University, was part of the team that recorded the undersea eruption.

Dr. Resing stated, “It's an extraordinary environment. "You have molten lavas at 1,400C [degrees Celsius] producing acidic fluids - the sulphur dioxide makes these fluids as acidic as pH1.4 - and yet microbes are thriving." [BBC News (12-18-2009): “Deepest volcano caught on Pacific Ocean video”]

Resing added, "The magmatic gases sustain and provide energy for microbial life, and then the microbes provide energy for the shrimp. "We see them very close to the volcano - within metres.” [BBC News]

Check out the video from the before-mentioned BBC website. Or, see it on the YouTube website “Scientists Discover and Image Explosive Deep-Ocean Volcano.”

Learn more about the exciting video and the background on the event at the National Science Foundation (NSF) article "Marine Scientists Discover Deepest Undersea Erupting Volcano."

The article states, "The West Mata Volcano is producing boninite lavas, believed to be among the hottest on Earth in modern times, and a type seen before only on extinct volcanoes more than one million years old."