The world's largest volcano was hidden in the depths of the ocean. The largest volcanoes in the world

7 September 2013, 21:40

3D reconstruction of Tamu supervolcano
Image: William Sager/University of Houston

Geologists from the USA and Japan discovered in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean an underwater volcano that died out about 140 million years ago. It is located 1,500 kilometers east of Japan, in the Shatsky Hills area. The size of the stone giant is amazing. Based on the area it occupies, scientists put it in first place on Earth. Its length is comparable to the territory of Great Britain. The diameter of the vent is 625 kilometers, the height is 4 kilometers. Before the discovery of Tamu, the volcano was in the lead Mauna Loa on Hawaiian Islands. Its basal area is only 15 percent of Tamu. The diameter of the crater is almost a hundred times smaller - only 6.5 kilometers. True, Mauna Loa is almost twice as tall when measured from the ocean floor - almost 9 kilometers.

And Tamu occupies second place in the solar system. In outer space it was ahead of the Olympus volcano on Mars. It is slightly smaller in diameter - 550 kilometers, but the height of the Martian monster is 27 kilometers - this is three times more than Everest. Olympus is so huge that it cannot be completely seen even from the surface of Mars - part of it will be hidden behind the horizon.

- Tamu is interesting for the reason that it allows us to reconsider ideas about how much lava can flow onto the surface from one volcano, - admits one of the researchers, Professor William Sager from Texas A&M University.

And calculations show: the volume of lava can be gigantic if the mountain wakes up one day. The probability of such an event is non-zero, because Tamu is located in the most unstable seismic zone on the planet.

- It went out 140 million years ago, but may explode, - Professor Sager prophesies. - The fact is that in the area where Tamu is located, three tectonic plates converge. They are unstable. And when they drilled the bottom there, it turned out that it consists of lava deposits. And we initially believed that there could be several volcanoes here, and lava flows from them overlapped each other, as happens in the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland. But we never expected that this is one giant monster that has such an extensive system of lava flows.

This phenomenon occurs 2,900 km below the Earth's surface, at the bottom of our planet's thick mantle.

Computer modeling has shown that this movement will lead to the formation of an area of about 170,300 square meters. km, consisting of molten rocks. Once this happens, the result will be one or two powerful eruptions.

Good news: The supervolcano will likely erupt in 100 to 200 million years.

"We have identified the start of a major eruption that, if it occurs, could cause massive destruction on Earth."- explained study author Michael Thorner.

Supervolcanoes of the Earth

While regular volcanoes can kill thousands of people and destroy entire cities, supervolcanoes can kill billions of people and destroy entire continents.

The term supervolcanoes refers to eruptions of more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma. Such volcanoes are devastating, but very rare.

Geologists believe that supervolcanic eruptions occur every 50,000 years, and there are about 40 supervolcanoes on Earth. However, most of them have long since burned out.

The most famous supervolcanoes are:

1. Yellowstone supervolcano – last eruption 640,000 years ago

2. Lake Toba Supervolcano, Sumatra, Indonesia - Last Erupted 74,000 Years Ago

3. Long Valley Caldera, California USA - largest eruption occurred 760,000 years ago

4. Lake Taupo supervolcano, New Zealand– last eruption 26,000 years ago

5. Valles Caldera, New Mexico, USA - last eruption occurred 1.2 -1.6 million years ago

6. Aira caldera supervolcano, Japan - the largest eruption occurred 22,000 years ago

7. Siberian Traps, Russia – largest eruption 251 million years ago

Yellowstone supervolcano

Under the amazingly beautiful Yellowstone National Park in western Wyoming, USA, there is a real geological time bomb. The Yellowstone supervolcano is perhaps the most famous dormant supervolcano, meaning a major eruption could occur in the future.

Yellowstone's three largest eruptions occurred within 800,000 years of each other, starting about 2.1 million years ago. The most recent one occurred 640,000 years ago and many believe another eruption is on the way.

The force of the eruption of such a supervolcano is equal to the force of the explosion 1000 atomic bombs, dropped on Hiroshima every second. If it erupts, it will immediately lead to the death of about 87,000 people.

The Yellowstone supervolcanic crater can fit the most Big city in the world - Tokyo.

Monstrous vent

Mount Saint Helens is an active volcano. Located in the western USA. The last activity was recorded in 2004. But things did not go further than the release of hot gas and steam. And in 1980, a strong eruption killed 57 people, several cities were covered with a thick layer of ash.

Graham Hill of the New Zealand Institute of Earth and Nuclear Research carried out new soundings using more advanced equipment. And I discovered: there was no water there. Under Mount St. Helens there are huge cavities of molten rock that stretch in one direction for 50 kilometers, in the other for 70. And several more are connected to the relatively narrow channel that now goes from the bowels to the volcano. It is possible that the system extends to the lava-covered Yellowstone national park(states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho), where the largest but extinct volcano on the continent and smaller brothers are located.

Scientists were scared then: after all, if all the channels work at once, a vent with a diameter of several tens of kilometers will appear. What can we now expect from the Tamu vent, which is several hundred kilometers in size?

- It seems that a similar catastrophe once occurred on Mars, - seismologist David Hill from the American Geological Survey frightens. - The trigger mechanism was the Olympus volcano.

The fact is that Olympus is also in “connection” with similar fire-breathing mountains, which are located a little further from it: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. Working together, they could very well harm the planet. Up to the destruction of life on it.

Olympus volcano on Mars.
Photo: science-interest.ru

- Geophysical data from the Tamu massif demonstrate that giant volcanoes found on other planets in the solar system have brothers on Earth,- Hill assures. “And we are worried, but the giant volcanoes on Mars are located at approximately the same latitude as the candidates for supervolcanoes on Earth. And they seem to be located relative to each other. And what to expect from them is unknown. After all, not only are the earth’s volcanoes poorly studied, but these monsters have also been found the best place where to hide - the bottom of the sea.

Geologists do not exclude the possibility that even larger ones may appear on Earth. extinct volcanoes, the detection of which will require additional study of the seabed. On the list for now dangerous areas included Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, Kamchatka, Central America. Scientists are convinced that the depths of each of them hide giant reservoirs of magma.

And even if the pathetic Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull almost paralyzed the entire human civilization in 2010, what will happen if the bowels open up all at once? Then the Earth will crack?

32°02′ N. w. / 158°04′ E. d. / 32.03; 158.06 32.03° N. w. 158.06° E. d.(G) (I) 32°02′ N. w. / 158°04′ E. d. / 32.03; 158.06 32.03° N. w. 158.06° E. d.

Coordinates: Tamu Massif - an extinct underwater shield volcano in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, 1600 km east of Japan, the largest (by area) famous volcano

on Earth and one of the largest in the Solar System. The dimensions of the Tamu massif are approximately 450 by 650 kilometers, its height is about 4.5 km, and the peak is 2 km below sea level. Unlike most seamounts and volcanoes, the slopes of the Tamu massif are much gentler - even at the top the angle of elevation is no more than 1°. The area of the Tamu massif exceeding 260,000 km² is 50 times more area the biggest active volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii, and is comparable to the area of the British Isles. According to the geologist professor William Sager , the Tamu massif "belongs to the same league" as highest volcano Solar system - Martian Mount Olympus. Composed of basalt rocks, Tamu is the most ancient part

and the largest feature of the underwater plateau known as the Shatsky Rise. It is thought to have gone extinct shortly after its formation, approximately 145 million years ago. Tamu Massif takes its name from the abbreviation of Texas A&M University. - Texas A&M University TAMU ), whose employee at that time was William Sager. Studies of the massif, which made it possible to establish its volcanic nature, included drilling the ocean floor from a ship JOIDES Resolution by program Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and seismic exploration (reflected wave method) from a ship Marcus Langseth

. It was the seismic data that made it possible to refute the hypothesis that the Tamu massif was formed by solidified lava erupted simultaneously by several volcanoes, and to establish that all erupted lava flowed from a single source.

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Excerpt describing the Tamu Massif
- How prettier you have become!
- Has dad gotten older? – she asked. Natasha sat down and, without entering into Boris’s conversation with the countess, silently examined her childhood fiancé down to the smallest detail. He felt the weight of this persistent, affectionate gaze on himself and occasionally glanced at her.
The uniform, the spurs, the tie, Boris’s hairstyle, all this was the most fashionable and comme il faut [quite decent]. Natasha noticed this now. He sat slightly sideways on the armchair next to the countess, straightening the clean, stained glove on his left with his right hand, spoke with a special, refined pursing of his lips about the amusements of the highest St. Petersburg society and with gentle mockery recalled the old Moscow times and Moscow acquaintances. It was not by chance, as Natasha felt, that he mentioned, naming the highest aristocracy, about the envoy’s ball, which he had attended, about the invitations to NN and SS.
Natasha sat silently the whole time, looking at him from under her brows. This look bothered and embarrassed Boris more and more. He looked back at Natasha more often and paused in his stories. He sat for no more than 10 minutes and stood up, bowing. The same curious, defiant and somewhat mocking eyes looked at him. After his first visit, Boris told himself that Natasha was just as attractive to him as before, but that he should not give in to this feeling, because marrying her, a girl with almost no fortune, would be the ruin of his career, and resuming a previous relationship without the goal of marriage would be an ignoble act. Boris decided with himself to avoid meeting with Natasha, but, despite this decision, he arrived a few days later and began to travel often and spend whole days with the Rostovs. It seemed to him that he needed to explain himself to Natasha, to tell her that everything old should be forgotten, that, despite everything... she could not be his wife, that he had no fortune, and she would never be given for him. But he still didn’t succeed and it was awkward to begin this explanation. Every day he became more and more confused. Natasha, as her mother and Sonya noted, seemed to be in love with Boris as before. She sang him his favorite songs, showed him her album, forced him to write in it, did not allow him to remember the old, making him understand how wonderful the new was; and every day he left in a fog, without saying what he intended to say, not knowing what he was doing and why he had come, and how it would end. Boris stopped visiting Helen, received reproachful notes from her every day, and still spent whole days with the Rostovs.

One evening, when the old countess, sighing and groaning, in a nightcap and blouse, without false curls, and with one poor tuft of hair protruding from under a white calico cap, was making prostrations for evening prayer on the rug, her door creaked, and Natasha ran in, shoes on her bare feet, also in a blouse and curlers. The Countess looked around and frowned. She finished reading her last prayer: “Will this coffin be my bed?” Her prayerful mood was destroyed. Natasha, red and animated, seeing her mother at prayer, suddenly stopped in her run, sat down and involuntarily stuck out her tongue, threatening herself. Noticing that her mother continued her prayer, she ran on tiptoe to the bed, quickly sliding one small foot over the other, kicked off her shoes and jumped onto the bed for which the countess was afraid that it might not be her coffin. This bed was tall, made of feather beds, with five ever-decreasing pillows. Natasha jumped up, sank into the feather bed, rolled over to the wall and began fiddling around under the blanket, laying down, bending her knees to her chin, kicking her legs and laughing barely audibly, now covering her head, now looking at her mother. The Countess finished her prayer and approached the bed with a stern face; but, seeing that Natasha had her head covered, she smiled her kind, weak smile.

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii Shield volcanoes, which include Hawaiian Kilauea, are characterized by a small ratio of height to base area. The diameter of the base of the largest shield volcano, Mauna Loa, also located in Hawaii, is about 100 km.

Tamu Massif The diameter of the base of the largest volcano on Earth is 450-650 km.

Previously, scientists believed that the giant shield volcano Tamu consists of several smaller structures, but new research has forced them to reconsider their established point of view.

A massif the size of the British Isles is comparable to such giants among volcanoes as the Martian Mount Olympus, and is the most large volcano on the ground. Its dome has an elongated shape (450 x 650 km), the top is 2,000 m below the ocean surface, and the base is another 6.4 km deeper. Near the top of the Tamu massif, the slope is only about 1 degree, and on the way to the foot it can drop to half a degree.

The volcano is part of an oceanic plateau in the northwestern Pacific Ocean called the Shatsky Rise, an area similar to Japan. The name Tamu is an abbreviation for Texas A&M University, the name of the university where the discoverer of the massif, William Sager, worked. The Shatsky Hill appeared on maps at the beginning of the 20th century, but scientists knew little about both its structure and the features of its formation.

For a long time, scientists believed that Tamu was formed as a result of the activity of several volcanoes, just as Hawaii rose from the ocean through the efforts of five volcanoes located nearby. But seismic data showed that the lava flows diverged from the center in different directions without any noticeable deviations that would have been caused by a secondary source volcanic activity. And geochemical analysis of rocks taken at different points of the massif showed that the giant Tamu consists entirely of the same rock - both in age and composition.

Researchers have concluded that Tamu is one big volcano, which probably formed in a relatively short term(about several million years) and “fell asleep” quite quickly. Tamu last erupted about 145 million years ago. Scientists continue to study it to learn more about the history of the formation of the world's largest volcano.

Tamu Massif

32°02′ N. w. / 158°04′ E. d. / 32.03; 158.06 Coordinates :
Ocean	Pacific Ocean
Ocean Ridge	Shatsky Hill
Last eruption	144.6 ± 8 million years ago
Depth	1980 m

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Coordinates:- extinct underwater shield volcano in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean, 1600 km east of Japan, the largest (by area) known volcano on Earth and one of the largest in solar system.

The dimensions of the Tamu massif are approximately 450 by 650 kilometers, its height is about 4.5 km, and the peak is 2 km below sea level. Unlike most seamounts and volcanoes, the slopes of the Tamu massif are much gentler - even at the top the angle of elevation is no more than 1°. With an area of more than 260,000 km², the Tamu Massif is 50 times larger than the largest active volcano on Earth. Mauna Loa on the island Hawaii, and comparable to the area British Isles. According to the geologist professor William Sager , the Tamu Massif "belongs in the same league" as the solar system's tallest volcano - Martian mountain Olympus. Folded from basalt Tamu rocks are the oldest part and largest feature of the underwater plateau known as Shatsky Hill. It is thought to have gone extinct shortly after its formation, approximately 145 million years ago.

The Tamu massif gets its name from its abbreviated name Texas A&M University (English Tamu Massif takes its name from the abbreviation of Texas A&M University. - Texas A&M University TAMU JOIDES Resolution JOIDES Resolution Integrated Ocean Drilling Program And seismic survey(method of reflected waves) from a ship Marcus Langseth Marcus Langseth

. It was the seismic data that made it possible to refute the hypothesis that the Tamu massif was formed by solidified lava erupted simultaneously by several volcanoes, and to establish that all erupted lava flowed from a single source.

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“I am Lilis...lis...is...” an amazing voice echoed. He was very soft, and at the same time very sonorous (if such opposite concepts can be combined into one).
- Hello, beautiful Lillis. – Stella joyfully greeted the creature. - I'm Stella. And here she is – Svetlana. We are people. And you, we know, Saviya. Where did you come from? And what is Saviya? – questions again rained down, but I didn’t even try to stop her, since it was completely useless... Stella simply “wanted to know everything!” And she always remained like that.
Lillis came very close to her and began to examine Stella with her bizarre, huge eyes. They were bright crimson, with gold specks inside, and sparkled like precious stones. The face of this wonderful creature looked amazingly tender and fragile, and had the shape of a petal of our earthly lily. She “spoke” without opening her mouth, at the same time smiling at us with her small, round lips... But, probably, the most amazing thing they had was their hair... They were very long, almost reaching the edge of the transparent wing, absolutely weightless and , not having a constant color, all the time flashed with the most different and most unexpected brilliant rainbows... The transparent bodies of Savius were sexless (like the body of a small earthly child), and from the back they turned into “petals-wings”, which really made them look like huge bright flowers...
“We flew from the mountains...” a strange echo sounded again.
- Or maybe you can tell us faster? – impatient Stella asked Miarda. - Who are they?
– They were brought from another world once upon a time. Their world was dying and we wanted to save them. At first they thought they could live with everyone, but they couldn’t. They live very high in the mountains, no one can get there. But if you look into their eyes for a long time, they will take you with them... And you will live with them.
Stella shivered and moved slightly away from Lilis who was standing next to her... - What do they do when they take it away?
- Nothing. They just live with those who are taken away. It was probably different in their world, but now they just do it out of habit. But for us they are very valuable - they “clean” the planet. Nobody ever got sick after they came.
- So you saved them not because you were sorry, but because you needed them?!.. Is it really good to use them? – I was afraid that Miard would be offended (as they say, don’t go into someone else’s house with boots...) and pushed Stella hard in the side, but she didn’t pay any attention to me, and now turned to Savia. – Do you like living here? Are you sad for your planet?
“No, no... It’s beautiful here, gray and willow...” whispered the same soft voice. - And good-osho...
Lillis suddenly raised one of her sparkling "petals" and gently stroked Stella's cheek.
“Baby... Nice one... Stella-la...” and fog sparkled over Stella’s head for the second time, but this time it was multi-colored...
Lilis smoothly flapped her transparent petal wings and began to slowly rise until she joined her own. The Savii became agitated, and suddenly, flashing very brightly, they disappeared...
-Where did they go? – the little girl was surprised.
- They are gone. Here, look... - and Miard pointed to the already very far away, towards the mountains, smoothly floating in the pink sky, marvelous creatures illuminated by the sun. - They went home...
Veya suddenly appeared...
“It’s time for you,” the “star” girl said sadly. “You can’t stay here for so long.” It's hard.
- Oh, but we haven’t seen anything yet! – Stella was upset. – Can we come back here again, dear Veya? Farewell, good Miard! You're good. I will definitely come back to you! – as always, addressing everyone at once, Stella said goodbye.

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