Fiery volcano offers geologic glimpse into land that time forgot
Lava Bubbles at West Mata underwater volcano
The first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition, report that the eruption was near a tear in the Earth's crust that is mimicking the birth of a subduction zone. Scientists on the expedition collected boninite, a rare, chemically distinct lava that accompanies the formation of Earth's subduction zones. Nobody has ever collected fresh boninite and scientists never had the opportunity to monitor its eruption before, said Joseph Resing, University of Washington oceanographer and lead author of an online article on the findings in Nature Geoscience. Earth's current subduction zones are continually evolving but most formed 5 million to 200 million years ago. Scientists have only been able to study boninite collected from long-dead, relic volcanos millions of years old. Read more
For the first time scientists have seen molten lava flowing from a deep-ocean seafloor volcano, exploding into 35-foot-long streams of red and gold and rising as bubbles as much as 3 feet across.
"Volcanic rocks, especially pillow basalts, are one of the most common rock forms on Earth, and yet no one has ever seen them forming in the deep ocean before. More than 80 percent of volcanic eruptions take place underwater and we've made completely new observations to better understand fundamental processes shaping our Earth" - University of Washington oceanographer Joe Resing, chief scientist of an expedition earlier this year when scientists witnessed the sight at a volcano 4,000 feet below the surface.
Scientists have witnessed the eruption of a deep-sea volcano for the first time ever, capturing on video the fiery bubbles of molten lava as they exploded 4,000 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean in what researchers are calling a major geological discovery Read more
There’s been a prediction that the Matavanu volcano on Samoa’s Savaii island will erupt again in the next decade.
The volcano last erupted a century ago spewing lava for miles and nearly wiping out the entire population of villages bordering Saleaula. Some of the villagers resettled in Leauvaa and Salamumu villages on Upolu. Shaun Williams of the Meteorology Division is quoted by EventPolynesia website that in the next ten to 15 years, Samoa could be witnessing another eruption of Matavanu volcano. His comments were based on analysis from a recent survey of the area. Mr Williams says the next eruption may not be at the exact spot of the last eruption, but would most likely be around that area. He says it was difficult to predict the exact location of the next eruption because they lack the equipment and resources to monitor the volcano. And, he says a request to the government for more funding has been denied.
Position: Latitude 13.533°S Longitude 172.403 °W Matavanu is a cone on the flank of Savai'i, a shield volcano in Western Samoa. The first known eruption of Savai'i was about 1725. The most recent eruption of Savai'i was at Matavanu from 1905-1911.