A huge underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon, USA, was first 3D scanned, and scientists predict that a deep-sea magma monster could erupt within the next 5 years.
The Axial Seamount, located off the coast of Oregon, is one of the most active underwater volcanoes on the planet.
This summer, scientists embarked on a perilous expedition to create the first 3D images of an underwater volcano deep in the Pacific Ocean and predicted that its next eruption would occur within the next 5 years.
Most people with an interest in volcanology know at least one volcano in Oregon: Mt. Hood. It just made headlines for a new fault line discovered after the earthquake.
There is also Mt. Mazama National Park, Crater Lake and Newberry Volcano in Bend … but have you ever heard of the Axial Seamount, a huge underwater volcano 400 km off the Oregon coast?
Scientists have been studying the active underwater volcano for many years. And this summer, on the National Science Foundation's research vessel Marcus G. Langseth, they went to sea for the first time to 3D scan the volcano in every detail.
The Shemont Axial Seamount is 400 km off the Oregon coast and is large enough to span the entire city of Austin, Texas.
While not the largest volcanic underwater mountain in the world, the main magma reservoir is two-thirds the length of Manhattan, the same width and height as any building in the city.
Axial is the youngest volcano in the Cobb-Eikelberg seamount chain, a 1800 km line of submarine volcanoes formed by a stationary mantle plume beneath a shifting Pacific tectonic plate.
