Geophysics discovered in the Pacific Ocean is the largest volcano on Earth - Reuters

© Eurekalert, Will Sager

MOSCOW, September 5 – RIA Novosti. American geophysicists discovered at the bottom of the Pacific giant megavulkan, which is comparable in size c Britain or Mars Mount Olympus – the largest volcano in the solar system, the article says which is published on the website of the journal Nature Geoscience.

William Seger (William Sager) from the Texas A & M University and his colleagues investigated the bottom of the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean, near the Shatsky rise, and found that the highest plateau on it, called array Tamu (by the abbreviation University – Texas A & M University) is a single volcanic structure.

Diameter megavulkana Tam is about 625 kilometers, and the height is 4 miles away. Tam has not erupted for 140 million years, but its very existence gives geophysicists to understand how much magma can accumulate beneath the earth’s crust and pour the surface.

“Geophysical data from the array Tamu demonstrate that the giant volcanoes are found on other planets in the solar system have cousins ??here on Earth. Terrestrial volcanoes diversity is poorly understood, as these monsters have found a better place to hide – the bottom of the sea,” – said in a article.

array Tam is 1.5 thousand kilometers to the east of Japan, in the area where three tectonic plates. The results of drilling the bottom of the area showed that it consists of lava deposits, but scientists thought that there might be a few volcanoes and lava flows from the overlap, as is the case in the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland.

However

seismic sounding bottom by a group of Segera showed that all lava flows came from a single point. This suggested the existence of a single central vent, and therefore, geophysics were dealing with a single volcano. Mount Tam is a class shield volcanoes – a very large area with a very gentle slopes. The largest shield volcano – Hawaiian Mauna Loa – has a diameter of no more than 100 kilometers.

---

See also : a key element of what life was brought to Earth from Mars, like alcohol at an early age affects the development of breast cancer, why the lack of money weakens mental ability and more – in the latest issue of the weekly column