A large undersea volcano hundreds of miles off the coast of Oregon is showing signs of an impending eruption later this year, and it’s set to be publicly livestreamed.
Scientists have revealed that a large undersea volcano located hundreds of miles off the coast of Oregon will likely erupt this year. The volcano is known as Axial Seamount, and is located about 1 mile underwater on a geological hot spot.
Hotspot volcanoes are common on the seafloor, but Axial Seamount specifically is located in an area where two massive tectonic plates are constantly spreading apart. This location is known as the Juan de Fuca Ridge.
According to researchers at the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Cabled Array, which monitors the activity of Axial Seamount, the recent frequent earthquakes on the west coast aligns with the inflation of magma in the volcano, which is also a common sign that an eruption is potentially near.
William Wilcock, a marine geophysicist who is involved in the monitoring and studying of the volcano said: “At the moment, there are a couple hundred earthquakes a day, but that’s still a lot less than we saw before the previous eruption.”
“I would say it was going to erupt sometime later this year, or early 2026, but it could be tomorrow, because it’s completely unpredictable.”
Wilcock stated that the last time the volcano erupted in April 2015, the team of researchers witnessed around 10,000 small-scale earthquakes in 24-hours, which will likely occur again with the upcoming eruption.
Magma also oozed out of the Axial Seamount for a month and spread about 25 miles across the seafloor as well. CNN reports that the magma chamber at the center of the volcano has collapsed several times in the past, creating a large crater where sea life actually thrives off of the mineral-rich gases.
“During previous eruptions, the small plants and animals living on the hydrothermal vents were scorched by lava flows, but just three months later, their ecosystem was back and flourishing again,” said Debbie Kelley, director of the Regional Cabled Array.
“I think it’s one of the biggest discoveries we’ve made. Life thrives in these inhospitable environments, and volcanoes are probably one of the major sources of life in our oceans,” Kelley said.
Kelley also emphasized that sea life in the surrounding areas of the volcanoes, such as fish, whales, and octopuses, are unlikely to be harmed in the event of an eruption, although they will feel the heat and rumble. The same is to be said about the people on the land closest to where this event will be taking place.
“It’s not a very explosive event. You won’t see the ash clouds above water, anything like that. It’s like if you put a mile of seawater on top of Kilauea, you may see some fountaining, but that’s it.”
“In fact, most of the planet’s volcanic activity takes place within underwater spreading centers such as the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which experiences multiple, small volcanic eruptions each day,” Kelley said to CNN.
“The magma’s pretty close to the surface. It’s about a mile beneath the surface, which is very shallow compared with a lot of land volcanoes, where it may be 8 miles (12.9 kilometers) deep. The viscosity, or thickness, of the magma can affect how much pressure builds up in the magma chamber. Like a thick tomato sauce cooking on the stove, air bubbles within high-viscosity magma rupture more dramatically than Axial Seamount’s thinner, runnier magma,” she added.
What’s especially exciting about this upcoming eruption is that anyone will be able to watch it at home, as the observatory is planning to publicly livestream the event, something that has never been done before.
The scientists observing Axial Seamount have stated that the timing of the volcano’s eruption has everything to do with conditions both under and above the surface of the water. The most recent eruptions occurred in 1998, 2011, and 2015, and every time the event happened between January and April, when the Earth is moving away from the sun.
“I don’t think we fully understand why that is, but it may be related to the (gravitational) forces from the moon influencing the volcano,” Wilcock said.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
