Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Can a volcano be explosive in the deep sea? What about violent? What about mildly aggravated?
Historically, we've assumed the answer to be no. Explosive eruptions were thought to be absent at depths below the critical point for seawater around 3000m. Combine this with the lack of evidence for a pyroclastic deposit [rock materials formed by fragmentation as a result of volcanic action] below 3,000m. On top of that add the hypothesis that mid-ocean-ridge basalts do not possess the volatility to produce impressive eruptions at high pressures.
A group of researchers report this week in Nature provide evidence of pyroclastic deposits on the Gakkel ridge in the Arctic Basin at 4000m. In the abstract the authors note a large area "blanketed" with deposits including bubble wall fragments.
Well...that raises some questions.
Physical Science
Comments
Oops. Now you've provided fodder for the next disaster blockbuster movie....
Posted by: Ian | June 30, 2008 9:32 AM