Livestream Lavastream: Underwater Volcano About to Put on a Show

Marine geologists at the University of Washington (UW) are closely tracking the rumblings and bubblings of an underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon. It’s called Axial Seamount. They expect it'll likely erupt soon. When it does, they hope the world will watch with them.

“It’s such (a great chance) to observe one of our planet’s most important processes,” UW oceanographer Maya Tolstoy said in a statement.

Fortunately, Axial Seamount’s eruption isn’t likely to be dangerous.

“It’s not a very explosive event. You won’t see the ash clouds above water, anything like that,” Debbie Kelley told CNN. “It’s like if you put a mile of seawater on top of (the volcanic shield of) Kilauea … you may see some fountaining, but that’s it.” Kelley is director of the Regional Cabled Array program. It livestreams footage from the volcanic rift.

Axial Seamount’s eruption won’t blast the top off a mountain. It will cause lots of earthquakes, though. There'll be a steady stream of lava too. The “hotspot,” as experts call it, is 300 miles off the coast of Oregon. It is 4,900 feet below the ocean surface. They’ve already begun recording 200-300 minor earthquakes in the region per day. That number will increase to thousands by the time the eruption comes. When it happens, lava will pour out across the ocean floor. It will scorch everything in its path. But it will also leave a trail of lifebringing minerals in its wake as nearby water cools it. 

“I think it’s one of the biggest discoveries we’ve made,” Kelley told CNN. Kelley explained that volcanoes might be "one of the major sources of life in our oceans.” 

Reflect: What do you think would be exciting or interesting about exploring places deep under the ocean?

Photo of Axial caldera from Wikimedia Commons.