Undersea Eruption
Researchers used multibeam sonar to compile this topographic map of a portion of the East Pacific Rise where undersea volcanic eruptions were caught on camera. The black line shows the extent of the eruption. The new lava flow stretched more than 11 miles long and up to 2 miles wide. At the northern end of the eruption, lava poured from a fissure 2,000 feet away from the ridge crest, a process that has been thought to occur, but never observed.