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Underwater Volcano Eruption Caught on Camera

Jessica Marshall, Discovery News

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The Topography

The team used these observations to estimate the ratio of gases to lava erupting.

"It's lots of gas and not much lava," said Chadwick. "The gas is the main thing driving these eruptions."

The team made the recordings in April 2006 at a place called Brimstone Pit, about 60 miles north of Guam at a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate plunges beneath another. They recently published their results online in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

This was the team's third expedition to the pit, which was erupting each time, but on the last visit the pit opening was unobstructed -- the team believes they arrived just after it had collapsed -- allowing unprecedented views of the eruptions. It was also the first time they were able to record the sounds, mostly created by the gases, that accompanied the eruptions.

"We could link the two, so now we know what the sounds mean visually," Chadwick said.

The team left a sound recorder near the site earlier this year. They will return to retrieve data from the recorder in the fall.

Because they now know how the sounds correspond to their observations, they will be able to trace what happened over the six-month period through sound, to get a better idea how Brimstone Pit erupts over longer periods of time.

"It's really excellent work," said Daniel Fornari of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass. "It's a unique opportunity for us to be able to study these types of processes. Normally with explosive volcanism, if you're there, you're going to be dead."

"Most of the geology that we probably eventually see, a large part of that has happened underwater," said Michael Perfit, a marine geologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "We have to look backwards and try to figure out how it happened. By looking at this, you get a sense of how these very important processes take place."

The team will return with the remotely operated vehicle next spring to make more visual observations. But the last expedition could be hard to top.

"It was really exciting that we could see glowing lava at times. To glow like that it has to be above about 700 degrees C [almost 1300 F]." Chadwick said. "Every day there was something new to see. It was the most exciting cruise I've ever been on for sure."

How Stuff Works: Volcanoes

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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