9 Aug 11 - "An undersea volcano has erupted off the coast
of Oregon, spewing forth a layer of lava more than 12 feet thick in some
places," says this article by Andrea Mustain.
The eruption opened up new deep vents that are now
belching forth "a cloudy stew of hot water and microbes from deep inside
the Earth."
Scientists going back to pick up their monitoring equipment from an
earlier expedition to the Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano some 250
miles off the coast of Oregon, were surprised to find a totally changed
seafloor.
"At first we were really confused, and thought we were in the wrong
place," said Bill Chadwick, a geologist with Oregon State University.
"Finally we figured out we were in the right place but the whole
seafloor had changed, and that's why we couldn't recognize anything. All
of a sudden it hit us that, wow, there had been an eruption. So it was
very exciting."
In addition to producing lakes of lava, in places more than a mile
across, the eruption changed the configuration of the region's seafloor
hot springs.
"There are more vents, they're higher temperature," said Chadwick.
Do you suppose that lakes of lava more than a mile
across and 12
feet thick might heat the water a tad?
See entire amazing article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44080264/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Thanks to Caroline Snyder for this link