MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
World’s largest volcano has been discovered on the Pacific Ocean floor
Tamu Massif is 1.600 kilometres east of Japan The world's largest volcano has been discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The volcano, 1,600 kilometres east of Japan and called the Tamu Massif, is the size of the British Isles. It covers 308,000 square kilometres, rising around 3.54 km above the bottom of the seabed and delving 29 km into the Earth's crust.
The volcano consists of a vast single rounded dome in the shape of a shield, which is believed to have been formed 144 million years ago when it last erupted.
The epic dimensions of the Tamu Massif almost match the Olympus Mons volcano on Mars, widely regarded the largest recorded. Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the world's largest active volcano, but is less than two per cent of the size.
The discovery was published in the Journal Nature Geoscience and the name Tamu comes from Texas A&M University, where Prof William Sager who co-authored the piece, previously taught before moving to the University of Houston
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Read all commentsBit of a pimple!
Sep 09th, 2013 - 04:51 am 0CFK should claim it as Argentine and go and sit on it.
Sep 09th, 2013 - 08:09 am 0I bet birds from the mythical Malvinas go and inhabit it.
Sep 09th, 2013 - 02:53 pm 0Can penguins go down to within 6,500 feet (1,981 m) below the ocean surface?
LOLs
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