Scientists Revealed Largest Volcanic Region Under Antarctica
Scientists have quested out the largest volcanic region on Earth, with near about 100 volcanoes lying two kilometers below the surface of the wide ice sheet in West Antarctica.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Britain, adding to the 47 others that had been uncovered amid the previous century of exploring the vast region, revealed the shocking 91 previously unknown volcanoes.
The height of these newly discovered volcanoes ranges between 100 to 3,850 meters with the highest almost competing with the 3,970 meters high Switzerland’s Eiger mountain.
The region known as the West Antarctic rift system, stretching 3,500 km from Antarctica’s Ross ice shelf to the Antarctic peninsula is concentrated with these active peaks. All of the peaks are covered in the thick layers of ice.
“We had not expected to find anything like that number. We have almost trebled the number of volcanoes known to exist in west Antarctica,” said the Robert Bingham, from the University of Edinburgh.
According to the geologists, there’s, even more, can be suspected on the bed of the sea lying under the Ross ice shelf coming out as the densest region of volcanoes in the world, dominating over the east Africa’s volcanic ridge, currently the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
What Can They Result In?
- Mr. Bingham warned, “If any of these volcanoes erupt, it would destabilize West Antarctica’s ice sheets.”
- Adding to it he said, “Anything that causes the ice to melt, that the eruption surely will result in the acceleration of the flow of ice into the sea.”
- The question is, how active are these volcanoes and that is something need to be determined as quickly as possible.
- Volcanoes are currently active in the region including Iceland and Alaska that recently deprived of their glacier covering.
- Same can happen in west Antarctica as the ice sheets begin affecting because of the significant warming in the region, a result of the climate change.
- If the ice continuously melts off, could release pressure on the volcanoes and lead to eruption which can further destabilize the ice sheets and the whole ecosystem.