Massive Volcanic Eruption Occured Near the Earth's Deepest Point

Near the lowest point on Earth, a massive volcano hundred feet beneath the water's surface has begun to erupt. More over 3,700 miles to the west of Honolulu, Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, beneath the Northern Mariana Islands, is a massive submarine volcano called the Ahyi Seamount.

Ahyi Seamount

About 18 km southeast of the island of Farallon de Pajaros (Uracas) in the northern Marianas, the Ahyi seamount is a sizable conical undersea volcano that rises to within 137 m of the sea's surface. The crew of a fishing boat experienced shocks over the seamount's summit area in 1979, followed by an upwelling of water containing sulfur. The water above the undersea volcano has been noted to be discolored.

Observing Ahyi

Using satellite imagery, it is possible to see that the water surface over Ahyi, United States, has become discolored. It is challenging to confirm the seamount's activity due to its remote location.

However, sounds "consistent with activity from an underwater volcanic source" have been picked up by hydroacoustic sensors near Wake Island, which strongly suggests Ahyi is beginning to rumble.

Also Read: Did Volcanic Eruption Give Birth to a New Island in the Pacific?

Earth's Deepest Point

The Mariana Trench, the deepest marine trench on Earth, is 124 miles away from the undersea volcano, according to Matthew Haney, a research geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, who spoke to Newsweek.

The trench is deeper than Mount Everest and is located 36,069.6 feet beneath the surface of the ocean (29031.69 feet). A trench in the Earth's crust is 1,554 miles long and 43 miles broad.

When two tectonic plates contact, trenches like these are created. The Pacific and much smaller Philippine plates clashed to create the Mariana Trench.

Volcanic Activity

The USGS stated that the volcano may have begun to erupt around mid-October but that it has been challenging to confirm due to the remoteness of the location. Because there are no monitoring stations close to the seamount, scientists have limited options for evaluating the volcanic activity.

While they continue to watch satellite photos closely, researchers are unsure if they can travel near enough to the seamount to observe what is happening.

"Nothing is confirmed yet, but I have been included on some emails where scientists from NOAA were contemplating traveling to Ahyi by ship to observe, including bathymetry [measurements of the depth of the sea or a lake]," Haney stated.

Ships would want to steer clear of the region, notwithstanding the uncertainty surrounding the extent of volcanic instability.

Activity from the Ahyi Seamount has been discovered previously. In prior cases, when the volcano erupted, the water became discolored.