A new type of volcano! Yes, Naoto Hirano at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, and colleagues has discovered a new type of miniature volcanoes in the western Pacific Ocean.
The volcanoes were spotted near the underwater Japan Trench and are sized between 0.005 cubic kilometers and 1 km3. Dubbed ‘petit spot’ because of their size, these volcanoes cannot be accounted for by any of the conventional theories of volcanism.
According to researchers, the findings may reduce the strength of a popular ‘hotspot’ volcanism theory.
Hirano, excited with the discovery says,
It was unbelievably excited to discover this volcanism. The possibility had been proposed in the past, but had never been adequately documented.
Via: New Scientist