ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Researchers discovered 3 giant underwater volcanoes off the Pacific coast of Canada, Indonesia and Guatemala.
The first mountain is named Icy Strait Caldera Volcano and has a height of 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) above the sea floor.
Reporting from Wion News, Sunday, December 3 2023, Icy Strait Caldera Volcano is estimated to have formed around 10 million years ago, and is still active today. This mountain releases hot fluid from within the earth, which causes the formation of deep sea coral around it.
These corals provide habitat for various kinds of sea creatures, including fish, shellfish and octopus.
Not only that, researchers discovered a volcano at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guatemala.
The underwater mountain discovered is 1,600 meters (5,249 feet) high, almost twice the height of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This discovery is one of the largest underwater mountain discoveries ever recorded. This mountain provides new insights into the geological history and marine biology of the Pacific.
Apart from off the Pacific coast of Canada, giant underwater mountains are also found in several other places in the world, including in Indonesia.
In February 2023, researchers from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) discovered a giant underwater mountain off the coast of Pacitan, East Java. The mountain is named “Pacitan Undersea Volcano”, and has a height of 2,300 meters (7,500 ft).
The discovery of this giant underwater mountain in Indonesia shows that Indonesia’s territorial waters still hold many mysteries that have not been revealed.
Schmidt Ocean Institute hydrographer and oceanographer Tomer Ketter said the seamount was not in a database that measures ocean depth.
In a press release, Schmidt Ocean Institute executive director Dr Jyotika Virmani said, “The more than 1.5 kilometer high seamount that has until now been hidden beneath the waves really highlights how much we have yet to discover.”
“Complete seafloor maps are a fundamental element in understanding our Ocean, so it is exciting to live in an era where technology allows us to map and see these amazing parts of our planet for the first time,” he added. (AT Network)
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