(Image Credit: Doug Wiens)
Researchers have revealed that earthquake activity deep below West Antarctica reveal an active volcano.
The discovery, published on November 17th in the Nature Geoscience Journal, finally confirms suspicions long held of volcanic activity below the massive West Antarctic ice sheet. While several volcanos pop up along the coast and the offshore islands, this is the first active volcano found far from the coastline.
“This is really the golden age of discovery of the Antarctic continent,” said Richard Aster, a co-author of the study and a seismologist at Colorado State University. “I think there’s no question that there are more volcanic surprises beneath the ice.”
The research project headlined POLENET, was originally intended to reveal the structure of the Earth’s mantle, the layer beneath the Earth’s crust.
Two earthquake swarms struck beneath the researcher’s feet in January 2010 and March 2011, not far from the Executive Committee Range in the Marie Byrd Land region of the continent. Researchers later discovered that the tremors, known as deep long-period earthquakes (DLP’s), were almost identical to the DLP’s under active volcanoes in Alaska and in Washington.
“Its an amazing story,” said Amanda Lough, the study’s lead author and graduate student in seismology at Washington University in St. Louis.
“We can say with pretty high confidence that there wasn’t an eruption while we were out there,” Lough told LiveScience’s OurAmazingPlanet. “We had people installing [seismometer] stations and flying airborne radar over the ice. But from the bed topography, we can see there is something building up beneath the ice.”
Check out the entire article here at LiveScience.
Watafiti wamegundua kuwa shughuli za tetemeko la ardhi chini ya Antaktika ya Magharibi zinafunua volkano inayofanya kazi. Ugunduzi huo, uliochapishwa Novemba 17 katika jarida la Nature Geoscience, hatimaye unathibitisha mashaka ya muda mrefu ya shughuli za volkano chini ya barafu kubwa ya Magharibi mwa Antaktika. Ingawa kuna volkano kadhaa zilizo kwenye pwani na visiwa vya pwani, hii ndiyo volkano ya kwanza inayofanya kazi iliyo mbali na pwani. "Hii ni kweli enzi ya dhahabu ya ugunduzi wa bara la Antaktika", alisema Richard Aster, mwandishi mwenza wa utafiti na mtaalamu wa matetemeko ya ardhi katika Chuo Kikuu cha Jimbo la Colorado. "Hakuna shaka kwamba kuna mshangao zaidi wa volkano chini ya barafu. ""POLENET"" mradi wa utafiti uliokuwa na kichwa cha kichwa, awali ulikusudiwa kufunua muundo wa mantle ya Dunia, safu chini ya ganda la Dunia." Matetemeko mawili ya ardhi yalifanyika chini ya miguu ya mtafiti huyo mnamo Januari 2010 na Machi 2011, karibu na safu ya Mkutano wa Utekelezaji katika eneo la Marie Byrd Land. Watafiti baadaye waligundua kwamba matetemeko hayo, yanayojulikana kama matetemeko ya ardhi ya muda mrefu (DLP) yalikuwa karibu sawa na matetemeko ya ardhi chini ya volkano zinazofanya kazi huko Alaska na Washington. "Ni hadithi ya kushangaza", alisema Amanda Lough, mwandishi mkuu wa utafiti huo na mwanafunzi wa kuhitimu katika seismolojia katika Chuo Kikuu cha Washington huko St. Louis. "Tunaweza kusema kwa uhakika mkubwa kwamba hakukuwa na mlipuko wakati tulikuwa huko nje", Lough aliiambia LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. <unk>Tulikuwa na watu walioweka vituo vya [seismometer] na kuruka rada za angani juu ya barafu. Lakini kutoka kwa topografia ya kitanda, tunaweza kuona kuna kitu kinachojengwa chini ya barafu. <unk> Angalia makala nzima hapa kwenye LiveScience.