World’s Largest Volcano Discovered In Pacific

On September 5th 2013, Nature Geoscience Journal announced the discovery of the largest volcano on planet earth. Needless to say, it’s rather strange that a natural structure of such size could go unnoticed until now. So, how exactly does an oversight like that happen in the first place?

It turns out it’s pretty easy. The volcano, Tamu Massif, is located 4 miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Not only that, it hardly resembles your typical conical lava blaster. Tamu Massif is long and flat, measuring in at a massive 400 miles wide but only 2.5 miles tall. The geological structure’s disproportionate size was the primary cause for it being overlooked, until now.

“We think this is a class of volcano that hasn’t been recognized before,” noted William Sager, author of a recently released study. “The slopes are very shallow. If you were standing on this thing, you would have a difficult time telling which way was downhill.”

Learn more: en.wikipedia.org

Via: livescience.com