Largest Volcano on Earth Lurks Beneath Pacific Ocean

[joeybee12]

The world's largest volcano lurks beneath the Pacific Ocean, researchers announced today (Sept. 5) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Called the Tamu Massif, the enormous mound dwarfs the previous record holder, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, and is only 25 percent smaller than Olympus Mons on Mars, the biggest volcano in Earth's solar system, said William Sager, lead study author and a geologist at the University of Houston.

"We think this is a class of volcano that hasn't been recognized before," Sager said. "The slopes are very shallow. If you were standing on this thing, you would have a difficult time telling which way was downhill."

Tamu is 400 miles (650 kilometers) wide but only about 2.5 miles (4 km) tall. It erupted for a few million years during the early Cretaceous period, about 144 million years ago, and has been extinct since then, the researchers report. [50 Amazing Volcano Facts]

http://news.yahoo.com/largest-volcano-earth-lurks-beneath-pacific-ocean-185402720.html

[woodsprite]

1. IMO, extinct for a volcano is a good thing!

But extinction won't stop the ScyFy channel from creating "Shark-Cano" in next year's "Shark Week" lineup.

[joeybee12]

2. Yeah, but it last erupted 144 million years ago...

It's due!

[Rex]

3. Volcarnivore, Mount Shark, Lava Jaws...

the list of names is endless!

[woodsprite]

6. Volcarnivore -- I kinda like that one! n/t

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. Sharkcano!

[Chiyo-chichi]

4. Is this where the Kaiju are going to come through from the Anteverse? nt

[zappaman]

7. You better believe it!

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Reports now say it may be the 2nd largest in the solar system

so far found.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamu_Massif

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. Man, we need to step up our game.

[snagglepuss]

10. Forget it being the largest on Earth, I read its the largest in the Solar System.