Scientists discover giant crater from ice age explosion that has methane-spewing mud volcano inside

Scientists discover giant crater from ice age explosion that has methane-spewing mud volcano inside it

By Sascha Pare published 1 day ago

The Borealis Mud Volcano is only the second found in Norwegian waters and releases a continuous stream of methane-rich, muddy liquid from deep below Earth's crust.



The striking formation was spotted 80 miles south of Norway's Bear Island (Bjørnøya), in the Barents Sea, by an underwater rover. (Image credit: UiT/AKMA3)

Ocean explorers in the Arctic have discovered an underwater volcano spewing mud and methane from inside another, larger crater that probably formed after a catastrophic blowout at the end of the last ice age.

Researchers spotted the unusual feature about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Norway's Bear Island, or Bjørnøya, in the Barents Sea. The volcano, which the team named the Borealis Mud Volcano, is only the second of its kind discovered in Norwegian waters.

"Exploring the seabed and discovering new methane [seeps] is like finding hidden treasures," said Stefan Buenz(opens in new tab), a professor at The Arctic University of Norway (University of Tromsø) and co-leader of the Advancing Knowledge of Methane in the Arctic (AKMA) expedition that made the discovery. "Every time we go down to the seabed, we get the feeling that we have just begun to understand the great and incredible diversity of such [seep] systems," Buenz said in a translated statement(opens in new tab).

A submarine mud volcano is a geological structure formed by an expulsion of muddy fluid and gas, predominantly methane.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/volcanos/scientists-discover-giant-crater-from-ice-age-explosion-that-has-methane-spewing-mud-volcano-inside-it