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Scientists Map World's Largest Volcano
It has been two years since the University of Houston research team probed the world's biggest volcano, the Tamu Massif. It is now uncovering a lot more mysteries, according to National Geographic.
With the help of sonar and magnetometers, the team could make a map of the one million square kilometers of the ocean floor on which the mountain is located, according to the Huffington Post.
The research team is excited about the mysteries that it is sure to uncover.
"The secrets revealed will be ongoing but worth the wait as we begin to understand how such a massive volcano can form the way it did and what it means to us in respect to the formation of the planet we call home," said Suraida Nanez James, one of the members of the research team.
So far, they have spent 36 days in the Pacific Ocean, and are now creating 3-D maps of the underwater volcano. They will now analyze and polish the information further to understand more about its formation.
Currently, the team says that the western edge of the volcano is perhaps another mountain that was created in a time period that was different from the Tamu Massif. It makes it evident why the western as well as the central parts are different.
"We're looking at something that's in between a mid-ocean ridge and a simple conical volcano," said William Sager, who is heading the analysis on the massive mountain. "If you were standing on this thing, you would have a difficult time telling which way was downhill."
The shapeless portion of the main mountain could show a plume of hot rock moving up from inside the earth and up through the mantle, according to Scientific American.
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