Pūhāhonu is barely visible above the water. Recent seafloor mapping has revealed it’s actually the planet’s largest volcano.
These pointed rocks, also known as the Gardner Pinnacles, are all that’s visible of what many experts now consider the world’s largest volcano. This article appeared in the January/February 2022 issue of Discover magazine as "The Tip of the Volcano."About 600 miles northwest of Honolulu, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, two small pinnacles poke out of the sea. To an observer, the 5 acres of rock known as Pūhāhonu might seem insignificant, except as a landing pad for weary seabirds.
The long-defunct volcano lies along the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain, a string of more than 120 volcanoes that stretches for over 3,700 miles across the Pacific Ocean. Large, broad volcanoes like Pūhāhonu and Mauna Loa produce hot basalt lava flows. Typically, these erupt at temperatures of around 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. But by examining the minerals erupted from Pūhāhonu, Garcia found that its lava was closer to 3,000˚F.
A wave in the mantle plume that feeds the volcano likely contributed to Pūhāhonu’s immense size and extreme temperature. Nearly 2,000 miles beneath our feet, hot material rises from the boundary between the Earth’s mantle and core, melting as it nears the surface. The study authors suggest that a wave of hotter material in the plume that reached the surface around 12 million years ago melted more of the mantle, producing more — and hotter — lava.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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