By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
May 24, 2022
The Solomon Islands Kavachi Volcano is one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. A 2015 clinical exploration to the volcano discovered two species of sharks, including hammerheads, living in the immersed crater. The volcano appears nearly continuously, and locals of close-by occupied islands often report visible steam and ash. The summit of the volcano is currently approximated to lie 20 meters (65 feet) listed below sea level; its base lies on the seafloor at a depth of 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles).
May 14, 2022. A plume of stained water being emitted by Kavachi Volcano.
Kavachi Volcano in the Southwest Pacific Solomon Islands– where hammerhead sharks prowl– has gotten in an active stage of eruption.
The Solomon Islands Kavachi Volcano is one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. According to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, the volcano entered an eruptive stage in October 2021. Now, satellite data shows tarnished water around Kavachi on a number of days in April and May 2022.
The image above, acquired on May 14, 2022, by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9, shows a plume of stained water being discharged from the submarine volcano, which lies about 24 kilometers (15 miles) south of Vangunu Island (revealed below).
Might 14, 2022. Kavachi Volcano, which has to do with 15 miles south of Vangunu Island, produced a plume of stained water.
Previous research study has actually shown such plumes of superheated, acidic water generally contain particulate matter, volcanic rock fragments, and sulfur. A 2015 scientific expedition to the volcano found two species of sharks, including hammerheads, living in the immersed crater. The researchers likewise found microbial neighborhoods that thrive on sulfur.
The presence of the sharks in the crater raised “new concerns about the ecology of active submarine volcanoes and the extreme environments in which large marine animals can exist,” the researchers composed in a 2016 Oceanography article, “Exploring the Sharkcano.”.
Prior to this current activity, big eruptions were observed at Kavachi in 2014 and 2007. The volcano erupts nearly continuously, and locals of nearby lived in islands frequently report visible steam and ash. The island is named for a sea god of the Gatokae and Vangunu peoples, and it is sometimes likewise described as Rejo te Kvachi, or “Kavachis Oven.”.
Because its first taped eruption in 1939, Kavachi has actually developed ephemeral islands on several occasions. However the islands, as much as a kilometer long, have actually been deteriorated and gotten rid of by wave action. The summit of the volcano is presently approximated to lie 20 meters (65 feet) below water level; its base pushes the seafloor at a depth of 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles).
Kavachi formed in a tectonically active location– a subduction zone lies 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the southwest. The volcano produces lavas that range from basaltic, which is rich in magnesium and iron, to andesitic, which includes more silica. It is understood for having phreatomagmatic eruptions in which the interaction of lava and water cause explosive eruptions that eject steam, ash, volcanic rock fragments, and incandescent bombs.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey.
