Huge underwater volcano is ‘swelling and about to blow’ at any moment

A massive underwater volcano appears on the verge of an enormous eruption which could trigger thousands of earthquakes.

Magma is building up beneath the mile-wide surface of the Axial Seamount, which is 300 miles off the coast of Oregon.

The volcano’s last blast in 2015 set off roughly 8,000 earthquakes and produced 400-foot-thick lava flows.

Scientists observing the Axiel Seamount, which sits more than 4,900 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, have noticed one key indicate of an imminent eruption.

They say the seafloor is swelling dramatically, a key sign that magma isamassing under the seafloor.

It has already inflated to levels greater than just before the 2015 blast.

William Wilcock, a professor and marine geophysicist at the University of Washington, said: ‘Some researchers have hypothesized that the amount of inflation can predict when the volcano will erupt.

‘That means it could really erupt any day now, if the hypothesis is correct.’ 

Despite the possibility of a huge explosion underwater, any explosion won’t be dangerous for humans on land.

Experts say the volcano is too deep underwater and too far from the coast for anyone to even notice when it erupts.

Even if there are thousands of earthquakes, that seismic activity won’t be felt in the US.

The Axiel Seamount is one of a chain of undersea volcanoes along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which runs along Oregon and Alaska.

It has had three eruptions in the past 30 years, making itthe most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest.

The shield volcano, a broader volcano with a low profile, is one of the most monitored in the world, making its eruption particularly exciting for researchers.

Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory confirmed this, telling Cowboy State Daily: ‘This particular volcano is probably the best-monitored submarine volcano in the world.

‘It’s fascinating and doesn’t really pose a hazard.

‘When Axial Seamount erupts, it’ll look a lot like a Hawaiian lava flow eruption,’ Poland said.

‘It’s not an explosive eruption, but calm effusions of lava flowing out of the caldera and across the seafloor.’

Scores of earthquakes are happening every day around the volcano already.

Researchers have found seismic activity at Axial Seamount has increased, with more than 500 earthquake swarms recorded daily.

An earthquake swarm is seismic events which do not have one dominant mainshock.

Instead, they are numerous earthquakes all of similar magnitude.

These swarms also indicate that magma is slowly gathering under the earth’s surface.

A sharp increase in volcano eruptions will also be the final sign before the Axiel blows up lots of lava.

Wilcock said of the moments before the next explosion: ‘That period [of eruptions] lasts about an hour, and then the magma reaches the surface.

‘The seismic activity dies down pretty quickly over the next few days, but the eruption will continue slowly for about a month.’

Many scientists predicted another blast would come by the end of 2025, 10 years after the last one.

Previous blasts from Axiel Seamount were recorded in 1998 and 2011, although the volcano has been erupting sporadically for far longer than that.

‘Axial has a pretty active magma supply,’ Oregon State University geophysicist William Chadwick told local CBS affiliate KOIN 6 News.

He added: ‘So, if it’s not erupting, it’s inflating and getting ready for the next one. And so that’s why we’re kind of monitoring what’s happening to it all the time.’

Although this ocean blast won’t be disruptive on land, other underwater volcanoes have wrecked havoc.

An extremely powerful eruption of the Hunga underwater volcano in the Tonga archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean triggered a tsunami that caused an estimated $90 billion in damages in January 2022.

A four foot tsunami struck Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa, while parts of North America, Japan, New Zealand, Fiji and Peru were all affected.

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