April 24, 2005

Lava Balloons

I've never heard of this phenomenom before.

Columns of white vapor streamed from the Atlantic this winter. About 8km west of an island called Terceira in the Azores, a submarine eruption was under way. Hot lava squeezed up through cracks in the ocean floor at about 500 meters below the surface of the ocean. The lava solidified into lava balloons. These gas-rich lava balloons interacted with cold seawater as they rose. This process generated steam, which emerged from the Atlantic like smoke from dozens of chimneys. The steam rose about 10 meters high. As the lava balloons reached the surface, the gas that made them buoyant escaped through cracks, and the balloons filled with water and sank.

You can keep the Sunday papers, I love to leisurely surf through the museum sites on my weekend mornings.

Here's another weird volcano I posted about some time ago.

Posted by Ted at April 24, 2005 10:28 AM
Category: SciTech
Comments

Like a giant version of a Lava Lamp! Too cool!

I bet that would have been interesting to watch from underwater!

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at April 24, 2005 06:52 PM

500 meters. I'm forever amazed at how shallow the oceans are.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at April 24, 2005 10:20 PM
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