호주 시드니 앞바다서 5천만년 전 ‘해저화산’ 발견 Huge and ancient underwater volcanoes discovered off coast of Sydney (VIDEO)

Huge and ancient underwater volcanoes discovered off coast 

of Sydney 

Photo: The volcano cluster was discovered off the NSW coast. (Supplied: CSIRO)

[VIDEO]

Scientists accidentally discover deep-sea volcanoes 250km off Sydney coast – video 

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/13/huge-and-ancient-underwater-volcanoes-

discovered-off-coast-of-sydney

edited by kcontents 

케이콘텐츠 편집

호주 동부 시드니 앞바다에서 250km 떨어진 해저에서 5천만 년 전에 형성된 것으로 보이는 4개의 화산 분화구가 16일 발견됐다. 바닷가재 서식지를 찾기 위해 지난 6월 음파 탐지기로 해저를 조사하던 호주와 뉴질랜드 등의 조사팀이 우연히 발견했다고 현지 언론이 전했다. 오세아니아 대륙은 인근 섬나라 뉴질랜드와 4천~8천만 년 전에 분리된 것으로 알려져 있다. 이러한 대륙 분리는 해양판 이동에 의한 것으로 보인다. 해양판 이동에는 화산 형성이 관여한 것으로 보이며 화산 연구가 진척되면 대륙 분리의 경위를 밝혀낼 실마리가 될 것으로 기대된다. 호주국립대 전문가는 화산이 적어도 5천만 년 전에 형성된 것으로 추정했다. 분화구가 발견된 곳은 수심 5천m의 해저다. 길이 20km, 폭 6km 범위에 나란히 위치해 있다. 가장 큰 분화구는 지름 1.5km, 해저에서 높이 700m였다. 화산이 폭발한 후 화구가 함몰해 형성된 칼데라를 형성한 것으로 보인다.  [시드니 교도]

Scientists searching for lobster larvae on Investigator research vessel instead 

find cluster of four volcanoes thought to be about 50m years old

Oliver Milman

@olliemilman

Four enormous underwater volcanoes, thought to be about 50m years old, have been discovered off the coast of Sydney by a team of scientists who were looking for lobster larvae.

The volcano cluster was spotted through sonar mapping of the sea floor by Investigator, Australia’s new ocean-going research vessel, about 250km off the coast.

The four volcanoes are calderas, large bowl-shaped craters caused when a volcano erupts and the land around it collapses. The largest is 1.5km across the rim and rises 700m from the sea floor. The 20km-long volcano cluster is nearly 5km underwater.

Professor Iain Suthers, a marine biologist at the University of NSW, said the volcano discovery was made when the team was searching for nursery grounds for larval lobsters.

“My jaw just dropped,” Suthers told Guardian Australia. “I immediately said, ‘What are they doing there and why didn’t we know about them before?’ It really backs up the statement that we know more about the surface of the moon than our sea floor.

Sydney volcano map 

“I’m elated. We went there to look at eddies in the east Australia current and it was completely serendipitous to find this volcano cluster. We can only just imagine what will be around the corner if we continue to scan this area.”

Scientists believe the volcanoes were created by a series of shifts in geological plates that caused Australia to split from New Zealand. Suthers said the area was thought to be “billiard-table flat” but the enhanced mapping capability of the Investigator unveiled the calderas.

The 94-metre Investigator was commissioned by the CSIRO in 2009 via $120m from the federal government. The vessel, which undertook its first sea tests in March, can map the seafloor at any depth, whereas its ageing predecessor, the Southern Surveyor, was limited to 3,000 metres.

Professor Richard Arculus, an igneous petrologist and volcano expert at the Australian National University, said the Investigator’s mapping ability has unveiled an “enormously exciting” discovery. 

“They tell us part of the story of how New Zealand and Australia separated around 40m to 80m years ago, and they’ll now help scientists target future exploration of the sea floor to unlock the secrets of the Earth’s crust,” he said.

The team of 28 scientists, led by Suthers, included researchers from NSW, Latrobe, British Columbia, Sydney, Auckland, Technology Sydney and Southern Cross universities. The voyage left Brisbane on 3 June and arrived in Sydney on 18 June.

Suthers said it was “inevitable” that other undiscovered volcanoes were in the region, but the Investigator has funding to operate at sea for only 180 days a year. For the rest of the year it is tied up at a wharf in Hobart.

“We should thank Canberra for the funding we do have but it’s frustrating to build a state-of-the-art vessel only to have it sitting in a wharf for six months of the year,” Suthers said.

“This is a vessel that Australia has been crying out for for decades. It’s an incredibly stable vessel for those of us who are seasick. Usually when you’re hit by four-metre waves you lose a couple of days of research because you’re vomiting.”

A spokeswoman for Ian Macfarlane, the industry and science minister, said the shortfall was because Labor “left absolutely no money in the budget” to operate the Investigator. 

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/13/huge-and-ancient-underwater-volcanoes-discovered-off-coast-of-sydney

edited by kcontents 

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