The world's largest volcano lies under the Pacific Ocean

Tamu Massif is considered to be the largest volcano in the world, surprisingly it is located deep in the Pacific Ocean.

"The newly discovered volcano is called Tamu Massif . It crosses the world's largest record volcano, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, USA. Tamu Massif is only 25% smaller than Olympus Mons on Mars. , the largest volcano in the solar system , " said William Sager, a geographer from the University of Houston, who led the study.

Tamu volcano is 650 km wide but only about 4 km high, the volume is about 2.5 million km ² . Tamu operated about 144 million years ago, at the beginning of the Cretaceous period. This volcano is larger than England.

3D image of Tamu Massif volcano.(Photo: Livescience)

Boat surveys show that despite the size of Tamu Massif, there is no evidence that it has ever risen above the sea surface. The largest volcano in the world is sunk because it lies on the thin lithosphere, this thin crust does not support its large mass. The top of Tamu peak is about 1,980m from the surface of the Pacific.

Like other volcanoes, Tamu Massif operates in a central cone structure, from which erupts lava into wide slopes. Seismic surveys and lava samples collected from research ships a few years ago proved this.

"Seismic waves show lava flows erupted from the top of the volcano. The craters at the top of Tamu Massif are similar in shape to Mauna Loa's protruding craters," Sager said.

Geologists believe that Tamu Massif is part of the undersea plateau called Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific. Lava flows from this plateau so far are still controversial in the scientific world.

Tamu Massif is currently the only volcano discovered here, so scientists encountered many difficulties in studying the formation of marine plateaus.

The plateaus under the ocean are the largest lava barns on Earth. Lava eruption leads to mass extinction of species and climate change.