2024-03-28 11:44:06
(ANSA) – TRIESTE, MARCH 27 – A chain of underwater volcanoes extending over an area of over 500 square kilometers has been discovered in the remote seas of Northern Victoria Land, in Antarctica, by geological and geophysical investigations conducted on board the Italian icebreaker ” Laura Bassi” of the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics – OGS, as part of the international BOOST project financed by the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) and coordinated by the University of Genoa.
The chain of volcanoes is located about 70 degrees south latitude and about 60 kilometers off the remote Pennell Coast, in an area where the circumantarctic currents of the Southern Ocean meet the waters of the Ross Sea. The chain is about 50 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide at its widest point; its peaks, although rising more than 1500 meters above the surrounding ocean floor, remain hidden under the sea. The highest point of the volcanic complex is about 600 meters deep.
The first signs of this discovery were found during the 38th Italian expedition in February 2023, then confirmed in the 39th campaign, in which the Laura Bassi ship took part, which ended at the beginning of March 2024.
The BOOST project (Bridging Onshore-Offshore Structures at the Pacific Coast of North Victoria Land, Antarctica: an integrated approach) in which the University of Genoa is the leader, involves researchers from the OGS of Trieste, from the Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) of Hannover and the Roma Tre and Trieste Universities.
“The area studied by the project is a key area for understanding the interaction between the geological processes linked to the movements of the lithospheric plates and the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets” underlines Laura Crispini, professor in Genoa and scientific director of the project. “In the past, the area has been almost not investigated at all, mainly due to its remote geographical position, often covered by sea ice and characterized by extreme weather and sea conditions.”
The objective is to obtain results to understand the global changes that characterize the evolution of the Earth system, such as the opening of the ocean basins which favored the climatic isolation of Antarctica with the consequent cooling and development of the ice cap starting from about 34 million years ago.
“The volcanism appears to be geologically recent but its origin and age still remain to be precisely determined”, specified Dario Civile, researcher and head of the OGS Research Unit. (HANDLE).
2024-03-28 11:44:06