2024-07-31 10:58:06
A team of scientists has discovered three new underwater volcanoes in an area north of the Canary Islands, a mountain they suggest is called Los Atlantes, after the inhabitants of the mythical island of Plato who would have is in the Atlantic Ocean. The research, managed by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), arose from the Atlantis project developed on board Sarmiento of Gamboa, the flagship of the Supreme Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). Some of these volcanoes, located in the east of Lanzarote, can be related to Timanfaya eruptions and others believe that it was the island in the Eocene, between 56 and 34 million years ago.
“They were islands in ancient times and they sank, they are still sinking, just like the story of Atlantis. Some of us have been able to confirm that they still maintain their beaches,” says scientist and project organizer, Luis Somoza, from IGME-CSIC. have a note of the institution. The research team that made the discovery is the same that discovered the so-called grandmothersseamounts south of the Canary Islands that are considered the father of the current archipelago, among which is the famous Tropic seamount.
A group swims along the phosphorites of the coast of the Canary Islands studied by scientists.IGME-CSIC
Divided into two parts, the first phase of this research campaign studies recent greenhouse gas emissions, known as daughters of the Canary Islands. For example, the lava deltas of the Tajogaite volcano, which appeared in 2021 on La Palma; Tagoro underwater volcano, from the eruption that started in 2011 in El Hierro; and the lava deltas of Teneguía volcano (1971) and San Antonio, Fuencaliente (1677) that occur south of the islands of La Palma. The second part of the campaign was dedicated to mothersthat is to the north, which are those that have risen to the islands and where we discovered the mountain that we decided to call Los Atlantes.
The discovery is one of the achievements of this Atlantis campaign, which began on June 27 and ended on August 6, according to CSIC in a note. To study the seabed, the unmanned submarine ROV 6000 Luso has been used (with cameras with a resolution of 5K, robotic arms for sampling and gas sensors), with which the area around the archipelago between 2,500 and 100 meters deep. Its purpose, scientists point out, is to find signs of underwater magmatic and hydrothermal activity on the island, which could pose a future threat to the population.
Details of Mount Los Atlantes in the north of the Canary Islands, obtained by the ROV of the IGME-CSIC research project.IGME-CSIC
The images obtained in the study “show the great life on the sea after the underwater flows that created the lava deltas, also verify how the marine life is reborn after the recent eruptions with new gardens of corals and sponges, or areas covered in bacteria. mats along hydrothermal vents,” according to the scientists. Some lava flows reach more than 1,200 meters deep and, as their outer layer cools, tubes form that allow the hot flow on the slopes, organizing amazing pipes at great depths. They are known as lavas in the form of teeth.
The campaign also analyzes the environmental processes and the production of underwater minerals in extreme conditions, “where microorganisms promote the biomineralization of metals such as manganese, cobalt, phosphates or rare earths; they are all very important in the energy transition,” CSIC said. The Atlantis study “can be useful when facing the risks of future underwater eruptions in the Canary Islands,” explains CSIC, such as that of El Hierro in 2011-2012 or the eruption of lava deltas in the sea area, as happened in La Palma .
Corals and fish in the underwater lava of the Tajogaite volcano in La Palma.IGME-CSIC
The Atlantis project is led and coordinated by researchers Luis Somoza and Javier González, from the Geological Resources of Water and Basic Environments Group of IGME-CSIC. Experts from the Complutense universities of Madrid, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Évora and Lisbon participated, as well as the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (INVOLCAN) of Tenerife, the Hydrographic Center of the Navy and the EMEPC of Portugal.
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