Huge undersea mountain found off Indonesia: scientists

JAKARTA (AFP) – A massive underwater mountain discovered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra could be a volcano with potentially catastrophic power, a scientist said Friday.

Indonesian government marine geologist Yusuf Surachman said the mountain was discovered earlier this month about 330 kilometres (205 miles) west of Bengkulu city during research to map the seabed's seismic faultlines.

The cone-shaped mountain is 4,600 metres (15,100 feet) high, 50 kilometres in diameter at its base and its summit is 1,300 metres below the surface, he said.

"It looks like a volcano because of its conical shape but it might not be. We have to conduct further investigations," he told AFP.

He denied reports that researchers had confirmed the discovery of a new volcano, insisting that at this stage it could only be described as a "seamount" of the sort commonly found around the world.

"Whether it's active or dangerous, who knows?" he added.

The ultra-deep geological survey was conducted with the help of French scientists and international geophysical company CGGVeritas.

The scientists hope to gain a clearer picture of the undersea lithospheric plate boundaries and seafloor displacement in the area, the epicentre of the catastrophic Asian quake and tsunami of 2004.

The tsunami killed more than 220,000 people across Asia, including 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Indonesia is on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

China volcano may have caused mass extinction

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090528/ap_on_sc/us_sci_volcano_extinction

WASHINGTON – A mass extinction some 260 million years ago may have been caused by volcanic eruptions in what is now China, new research suggests.

The so-called Guadalupian Mass Extinction, devastating marine life around the world, was preceded by massive eruptions in the Emeishan province of Southwest China, researchers led by Paul Wignall of Britain's University of Leeds report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Because the eruptions occurred in a shallow sea the researchers were able to study both the volcanic rock and the overlying layer of sedimentary rock containing fossilized marine life, making it possible to compare dates.

The injection of hot lava into a sea would have produced a massive cloud formation that could spread around the world, cooling the planet and producing acid rain, according to the scientists.

While they don't claim this is proof of cause-and-effect, the researchers conclude that their study "provides evidence for a potential link between mass extinction and the eruption ...."

http://meandophelia.blogspot.com/2005/06/amazing-shots-of-storms-lashing-dorset_24.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Coast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Portland