Successful frontier mapping of undiscovered volcanoes north of New Zealand

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A NIWA research voyage using RV Tangaroa has returned to Auckland on Thursday, 2 May, after three weeks of frontier mapping of undiscovered volcanoes between the North Island and the Kermadec Islands 1000 km to the north of New Zealand. Prior to the voyage little was known about this segment of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

New swath-mapping technology on Tangaroa has allowed seafloor mapping of over 24,000 square kilometres to a resolution of 1–2 m in elevation during the 22-day voyage. This new data has imaged over 50 new volcanoes, with 13 being some 10 km or more in diameter, six of which are similar in size to Mt Taranaki. The largest volcano discovered is more than 20 km in diameter and 2.5 km high. “The results of the voyage are stunning,” said Dr Ian Wright of NIWA. One the larger volcanoes rises to a previously uncharted depth of only 65 m below the sea-surface.

The voyage has also discovered a new caldera volcano that forms a hole in the seafloor 5 km wide and 500 m deep. “The volcanic processes to form such features must been very impressive,” said Dr Wright. “The new swath technology has not only mapped the shape of the volcanoes, but also allowed individual lava flows to be identified.”

Seafloor sampling during voyage has also provided over 200 volcanic rock samples from which project colleagues from New Zealand and Germany will analyse the composition of the volcanoes. Two NIWA biologists also have acquired biological samples from each of the volcanoes, recovering significant finds of fauna and identifying new sites of hydrothermal-vent fauna.

Said Dr Wright, “One of the first tasks for the project team will be to give appropriate names to these volcanoes.”

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