Loihi Seamount
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Lo‘ihi is a seamount and undersea volcano in the Hawaiian archipelago, located at 18.92°N, 155.27°W—roughly 30 km (19 mi) south of the southeast coast of the Island of Hawai‘i. It is one of three very active volcanoes (the other two are Mauna Loa and Kīlauea) thought to presently sit over the Hawaiian hotspot. The greatest distance between the summits of these volcanoes is about 80 km (50 mi), approximately the diameter of the hot spot. However, Lo‘ihi has yet to build to the surface of the ocean, although it is now over 3000 m (10,000 ft) high (taller than Mount St. Helens). The top of Lo‘ihi lies 969 m (3,178 ft) below the surface. If the rate of upward building is about the same as nearby Kīlauea, Lo‘ihi should appear at the surface in several tens of thousands of years.
Like Kīlauea, Lo‘ihi lies on the flank of Mauna Loa, the largest shield volcano on the planet. The summit has a caldera-like depression, and three pit craters. The pit crater called Pele's Pit is known to have formed in July 1996 when a vent collapsed forming a depression with 200 m (660 ft) high, vertical walls. The rift zone for this volcano is about 31 km (19 mi) long and oriented northwest-southeast across the 2.8 by 3.7 km (1.7 × 2.3 mi) caldera. The eruption in 1996 was confirmed by scientists at the University of Hawai‘i, becoming the first such confirmation of an active eruption occurring on a seamount.
Lo‘ihi is being studied by manned submersible dives to its surface and placement of recording instruments and remote observatories on the summit. The volcano is actively venting hydrothermal fluids and thermal vents there are being studied for thermophilic extremophiles: microbial (and other organisms) associated with extreme temperature conditions. In 1999, a never before seen jelly-like organism surrounding the 160°C vents was collected for incubation and study at NSF's Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center (MarBEC).
References and external links
- Hazlett, R. W., and D. W. Hyndman. 1996. Roadside Geology of Hawai‘i.
- Hawaii Center for Volcanology (http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/loihi.html/), University of Hawai‘i.
- Lo‘ihi Seamount (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/loihi/main.html) ~ USGS website.
- Loihi Submarine Volcano: A unique, natural extremophile laboratory (http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_loihi.html) ~ NOAA research site.de:Loihi