Difference between revisions of "Lo'ihi/Header"

<br><center>Lo'ihi seamount, sometimes known as the "youngest volcano" in the Hawaiian chain, is an undersea mountain rising more than 3000 meters above the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Both Lo'ihi and Kilauea volcanoes sit on the flank Mauna Loa volcano, an older, larger, and still active volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Lo'ihi sits submerged in the Pacific off of the south-eastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. Although hidden beneath the waves, Lo'ihi is nevertheless taller than Mt. St. Helens was prior to the catastrophic volcanism there in 1980.<br >Before to the 1970's, Lo'ihi was not known to be an active volcano. Instead, it was thought to be a fairly common old seamount volcano of the type that surrounds the Hawaiian islands. These latter volcanoes are similar in age (80-100 million years old) to the sea floor upon which the Big Island of Hawaii sits. This sea floor was itself created some 6000 km away on the undersea volcanic mountain chain known as the East Pacific Rise. It has slowly moved north-westward to the present location of the Hawaiian Hot spot.<br >In 1970, our ideas about the seamount changed drastically following an expedition that went to Lo'ihi to study an earthquake swarm (intense, repeated seismic activity) that had just occurred there. It was revealed that Lo'ihi was a young, active volcano, rather than an old dead seamount from a bygone aeon. The volcano is mantled with young and old lava flows and is actively venting hydro-thermal fluids at it's summit and south rift zone.</center>