Scientists have predicted a menacing eruption of an underwater volcano: the ocean will hiss like soda

Scientists have detected a “huge swarm” of earthquakes off the coast of Washington, with the number reaching 200 per hour in one day. Geologists from the University of Washington said the earthquakes could lead to an eruption at the Juan de Fuca Ridge within weeks or years. The impending volcanic eruption has scientists excited because it will provide a real-time look at how the Earth was formed.

The undersea volcano lies more than 16,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean and about 150 miles (200-odd kilometers) off the coast of Washington.

With more than a thousand tiny earthquakes detected in one day, this is the highest activity detected at the site since 2005. Based on this, researchers said that the volcano may soon erupt.

The team said data collected during the volcanic eruption could show how the Earth’s crust was formed over time from cooled magma, but noted that this could be as short as weeks or years away.

Back on March 6, the group’s real-time monitoring network detected earthquakes measuring 4.1. This is a relatively weak indicator compared to known destructive earthquakes (for example, in San Francisco in 1906, whose magnitude was 7.9 points). As a result of this earthquake and the fires it caused, which razed cities to the ground, about 3 thousand people died.

The “great swarm” of earthquakes followed several days of increasingly frequent earthquakes, according to Ocean Networks Canada (ONC). The spike indicates a possible “impending magmatic rupture,” the research team said.

A magmatic rupture, which occurs when the Earth’s crust for some reason breaks apart and spews out molten rock, is a natural phenomenon that can create new ocean floors, according to Zoe Krauss, a PhD candidate in marine seismology at the University of Washington.

In the case of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, this rupture would be the result of two plates pulling apart from each other, opening a giant crack for magma to flow out at temperatures of about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 815 degrees Celsius).

ONC officials stressed that the impact would be moderate and localized, and that residents on land were unlikely to feel the quake. It is also unlikely to cause tsunami activity, since they are caused by a different type of movement of tectonic plate boundaries: pushing and sliding, rather than pulling apart.

“No one should be alarmed by this huge wave of earthquakes. They are far from the coast and do not pose any danger. Rather, the data is of interest to the scientific community and is certainly not threatening,” said Kate Moran, president and CEO of ONC.

The impending volcanic eruption has scientists excited because it will provide a real-time look at how the Earth was formed. When lava pours out of a crack in the Earth’s crust, it will heat up the water around it, and the ocean will likely even fizz like soda.

As the lava hardens, a new layer of seafloor will emerge—a sample of what it was like when our planet first formed its crust. Scientists have been studying this place for almost 30 years. But this will be the first time they will be able to observe a volcanic eruption using sound recording equipment and temperature sensors.

These instruments will complement seismographs that have been installed since the last underwater eruption at the site, which occurred from 1999 to 2005.

Researchers expect this event to recur approximately every 20 years, OCN said.