We discovered an underwater volcano near Christmas Island that looks like the Eye of Sauron

look like Eye of Sauron An ancient submarine volcano from the Lord of the Rings trilogy is slowly revealed by multibeam sonar, 3,100 meters below our boat, 280 kilometers southeast of Christmas Island. It is our 12th day Discovery Tour Travel to the Australian Indian Ocean Territory aboard the CSIRO’s dedicated oceanographic research vessel RV Investigator.

Never before seen or imagined, the volcano emerges from our screens as a huge oval depression, known as a caldera, 6.2 km long and 4.8 km wide. It is surrounded by a 300-meter-high rim (similar to Sauron’s eyelids) and a 300-meter-high conical peak (the “pupil”) in the center.

A crater forms when a volcano collapses. Molten lava at the bottom of the volcano moves upward, leaving a cavity. Then, the thin solid crust on the surface of the dome collapses, forming a large crater-like structure. Often, as the volcano continues to spew lava, a small new peak begins to form in the center.

A famous crater is Krakatau The Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving only a small section of the mountain ridge above sea level. By 1927, a small volcano, Anak Krakatoa, had emerged from the volcano’s center.

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Krakatoa is still active, and we are not prepared for the tsunami that another eruption could cause

In contrast, when a volcanic eruption occurs deep under the ocean, we may not even know it. One of the few signs is Lightweight pumice raft Pumice is a rock that floats to the surface of the ocean after erupting from an underwater volcano. Eventually, it becomes saturated with water and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

Our volcanic “eye” is not alone. Mapping further south, a smaller seamount can be seen capped with a number of volcanic cones, and further south is a larger flat-topped seamount. In keeping with our Lord of the Rings theme, we nicknamed them ballad far (“Dark Fortress”) and Arred Lituy (“Gray Mountain”).

Although the author JRR Tolkein’s knowledge of mountain geology Not perfectwe have very aptly named them due to the jagged nature of the first and the pumice-covered surface of the second.

The Eye of Sauron, Barad-dûr and Eredlisu are part of the Kama Seamount Complex, which was previously geologist Eredlithhuy dates back more than 100 million years and was formed alongside an ancient ocean ridge further south of Australia, near Antarctica. Eredlithhuy’s flat top was formed by wave erosion, when the seamount protruded above the surface of the sea and then slowly sank into the soft seafloor. Eredlithhuy’s summit now lies 2.6 km below sea level.

But there’s a geological conundrum here. Our crater looks surprisingly young, given that it should be older than 100 million years. Eredlitohui is topped by a nearly 100-meter-thick layer of sand and mud, formed over millions of years as dead organisms sank to the seafloor. This rate of sedimentation could partially smother the crater. Conversely, the volcano could continue to erupt or form new ones long after the initial foundations were formed. Our restless Earth is never static.

But life adapted to these geological changes, and Eredlithhuy is now covered in seafloor animals. Brittle stars, sea stars, crabs and worms burrow or glide through the sandy surface. Upright black corals, fan corals, sea whips, sponges and barnacles grow on exposed rocks. Gelatinous codfish linger in rocky gullies and around boulders. Batfish lie in wait for unsuspecting prey.

Our mission is to map the seafloor and survey the marine life in these ancient and secluded seascapes. The Australian Government recently announced plans to create two large marine parks in these areas. Our expedition will provide scientific data to help Parks Australia manage these areas in the future.

Scientists from museums, universities, CSIRO and Bush Blitz from around Australia will be on this voyage. We are just about to complete the first part of our journey to the Christmas Island region. The second part of our journey to the Cocos (Keeling) Island region will be scheduled for the next year or so.

Many of the animals we discover here will undoubtedly be new to science, and our first records of their existence will come from this area. We look forward to many more amazing discoveries.

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