Geological Survey Shows Volcanic Eruptions in the Labrador Sea
29.07.2009 - Water & Oceans, Land & Geology, Other, Arctic
Geologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) are back from an expedition during which they conducted a geological survey of the seabed in the Labrador Sea. In studying the so-called Eirik Drift at the southern tip of Greenland, the geologists discovered an underwater mountain that indicates volcanic eruptions took place over the past few million years.
The Eirik Drift extends 2,500 metres above the surrounding seabed at the southern tip of Greenland. During their seismic investigation around the Eirik Drift, the researchers discovered something quite unexpected: an unknown elevation in the western area of the Eirik Drift seemed to be breaking through the sediments to the top of the seabed in two areas.
This newly discovered elevation rises 1,500 metres above the seabed and is assumed to have been caused by volcanic activity pushing sediments upwards. Given that even the youngest sediment packages are affected by this movement, AWI researchers conclude this to have been a relatively recent event, occurring during the last few million years.
The discovery of the seamount indicates that the seabed at the mouth of the Labrador Sea ended rather recently, contradicting the common belief that the formation of its seafloor ended around 45 million years ago. This is an important revelation to take into consideration because a changing seabed has an enormous impact on the circulation paths of deepwater.
