TEMPO.CO, Houston - A research published in Nature Geoscience yesterday revealed that the largest volcano on earth is peering out from beneath the Pacific Ocean instead of standing on land.
Tamu Massif, the volcano, is slightly larger than Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the previous volcano record holder and 25 percent smaller than Olympus Mons in Mars, the largest volcano on the Milky Way galaxy.
"This is the class of volcano that has not been recognized before," said William Sager, the research leader and a geologist in University of Houston, United States. Tamu Massif spread across 650-kilometer width, but the height is only 4,000 meters. The volcano had exploded million years ago during the early Krestasius period, about 144 million years ago and had gradually slowed down since.
"The volcano has a very gentle slope. If you are standing on top of it, you will have difficulties in deciding which way is the valley."
LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI
