An ancient undersea volcano resembling the “Eye of Sauron” from the Lord of the Rings trilogy has been discovered 280 kilometres southeast of Christmas Island. This was on the 12th day of an exploration trip in Australia’s Indian Ocean territories, aboard the CSIRO’s special research vessel, the RV Investigator.
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This volcano appeared on the RV Investigator's screens as a huge oval depression called a caldera. It is surrounded by a 300-meter-high rim (resembling Sauron's eyelids) and has a 300-meter-high cone-shaped peak at its center.
A caldera is formed when a volcano collapses. The molten magma at the base of the volcano moves upward, leaving empty chambers. The thin solid crust on the surface of the dome collapses, creating a large crater-like structure. Often, a small new peak begins to form in the center as the volcano continues to spew magma.
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A well-known caldera is that of Krakatoa, Indonesia, which erupted in 1883, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving only bits of the mountain's rim visible above the waves. By 1927, a small volcano, Anak Krakatoa ("child of Krakatoa"), had grown at its center.
We often don't even know about volcanic eruptions when they happen deep under the ocean. One of the few signs is the presence of patterns of light pumice floating on the surface of the sea after an underwater volcano erupts. Eventually, this pumice sinks to the ocean floor.
The volcanic "Eye of Sauron" was not alone. Further mapping to the south revealed a smaller seamount covered with many volcanic cones, and even further south was a larger, flat peak. The organization, following the Lord of the Rings theme, named them Barad-dûr and Ered Lithui, respectively.
The Eye of Sauron, Barad-dûr and Ered Lithui are part of the Karma cluster of seamounts previously estimated by geologists to be over 100 million years old and formed alongside an ancient seamount from a time when Australia was much further south, near Antarctica.
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The organization's mission is to map the seafloor and examine the marine life from these ancient and isolated landscapes.
Information source: abc.net.au
