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Is Underwater Volcanic Activity Responsible For Climate Change

global warming

Image courtesy of Chrisroll at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to a recent study, the rise and fall of sea levels during and after the Ice Ages helped to spark the magma amount submarine volcanoes emitted.

Along with that, the carbon dioxide the underwater volcanoes have released could have swayed the climate change.

According to Maya Tolstory, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and study author, people have ignored the idea that seafloor volcanoes could be a cause of climate change because they think they’re in a steady state, when these volcanoes actually are not.

Researchers looked at the ridges and valleys the volcanic activity along the ocean floors created. They said the oceanic crust is always replenished due to the spreading ridges (underwater volcanic chains). These are cracks situated on the ocean floor where molten rock is allowed to reach the surface, cool and create a new crust.

These ridges are found between the tectonic plates, but as they move away, it allows the new crust to break apart and sink, which causes more valleys to form between the volcano chains. This causes underwater geological features to form, resulting in parallel lines of valleys and ridges.

According to researchers, the ridges were going through cycles of melting and freezing over a 100,000-year timeframe. Scientists say the underwater volcanic activity is the reason the crust is thinner in various sites. The slow-down in this activity is the result of a heavy body of water tied to the increase in sea level.

Scientists still need to answer the question of what amount is being released from the disruptions. If they find it’s a tremendous amount, it could result in climate models.

Researchers are going to look at whether or not the increase in volcanic activity during the Ice Ages sped up long-term global warming because of the high carbon dioxide emissions that were set free into the atmosphere.

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Posted by on Feb 7 2015. Filed under Featured, New, Sci/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 Comment for “Is Underwater Volcanic Activity Responsible For Climate Change”

  1. Can we have a link to maybe a scientific paper instead of this conjecture and opinion? Statements like “Scientists still need to answer the question of what amount is being released from the disruptions.” is a distraction from man made climate change arguments.
    This is basically saying we need find all the underwater volcanoes out there,map them, and measure them. To do what exactly? to determine the effect on climate change? Are you saying the ocean won’t absorb the CO2? Is somebody admitting that CO2 actually affects the climate change?

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