LARGEST VOLCANO ON EARTH FOUND, SCIENTISTS SAY
(CNN) -- Move over, Mauna Loa.
A group of scientists say they've found a volcano bigger than you.
Way bigger.
An underwater volcano
dubbed Tamu Massif was found some 1,000 miles east of Japan, says
William Sager, a professor at the University of Houston, who led a team
of scientists in the discovery.
World's largest volcano discovered
The volcano is about the size of the state of New Mexico and is among the largest in the solar system, Sager says.
Tamu Massif covers an
area of about 120,000 square miles. In comparison, the largest active
volcano on land, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, is about 2,000 square miles, Sager
says.
"Its shape is different
from any other sub-marine volcano found on Earth, and it's very possible
it can give us some clues about how massive volcanoes can form," Sager
says.
Tamu Massif is believed to be about 145 million years old, and became inactive within a few million years after it was formed.
The volcano was partly
named in honor of Texas A&M University, where Sager worked for 29
years before moving to the University of Houston. Tamu is the
university's abbreviation while massif is the French word for "massive"
and a scientific term for a large mountain mass, according to Sager.
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