Tamu Massif is an extinct submarine shield volcano
located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The possibility of its nature as a
single volcano was announced on 5 September 2013, which, if corroborated, would
make Tamu Massif the largest known volcano on Earth dwarfing the current
record-holder, Mauna Loa on the Hawaiian Islands. It is located in the Shatsky
Rise about 1,600 km (990 mi) east of Japan. Its summit lies about
1,980 m (6,500 ft) below the surface of the ocean, and its base
extends to a depth of about 6.4 km (4.0 mi). The volcano is about
4,460 metres (14,620 ft) tall.
The name Tamu is taken from the initials
of Texas A&M University, where William Sager, a geology professor at the University
of Houston and one of the lead scientists studying the volcano, previously
taught. Massif, which means "massive" in French, is a large mountain
or a section of the planet's crust that is demarcated by faults and flexures.
Tamu Massif was formed about 145 million years
ago during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous period. The entire mass of
Tamu consists of basalt. Its
area is “approximately the same as the British Isles or Olympus Mons on Mars,
which is considered the largest volcano in the Solar System. Tamu Massif's size is comparable to that of Olympus
Mons, which is the largest volcano in Solar system that we know. That
giant volcano, which is visible on a clear night with a good backyard
telescope, is only about 25 percent larger by volume than Tamu Massif.
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