Nafanua Volcano

Nafanua is a new active underwater volcanic cone growing inside the summit crater of Vailulu'u submarine volcano, American Samoa. It did not exist just four years prior to its discovery in 2005, growing at about 8 inches per day since the last expedition in 2001. In 2005 it was 300 metres tall, but still 708 m below sea level. [ [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/103/17/6448 Staudigel, H. et al. (2006) "Vailulu’u Seamount, Samoa: Life and death on an active submarine volcano"] , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 103 Number 17, pages 6448 to 6453] It is best known for 'Eel City', a unique hydrothermal community consisting mainly of eels (rather than the usual invertebrates). [ [http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1577.html Astrobiology Magazine: Extremes of Eel City] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05vailuluu/welcome.html NOAA Ocean Explorer Vailulu'u 2005 Expedition]