Asia Dive News : Four undersea volcanoes discovered near Phuket

A team of Thai and German marine geologists has found four volcanoes under the sea about 200 kilometres away from Phuket, the team leader announced Monday.

Dr Anon Sanitwong na Ayutthaya of Chulalongkorn University, who headed the survey, said the survey was carried out for 15 days and ended on December 6 with support from the German government and from the National Marine Geology Institute in Keith.

The team survey the seabed for 1,500 square kilometres at the depth of 1,000 to 2,800 metres at the a continental rim about 3,00 kms away from Phuket.

He said the team detected four mud volcanoes in the area.

The first volcano is about 200 kms away from Phuket and its base is about 1-km long in diameter and is 100 metre high. It is located about 650 metres under the sea.

The second volcano is located 50 kms west of the first volcano and is about 1,000 metres under the sea. The third and fourth volcanoes are located about 60 kms northeast of the second volcano and are about 700 to 800 metres under the sea.

He said the survey was carried out in the aftermath of the tsunami which hit the Andaman Sea on December 26 2004.

Anon said the temperature of the water at the volcanoes was about 100 Celsius decrees while the temperature around it was only five degrees.

He said the public should not be panic about the four volcanoes as there are no indications so far that they would erupt.

He added that there were no apparent relations between the volcanoes and the 2004 tsunami.

He said the existence of the volcanoes should bode well for the country as they were signs of rare living creatures and there might be oil resources in the areas.

Source: The Nation