Study finds forming volcano near New Zealand town

Researchers have announced a magma buildup near a New Zealand town that may indicate the start of a new volcano, according to a new report published in the journal Science Advances.

Although they’re not expecting an eruption anytime soon, the researchers said the magma buildup does explain the recent rash of tremors that have plagued the coastal town of Matata.

Study author Ian Hamling, a geophysicist from GNS Science, said over the past six decades, enough magma to fill 80,000 Olympic-size swimming pools has moved beneath the ground near Matata, located 120 miles southeast of the capital of Auckland.

Hamling told the Associated Press that while other areas of New Zealand have active volcanoes, none have appeared near Matata for around 400,000 years or more.

“It was quite a big surprise,” he said.

Massive underground lava pool

Using GPS data and satellite imagery, the researchers found a region of land more than 150 square miles in size that has risen 16 inches since 1950.

Hamling said an uplift that occurred between 2004 and 2011 likely induced thousands of small earthquakes. The study team had said tectonic shifts caused the quakes.

Hamling added that magma continued to be held 6 miles below the ground, deep enough that a volcano shouldn’t develop anytime soon. He said a volcano could establish over hundreds or thousands of years, or the magma could gradually cool and solidify.

Matata has around 650 people, and Hamling said he would like to develop an earthquake warning system for the region. He said the quakes are most likely induced by magma straining and breaking stone.

Hamling said it was strange to find magma buildup in a spot with no volcanoes. He said modern equipment permitted them to accurately assess small horizontal and vertical modifications in the coastal topography.

Just over one half of the study zone is offshore, however, and Hamling said the researchers needed to rely on inferences from what occurred on the land to gauge the shifts underwater.

Victoria Miller, a volcanologist with Geoscience Australia who was not included in the study, said the area in the study is of interest since it was beyond an active volcanic region.

“The scientific analysis seems robust and notes the limitations of modeling an offshore source,” Miller told the AP.

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Image credit: Thinkstock

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