{"slug": "scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor", "title": "Scientists Discover 73 Volcanic Calderas Hidden Across The Ocean Floor", "summary": "Scientists using an AI-assisted search of seafloor topography have discovered 73 previously unknown volcanic calderas hidden beneath Earth's oceans, more than tripling the number of known submarine calderas. The findings, led by Andrea Verolino of Paris-Saclay University, fill a major observational gap and underscore the need to incorporate these features into future global volcanic assessments.", "body_md": "Deep beneath the ocean waves, dangers lurk.\n\nNot from cryptic monsters like [the kraken](https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-kraken-like-octopuses-once-stalked-their-prey-in-cretaceous-seas), but from powerful forces reshaping the ocean floor itself.\n\nMost of Earth's volcanic activity takes place underwater. Yet the scars those volcanoes leave behind have remained largely hidden.\n\nNow, through an AI-assisted search of the seafloor, a team led by volcanologist Andrea Verolino of Paris-Saclay University in France has identified 73 previously unknown volcanic calderas hidden beneath Earth's oceans.\n\nCalderas are vast crater-like depressions left when a volcano empties enough of its underground magma chamber for the ground above to collapse in on itself. Some are long extinct, but others mark volcanic systems that could erupt again.\n\n\"Our dataset,\" writes the team in an early-access paper published in [ Communications, Earth & Environment](https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03779-3), \"fills a major observational gap and provides a reproducible, upgradeable framework for submarine volcano characterization, underscoring the need to incorporate submarine calderas into future global volcanic assessments.\"\n\nMost of Earth's volcanic activity takes place beneath the sea, where tectonic plates are constantly [pulling apart](https://www.sciencealert.com/deep-beneath-the-pacific-ocean-earths-crust-is-tearing-itself-apart), [colliding](https://www.sciencealert.com/mexico-tehuantepec-chiapas-magnitude-8-2-intraplate-earthquake-ruptured-tectonic-plate-all-the-way-through), and sliding beneath one another. These restless boundaries allow magma to rise toward the surface, building volcanoes across the ocean floor.\n\nMost of that [submarine volcanic activity](https://www.sciencealert.com/almost-20000-ancient-volcanoes-discovered-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean) consists of relatively gentle basaltic eruptions along spreading ridges – but every now and then, things get a little bit more dramatic.\n\nSubmarine calderas can generate enormous eruptions, tsunamis, shock waves, ash plumes, and tremendous amounts of steam as they explode deep under the ocean.\n\nThe 2022 [Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai event](https://www.sciencealert.com/a-massive-volcano-destroyed-methane-in-the-sky-and-scientists-are-stunned), an explosive eruption from an [undersea caldera](https://www.sciencealert.com/the-tonga-eruptions-50-million-tons-of-water-vapor-may-warm-earth-for-months-to-come) in the Tongan archipelago, was something of a wake-up call. It produced [atmospheric pressure waves](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05012-5) that reached space, [widespread tsunamis](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/january-15-2022-tonga-volcanic-eruption-and-tsunami), and damage [thousands of kilometers away](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hunga_Tonga%E2%80%93Hunga_Ha%CA%BBapai_eruption_and_tsunami).\n\nIf we don't know where submarine calderas are, we can't know which ones deserve closer monitoring. Yet before this survey, fewer than 30 had been documented beneath the oceans.\n\nTo address this gap in our knowledge, Verolino and his colleagues adapted an algorithm that was originally trained to detect [impact craters on Mars](https://www.sciencealert.com/200-mars-meteorites-that-hit-earth-were-ejected-from-just-5-craters), and applied it to bathymetric maps – those that record the topography of the seafloor.\n\nThe algorithm initially flagged 87,435 possible formations.\n\nMost of those were false alarms. By applying a series of filters and then manually inspecting the remaining candidates, the researchers narrowed their final list down to 78 likely calderas.\n\nFive of the candidates were already recognized as submarine calderas, lending confidence that the method can successfully identify real examples.\n\nThis means that the researchers found 73 possible calderas that we didn't know about before. If confirmed, their discovery would more than triple the number of known submarine calderas – and the algorithm may be refined to find even more in the future.\n\nThe discoveries also reveal where submarine calderas are most likely to occur.\n\nEight of the newly found features were at [mid-ocean ridges](https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-phenomenon-could-be-making-the-atlantic-ocean-grow-bigger-every-year) at the boundary between two tectonic plates.\n\nNine were identified in [volcanic arcs](https://www.sciencealert.com/a-cycle-deep-within-earths-crust-may-affect-climate-more-than-we-thought).\n\nAnd a whopping 61 were found in interior tectonic settings, such as seamount chains, rather than at tectonic boundaries.\n\nThe researchers also highlighted seven of the newly identified calderas as especially worthwhile targets for future exploration because their location, water depth and shape suggest they could be important for understanding submarine volcanic hazards.\n\nIt's important to note that the paper did not assess whether any of these calderas are currently active.\n\nHowever, several recent studies have found that [even volcanoes we think are extinct](https://www.sciencealert.com/extinct-volcanoes-may-not-be-extinct-after-all-scientists-say) may be [quietly refilling with magma](https://www.sciencealert.com/one-of-earths-most-explosive-volcanoes-is-quietly-refilling-with-magma) and may become active in the future.\n\n**Related: A Giant Seismic Wave Bounced Off Earth's Core And May Have Shifted Japan**\n\nSo it's important to know where these locations are and make a closer examination of the ones that could cause the most disruption.\n\n\"This study lays a critical foundation for evaluating submarine volcanic risks and improving global preparedness,\" [the researchers write](https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03779-3).\n\n\"Our aim is not to produce a complete global inventory of submarine calderas, but to establish a transparent and reproducible framework that yields a conservative baseline dataset, which can be expanded as higher-resolution bathymetry and future studies become available.\"\n\nThe research has been published in [ Communications Earth & Environment](https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03779-3).\n\nThis article was fact-checked by [Jess Cockerill](https://www.sciencealert.com/michaelirving) and edited by [Clare Watson](https://www.sciencealert.com/clare-watson). While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, [please let us know](https://www.sciencealert.com/contact-us).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor", "canonical_source": "https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor", "published_at": "2026-07-06 15:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-07 00:41:08.679412+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "computer-vision"], "entities": ["Andrea Verolino", "Paris-Saclay University", "Communications, Earth & Environment", "Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scientists-discover-73-volcanic-calderas-hidden-across-the-ocean-floor.jsonld"}}