Scientists have discovered three large underwater volcanoes and the wreckage of a sunken ship measuring more than 300 feet in length.
The discoveries came during an expedition called M191 SUAVE coordinated by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany. The expedition was conducted by scientists aboard the German vessel METEOR in the Mediterranean Sea between July 16 and August 5 this year.
The international team explored various areas in the Sicilian Channel—the strait between the island of Sicily and the North African nation of Tunisia. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, located just off the 'toe' of boot-shaped Italy. The researchers used sonar techniques to reconstruct the shape and form of the seabed at high resolution.
The researchers also employed a magnetometer—an instrument designed to measure the strength, and sometimes direction, of magnetic fields—to identify anomalies associated with underwater volcanic structures. Finally, they used high-resolution seismic techniques to observe the geological characteristics of the first few dozens of feet below the seabed.
Combining these techniques, the researchers were able to identify the three previously unknown volcanoes off the southern coast of Sicily.
The volcanoes measure at least 3.5 miles across and rise more than 490 feet above the surrounding seabed, the Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) said in a statement.
The volcanoes form part of a series of other volcanic cones that the OGS—one of the co-initiators of the M191 SUAVE mission—discovered in 2019, the institute said.
"It is incredible to discover new geological elements even today in a sea like the Mediterranean, which has been crossed by all types of boats for millennia. This clearly shows how little known the seabed still is, even near the coasts," OGS researcher Jonathan Ford, who was on board the expedition, said in the statement.
The scientific team, which included researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, among other institutions, identified the wreck of the sunken ship thanks to a seabed mapping survey.
The vessel in question measures around 330 feet in length and 56 feet wide. It lies at a depth of around 360 feet at a location roughly halfway between Sicily and the small Italian island of Linosa, around 100 miles to the south.
The scientific team also collected rock samples from various submarine volcanoes, some of which were already known from indirect investigations.
In the coming months, researchers will analyze the samples to provide insights into the age of the volcanoes and the characteristics of the magma that feeds them.
"This information will be essential for reconstructing the geological history of one of the most complex regions of the central Mediterranean where, starting about 4 to 5 million years ago, a system of deep pits developed linked to tectonic processes," Giulia Matilde Ferrante, another OGS researcher who participated in the expedition, said.
Aaron Micallef—a co-chief of the mission from the University of Malta alongside Jörg Geldmacher with GEOMAR—told Newsweek that the volcanoes the team had discovered do not appear to be active based on the geophysical data collected and a first assessment of the samples.
"However, a clearer understanding will be achieved after the samples are analyzed in the laboratory," he said.
The latest research has also highlighted the presence of some significant errors in the existing bathymetric maps of the region. These depict the submerged features of the ocean and sea floor.
Namely, the team found that some submerged reliefs, erroneously interpreted as seamounts—large, submarine, volcanic mountains—do not actually exist.
"These results demonstrate, once again, how the high-resolution mapping of the seabed is fundamental and a priority not only for basic knowledge, but also for more practical aspects," said OGS researchers Dario Civile and Emanuele Lodolo.
Such research has implications for the safety of navigation and the laying of submarine cables; the assessment of risks associated with the presence of volcanic structures relatively close to the coast; the analysis of coastal evolution; and the protection of marine ecosystems, according to the researchers.
Update 8/16/2023 5:27 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comments from Aaron Micallef.
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